BI Questions Blog

Graphwise is BI 2.0 entrant similar to Swivel and ManyEyes, but with a twist. You enter a search term, and the site scours the web for content that contains tables linked to those terms, then proposes charts based on the data in those tables.

It's a great idea, and there's surely a great future for this technology. But there are currently some issues with relevance -- e.g. I put in the search term "productivity", and chose the first chart it offered me: the mean number of chickens in a flock, and the % of respondents?!...  

The other problem is that the site uses Adobe's SVG viewer to provide interactivity -- but Adobe is pulling support for the product at the end of this year...

Of course the site is still in Beta. I wish them all the best of luck, but can't help thinking that it's part of a solution rather than an end-goal in itself.

At some point, will Google hoover up the different BI 2.0 offerings, integrate them with their existing analytics tools and gapminder? The result would be a compelling consumer-oriented BI solution which could then be extended to enterprise users...

Posted by Timo Elliott at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In an Information Week article called "Google Lays Out Its Mobile User Experience Strategy", Stephen Wellman writes about Google's latest steps in their mission to "Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful":

...Google breaks down mobile users into three behavior groups:

A. "Repetitive now"
B. "Bored now"
C. "Urgent now"

The "repetitive now" user is someone checking for the same piece of information over and over again, like checking the same stock quotes or weather. Google uses cookies to help cater to mobile users who check and recheck the same data points.

The "bored now" are users who have time on their hands. People on trains or waiting in airports or sitting in cafes. Mobile users in this behavior group look a lot more like casual Web surfers, but mobile phones don't offer the robust user input of a desktop, so the applications have to be tailored.

The "urgent now" is a request to find something specific fast, like the location of a bakery or directions to the airport. Since a lot of these questions are location-aware, Google tries to build location into the mobile versions of these queries.

The categories work well for corporate use of BI. "Repetitive now" is clearly equivalent to production reporting and dashboards. "Urgent now" describes a power user responding to an executive request. "Bored now" doesn't quite translate, but it could be considered the equivalent of an analyst digging for trends when not busy responding to urgent requests.

Just as personal search has ushered in new interest and investment in corporate search and text analytics, I believe that personal and mobile BI trends will have a great influence on corporate BI in the future.

Posted by Timo Elliott at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More on how Web 2.0 companies are helping people collect, analyze, and share structured information -- i.e. providing some of the functionality now associated with business intelligence vendors.

• Information display: Google makes it easier to show data on their maps.
  
• Data cleansing: Google submits a patent for "online data verification of listing data". According to Intelligent Enterprise:

"The application describes a system for verifying listing information submitted by users, such as a merchant might enter when providing data to the Google Local Business Center about his or her business."

• Information feeds: InformationWeek talks about how Twitter can be used to provide real-time information feeds:

"Twitter users send and read messages using a variety of channels: The Web, SMS, instant messaging, and RSS. The service also has an API for building third-party applications, which are springing up like weeds. These include applications to provide weather reports, tell the status of various lines on the London Underground, and provide earthquake information for Silicon Valley."

• Data storage and linking: Freebase's contributors are:

"collecting data from all over the internet to build a massive, collaboratively-edited database of cross-linked data."

• Collaboration: Trampoline Systems aims to:

"analyse data from enterprise information systems such as email servers and instant messenger tools to map social networks, information flows and collaborations throughout the enterprise."

[more from vecosys]

Posted by Timo Elliott at 07:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)