Social BI

This is something that we are looking to implement in the not to distant future (and probably with Cognos as the platform no less), so it was interesting to read this.  Big Blue as a leader in this social movement is kind of hard to believe, but it is nice to see, especially when it seems that many organizations only see Facebook, Twitter and blogs a time sinks and never lead to anything.

Social BI - Business Insider

However, true to form, something in this picture is far too familiar.  Yes, a doughnut is still just a pie without a middle.  Notice the layout as well, still has a little bit of the Outlook feel to it as well. 

My question is, how do you get at this data?  As the article explains, in order for IBM to use the data from its employees, they have to opt IN (as opposed to the old OPT OUT, which is always deep, deep in the TOS).  Given the amount of data people now are willing to share, this type of analysis will only be more and more prevalent, but look for the reactionary forces of the privacy advocates to be all over this. 

Hello World..

What is this going to be about?  Well, I have been working in the BI space for the past 10 years.  It is amazing how much has happened in the industry.  Everyday there are new start ups getting into this space.  Everyday someone else is buying someone in this space (I contend that the consolidation into BI has led to the big players being complacent with what they have and has stymied the evolution of the products out there).  So, what am I going to do with this blog?  Cover as much as I can.  I will post stuff that I find day to day on the web, from releases from the big players, to some of the best practices that are so important in this area, to some opinion on what works and what does not.  Also expect to see some cool baseball, sabre-metric related visualizations since I think some of them are some of the best use of BI that are readily available.  This is a conversation, there are many opinions out there, and mine is most definitely not always right.  However, where I know I am right... PIE CHARTS  MUST DIE.