Mobile BI (revisited)

Many of us have gotten used to running analytical business intelligence applications in the palm of our hands. However, mobile BI reaches far beyond the capability to perform analytics on the go: it is also about collecting important data from diverse remote locations so that enterprise analytics can be further actualized and broadened in scope and integrity. This is especially true when it comes to tracking and capturing the behavior of assets that are isolated, such as those outside of the domain or purview of enterprise IT systems. RFID technologies now offer elegant solutions for capturing and distributing data about these isolated assets.

One of the newest features on Roambi is the Trends View that provides users with pre-set algorithms that allow them to easily identify trends in their data. The Trends View offers customized periodicity to compare data across whatever period a user chooses – years, months, even minutes; users can easily focus on specific time periods by sliding the dateline at the bottom of the graph. Touch any two points within the Trends graph and Roambi will automatically calculate the difference.

QlikView for iPad provides mobile professionals with access to decision-critical information through an intuitive touch interface. Built from the ground up to support the Apple iPad’s native multi-touch interface, QlikView for iPad takes mobile business intelligence to a new level of touch-based interactivity, enabling freeform exploration of business data without the limits of static reporting.

Mobile Business Intelligence is like a small child. Everyone seems to have some level of interest (some think it is cute while others show a passionate interest and almost giddy behavior around it) and it is growing faster by the day. However, and also like a child, it is growing in a clumsy way and as it tries to mature, everyone (vendors, customers, analysts, etc.) seems to be telling it how to behave and what it should be when it grows up. In the case of mobile BI, this confusing guidance has spawned several myths that we feel need to be explained.

Mobile BI applications have been around for the last few years. Solution providers have moved from simply providing a snapshot of data to giving business users access to interactive BI applications. The rate of application development and the ability for companies to integrate these offerings into their overall BI platforms has been partially dependent on the technology available to support these functions. Blackberries were the first wave, with iPhone interactivity and ease of use within mobile phone use being the push towards full interactive BI access.

Part 1 of this article looked at some of the common barriers to mobile BI use including a lack of general adoption and the fact that many internal BI applications are far from providing their assumed value. In addition, although vendors offer mobile BI to their customers, overall use is limited to specific types of users. Part 1 also explored the evolution of mobile BI offerings. Overall, whether a company chooses to adopt mobile BI will depend upon many factors, such as their corporate culture, nature of their business, current BI usage, and comfort with varying technologies. For businesses open to expanding their BI infrastructure and use, mobile BI adoption can become an additional way to collaborate and disseminate information.

While cloud computing was perhaps the most discussed concept in enterprise computing over the last year, I had hoped to see more thought leadership on how the next generation of business intelligence (BI) applications will utilize the cloud model. Of special interest is how mobile BI applications will benefit from the new cloud paradigm.

Yellowfin for the iPhone has been designed to sharpen the focus on those Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are critical to the success of a business and its leadership team and drives action through proactive alerts and exception reporting with all of the industry leading ease of use and analytic capabilities now expected by Yellowfin's customers.

As it gains in acceptance and sophistication, Apple’s iPhone has become positioned to be a future force (albeit a small one for now) in mobile business intelligence. The critical mass of iPhone users looks to be assured for the foreseeable future. And at the same time, increasing numbers of third-party application developers the world over are focusing on creating new killer applications for this popular mobile apparatus as they simultaneously port their existing applications to the iPhone OS platform.

With the advent of the mobile phone a fundamental shift occurred in telecommunications. You no longer called a place but you called a person. The internet provides an even greater degree of interconnectivity, and it is these changes which are having a profound impact on businesses and the way in which they manage their people mobile or otherwise and the access that they provide to their data assets. This white paper addresses these changes and discusses the impact it is having on business information delivery.

Most people have already formed their opinions of mobile business intelligence (BI). Unfortunately, most of the opinions are not favorable and there’s a good reason for this: Early attempts at transforming useful business applications into a mobile environment have failed. Some were quick to gain that first-mover advantage to the small screen by simply shrinking their application to accommodate the reduced real estate of the screen. Other attempts pushed out static reports on a mobile screen which may have been marginally helpful but it typically created a tremendously frustrating user experience, leaving no opportunity to interact with the data. These approaches may have given access to some information, but it certainly didn’t give the mobile user a positive experience.

