Gartner has announced it is acquiring AMR Research for US$64M. There have been rumors for years that AMR would be acquired but most thought it would be Forrester that eventually acquired them.<< MORE >>

Last week SAP announced that BusinessObjects Planning & Consolidations (BPC) is now a Microsoft "preferred solution" for Microsoft customers looking for budgeting, planning, forecasting and financial close solutions to compliment Microsoft BI. This makes a lot of sense given the legacy of BPC (Outlooksoft, acquired in 2007) was purposefully designed on Microsoft technology from bottom to top. << MORE >>

The technology to accomplish Pervasive Performance Management exists today, just take a look at the product innovations of the traditional Business Intelligence (BI) vendors around unstructured data, the guided navigation capabilities from companies like Endeca, and the virtual screen technology shown in this video. But you won't see a combined experience like this tomorrow or even next year. It will take a maturation and marrying of these different technologies and the evolution of business culture to embrace it. But it really is possible. << MORE >>

Predictive analytics should not replace expert opinion, it should supplement it. Expert opinion is more accurate for short-term plans and unforeseen anomalies while predictive analytics is better for determining correlation across performance indicators, longer term forecasting, and what-if scenario modeling. << MORE >>

Last week I did a webcast for the IBM Cognos Innovation Center on the topic of Business Intelligence (BI) ROI. The focus was on how to build a strong ROI case in the face of budget constriction. What was refreshing was that when surveyed many respondents said they are still able to justify BI investment based on the intangible values it brings to the organization << MORE >>

In a previous entry I wrote that one of the pushbacks on using predictive analytics in the planning process is that business users think their "expert opinion" is more accurate than a statistical algorithm. Well, this week Information Builders issued a press release predicting the World Series winner based on Predictive Analytics << MORE >>

Would your predictive analytics software have been able to forecast the abismal performance of baseball closers? << MORE >>

This week Bruce Springsteen is setting up shop for 5 straight nights at the Meadowlands at the age of 60. Coincidentally, this week Guy Haddleton is jumping back into the ring with a new budgeting and planning product (called Anaplan) which was unveiled this week at DEMOfall 09 ,almost 20 years after he founded Adaytum.<< MORE >>

IBM Cognos Express includes planning, analytics, and Business Intelligence (BI) "all-in-one". This is not just a repackaging of several products to create a mid-market "solution". << MORE >>

I have been asked by the IBM Cognos Innovation Center for Performance Management to develop a webcast series on building the case for continued funding and expansion of Business Intelligence (BI) initiatives during this difficult economy.<< MORE >>