I have been asked by the IBM Cognos Innovation Center for Performance Management (ICPM) to develop a webcast series on building the case for continued funding and expansion of Business Intelligence initiatives during this difficult economy.  Check out this link for more information about the webcast series.

The series is not vendor specific and will be of value to any company looking to: maximize the value of their BI investments; continue the momentum of their current initiatives; or build the case for new or expanded initiatives.  To ensure that the webcast series is collaborative and interactive I will be maintaining a blog category (titled BI in a Turbulent Economy) focused specifically on this webcast series.  I welcome your input and comments on the webcast series or any other “blog-worthy” BI or PM topics.

Real-world experiences, not just Analyst musings

This blog is not intended to be just another vehicle for an industry pundit to pontificate about where the market is going…there is plenty of that out there already.  The intent is to be a forum for you and your peers to consider, debate, and interject your thoughts and real-world experiences on the topics that impact the BI and PM community.  Sure, it’ll provide thought-leadership and some pithy market insight (I can’t help myself), but my goal here is to facilitate a dialog and exchange of thoughts, experiences, and ideas that drive more value from existing and future investments in BI and PM.

 It wont work without sharing

To be effective this blog will require compelling and timely topics but just as importantly it requires active contribution from the community.  I’ll regularly write about topics that I think are “top-of-mind” but you should drive content too.  So please make suggestions for blog topics and survey questions, feel free to suggest entry topics pose questions to your peers, or just vent about an issue (change the names to protect the innocent, of course).   This blog is about sharing and collaborating.  As I say to my 4 year old daughter, “we all get more when we share.”  So, set a good example for your kids, your grandchildren, or your nieces and nephews and share nicely.

 Pay it forward

We all have our challenges in life and we can all use some help sometimes and that is certainly true in the world of BI.  Don’t be “too busy” to share your BI experiences and knowledge, they can provide a lot of help to others.   If you take the time to pay it forward it will come back to you in spades (or at least maybe you’ll get a warm and fuzzy feeling from it).  Your participation will have a direct impact on the value of this forum.

Attend the webcasts, follow the blog,
join the community

It all starts on September 22nd when the first in a series of webcasts developed specifically to address the challenges of competing for funding for BI initiatives in a turbulent economy will be presented.  Click here to register.  The series will highlight and then dive deeper into 6 tactics for driving BI investment.  Over the course of these webcasts you will learn techniques to:

• Establish tangible and intangible ROI
• Recycle, reduce, and reuse tools, applications, skills, and resources
• Think Globally, Act Locally to gain and maintain momentum
• Go deeper into the organization to drive more value and lower cost
• Set and manage realistic expectations at many levels to ensure success
• Recognize the changing champion and bring them on board

I will continually monitor overall participation and satisfaction as a barometer of the effectiveness of the webcast series and blog as well as the interest generated by specific topics.  You can expect new entries from me on a bi-weekly basis as well as a response to your comments or feedback within 48 hours.  I commit to continually tweak the material and topics to deliver the most relevant and valuable content possible.  Your feedback will help me do that.