As the worlds of serious business applications and personal productivity devices merge, people want and expect their business intelligence to always be within arm’s reach. However, just posting a static report on a mobile screen may be marginally helpful but it typically creates a tremendously frustrating user experience, leaving no opportunity to interact with the data.

Blackberries, smartphones and iPhones have made the ability to bring work and play everywhere. With a constant connection to people, the Internet and entertainment, business applications on mobile devices were a natural progression. People can no longer afford to wait to get back to the office to access the information required to do their jobs. Until recently, this information and interaction with technology came in the form of carrying a notebook computer or using a blackberry for email, calendar and simple task functions. Now that people can access and edit documents through their phones - and with the easy user interfaces offered through the iPhone - the use of mobile devices for business is becoming second nature.

Dashboard Insight recently spoke with ComponentOne's Chris Meredith about his various mobile BI solutions, security options - and where he expects the mobile platform to be in the next few years.

Access to mobile, timely, and accurate information – mobile business intelligence (BI) – was critical to redevelopment efforts. Richardson's Deputy CIO Eric Matthews explains that the goal was to "improve communications to our citizens and continue to redevelop our facilities, infrastructure, residential and business areas" and "to find ways to be efficient and deliver high-quality services to both our citizens and internally for our departments."

Transpara’s Visual KPI presents operating information from multiple data sources to users in context and on-demand, enabling timely, informed decision making from any location. Designed for mobile handsets, Visual KPI supports any modern web browser – including 300+ mobile devices (Windows Mobile, Blackberry, iPhone and Palm Pre, etc.) – and easily scales to the desktop and larger form factors (flat panels, etc.)

Building on the reports and dashboards from Ctuit Radar, our industry leading business intelligence software for restaurants, Radar To Go delivers next day point of sale data and analysis from your restaurant company to your mobile device. Radar To Go has been optimized for mobile devices by providing fast loading images, reports and data tables with improved navigation.

In the last five years, advancements in mobile device hardware and software have provided a new medium for presenting information. With iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and Palm enabled devices competing to attract both consumer and business user adoption, there are tremendous opportunities to improve the way businesses monitor and consume information while un-tethered from a computer.

It’s no secret that the health industry requires change to effectively manage the growing needs of providers, payers, and most importantly patients. To meet these needs and offer cutting edge technology that offer real solutions, Hands On Technology chose ComponentOne FlexGrid™ for Mobile Devices to implement a mobile physical therapy documentation solution. With the initial release of their product, TheraWriter.PT, clinics across the United States are able to utilize this technology to reduce their time-consuming documentation efforts.

Mobile devices get smarter every day, and more of us than ever depend on them. But there is a drawback to our increasing dependence on smart mobile devices--they have the potential to be even more risky than laptop computers. This risk is due to two key factors. First, users tend to be as careful with their mobile devices as they are with their laptops, and second, security solutions (encryption, antivirus, etc.) are not as pervasively deployed on mobile devices as they are on laptop computers.

The question is, can all those employees be as connected, well-informed and productive while away from the office as they are when seated in front of a desktop computer? As far as business intelligence software providers are concerned, the answer is a resounding "yes," but they're not banking on all those workers toting around laptops. "Smart phones" are already the business platform of choice for road warriors, and given current replacement cycles and advances in technology, it won't be long before these, e-mail-, Web- and compute-capable devices become a ubiquitous business tool.

In the last five years, advancements in mobile device hardware and software have provided a new medium for presenting information. With iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and Palm enabled devices competing to attract both consumer and business user adoption, there are tremendous opportunities to improve the way businesses monitor and consume information while un-tethered from a computer.

For years we have been hearing about “consumer BI,” “pervasive BI,” and “BI for the masses.” Whichever term you use, it’s clear that the focus has shifted from BI professionals (who need complex tools to create and analyze information) to rank-and-file workers (who simply want to access BI content in intuitive ways).

The need and demand for mobile business intelligence (BI) increases with each passing month, as executive management has become less tethered to their desks and office-based PCs. The traditional workspace is now obsolete; with remote access so ubiquitous, the whole world is an office. Such an agile and fluid workforce requires access to corporate knowledge stores which must provide unfettered access, regardless of geographic location, time of day, and content delivery platform.