Business Intelligence gets Cloudy
Cloud computing is a great IT buzzword for this year, and sure enough, there are some BI vendors hitching themselves to this bandwagon. However, beyond the hype, there are some real benefits to hosting BI applications outside the organization’s own data center and “in the cloud”, as explained in this InfoWorld article:
- The client interface is web based - End users are already familiar with the web browser, and increasingly, they are at ease with using web applications.
- The IT department’s role is simplified - There is no additional server infrastructure to maintain, and there are no desktop applications to roll out, troubleshoot and keep updated.
While there are other issues to address, I think the weight of these two arguments, which both reduce the overall cost of BI implementations, will continue to drive more BI software into a cloud computing model.
Upgrading to WordPress 2.5
I am going to upgrade this blog to WordPress 2.5. today. I have been using it in my dev environment (on my laptop) and I am impressed with the new admin UI. I am hoping to reap some other benefits as well. I will also be relaunching my company’s website this week, which will use WordPress 2.5 as a CMS. I came across some good ideas here and here about customizing WordPress with CMS functionality in mind.
YouTube Targets the Corporate User
YouTube, the darling of the Web 2.0 boom, was purchased by Google in 2006. While the YouTube front page has kept a decidedly consumer focus, Google has been working on grander plans: a YouTube API. This creates another Google platform, and with the latest update, it provides the following functionality:
- videos can be viewed from a desktop or web application
- video files can be uploaded, even from a mobile device
- comments and ratings can be applied to videos
- control over the Flash video player
So the door is now open for integration into other software products or web services. Training and marketing applications come to mind, although I am sure that we will see some even more creative uses popping up in other enterprise apps. So far, Google’s marquee customer for YouTube is Electronic Arts. Their upcoming game, Spore, will let players upload video directly from the game into YouTube. Players can also enjoy the most popular content on the Spore channel.
The official Google YouTube API page is located here, with cases studies, documentation and sample code.
Twitter for business
I came across the following articles while looking for business uses of Twitter, on DoshDosh and on LinkedIn. Most of these ideas are creative ways to replace email or instant messaging. There is some overlap between Twittering and blogging, but I see blog articles as being more permanent, whereas Twitter is more for fleeting thoughts and tiny doses of information. One platform can nicely complement the other and drive reciprocal traffic. I found some good tools here for use with WordPress. I also put Twitter on my Facebook page, since I really had nothing else there. This is an easy way to re-purpose content.
How useful is Twitter?
I have been experimenting with Twitter recently to see how it could be useful for both myself as a consultant and for my clients inside the corporate world. So far, I have found it helpful for the following situations:
- when I have an idea for a blog post that I do not have time to explore at the moment
- to make note of a link to something useful or interesting on the web
- to put something on my Facebook page (via the Facebook Twitter app)
Thanks to the Twitter API, there are some interesting mash-ups appearing for several niches. However, I think the most interesting thing about Twitter so far is the use of Twitter inside the firewall, to fill the communication gaps where email and instant messaging are breaking down.
Twitterific!
I signed up for a Twitter account some time ago but I never used it. Looking through the posts, most seemed trite at best, but I was fascinated by the concept of micro-blogging. While blog posts put a certain pressure on the author to pound out at least 100 words or so, Twitter limits posts to 140 characters. It is like a cross between instant messaging and blogging, and I am convinced that there is a place in the workplace for such a tool. There is real productivity power in knowing the status of something (a bug, a project, a document, etc.), or “knowing what’s in progress” without having to disrupt someone’s workflow.
Testing Wordbook.
I have just installed Wordbook to try to add something of value to my Facebook profile. Vive Web 2.0!
The 10 Enterprise Elements of Web 2.0
Like all buzzwords, the phrase “Web 2.0″ has taken on a life of its own and it might even soon be supplanted by Web 3.0. But before dismissing it all as pure hype, it is worth making note of the 10 following web 2.0 technologies that were recently highlighted by Information Week magazine. All of these technologies are all quickly finding there way into the latest enterprise software solutions, whether they are BI, CRM, ERP or home grown applications.
- Blogs - A communication and publishing tool, blogs work well for individuals or groups, for both internal or external audiences.
- RSS (Really Simple Syndication) - RSS delivers content independent of format, allowing simultaneous delivery of information to a multitude of platforms and applications.
- Wikis - The new way to collaborate and to capture knowledge, made widely known by Wikipedia.
- SQL - There is nothing much new about SQL, but it has taken on greater importance in the web 2.0 world. To quote Hal Varian, “SQL is the new HTML.“
- Open APIs - The plethora of available APIs have paved the way for diverse combinations of applications and data, now known as mash-ups.
- Widgets - These are small and lightweight applications that reside on the desktop or inside a portal.
- Social networks - This is ripe ground for marketers looking to start a “conversation” with their customers. Facebook has prominence in this space, but social networks are popping up all over the web.
- Web analytics - As the the corporate web site moves out of Web 1.0, the only way to be sure that things are moving into the right direction is to invest in the new tools that exist for gaining insight into what users are doing (or not doing) when they visit.
- Search - Now that Google is a household name, users expect search to be pervasive and accurate: on the web, on the desktop, and from inside any application.
- Open source - This is another theme that has taken on renewed importance. The high profile projects, such as Linux and Apache proved the value of open source software. Now, an array of open and mixed source products are available in almost every niche.