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One of the
hot topics in the Business Intelligence industry is mobility. More specifically the question is how
business can be transformed by the iPhone and the iPad. In June 2003, Gartner predicted that Mobile
BI would be obsolete and that the technology was headed for the 'trough of
disillusionment'. I agreed with them at
that time. Many vendors like
MicroStrategy and Business Objects jumped into the fray attempting to show how PDA's
like Palm Pilots could be integrated with BI.
Their investments resulted in interesting demos with no commercial
traction. Why, because wireless networks
and mobile operating systems were primitive, immature and slow.
In my
opinion, Apple's iOS has changed everything in Mobile BI. Yes Blackberry, Android and Symbian and all
the rest have their place in the market but I believe that increasingly
consumers (not IT departments) influence BI decision making processes. Consumers are choosing the iPhone and the
iPad.
The number of
iPads I see in business meetings now is staggering. Some use it for email and note taking and
others are starting to use corporate applications. The possibilities for Mobile BI are countless
and I would expect to see iPads enterprise-wide over the next few years. These new devices will provide just-in-time
access to critical business information.
Front-line managers interacting with customers, suppliers, patients or
citizens will have information literally at their fingertips.
I've
experimented with several mobile BI tools.
They look cool but like their Executive Information System (EIS)
predecessors of the 1990's these tools lack a backbone and a plausible
integration strategy. EIS was a viral
technology in the early 1990's.
Executives from every industry and job function were showcasing their
dashboards to fellow co-workers and colleagues at the country club. Just like the iPad, every senior manager
wanted one. EIS wasn't a device however,
it was a software application. EIS
quickly faded into the software sunset as it lacked integration with corporate
information systems. BI servers replaced EIS because the technology focused
on the heavy data lifting of integrating, normalizing, aggregating and managing
large, complex data volumes. The devices
are here to stay. The cute stand-alone mobile BI tools, not so much.
If all you're
looking to do is put Excel files on your iPad, there are plenty of free tools
on the market. You'll look cool at your
next management meeting but after a few weeks, the cool factor will fade away
and you'll be wondering how you will ever maintain it. If however you want secure, consistent,
reliable information on your iPad, you need an integration strategy and a way
to model the data. BI Server
technologies like the Oracle BI Foundation is a market leading approach to
tackle that issue.
I liken the
BI mobility frenzy to buying classic cars.
Classic Cars have two buying groups - teenagers and middle-age folks
looking to tinker. Teenagers look at the
pin-stripes and the paint job while middle-agers (like me) kick the tires a bit and look under the hood
to check out the quality and reliability of the engine. Mobile BI tools sure look sexy but don't go
very far without an engine and a transmission or an integration strategy.
The strategic
question in Mobile BI is can these startups build a motor and transmission
faster than Oracle can re-paint the car?
Oracle has a great engine and a transmission that connects to all
enterprise information assets. We're
working on the new paint job and are excited about the possibilities. Just as vertical integration worked in the
automotive business, it too works in the technology industry.
