The Quest For a Personalized Enterprise Dashboard

Most executives and managers digest multiple streams of  information on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.  Tying this information together quickly and acting on it is challenging and the end result is usually an executive or manager that is reacting instead of being proactive. 

One reason is that the majority of those executives do not have access to real time dashboards.  They primarily rely on historical information embedded in excel spreadsheets.  They rely on spreadsheets because aggregating and mashing up data across multiple systems was impossible or expensive.

Depending on the company, data resides in SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics or a legion of other CRM, accounts payable, human resources and proprietary systems.  You can build dashboards in most of these systems but they are limited to the data in the system.  

Since every company tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) differently, this makes custom dashboard building difficult.   Enterprise department heads need customized dashboards that display performance metrics related his or her position and typically that data resides in multiple systems.   This makes dashboard building a major undertaking and is very expensive.   

There are emerging solutions that solve this issue and do so inexpensively.   Below I feature a few fully interactive ad hoc reporting and analysis platforms and Business Intelligence solutions that allow multiple data system dashboard building: (disclosure: I work for one of them)

Enterprise Dashboard Product Matrix

Factors	SharePoint 2010	Pentaho	MindTouch 2009	Jaspersoft
Collaborative Dashboard Portal	Yes	No	Yes	No
Dashboards in free edition	No	Yes	No	Yes
Dashboard Designer	No	Yes	No	Yes
Contextual Dashboards	Yes	No	Yes	No
Interactive Dashboards	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

 

Dashboard Screenshots

Pentaho	MindTouch 2009
SharePoint 2010	Jaspersoft

 

Executive Take

Each of these solutions offer unique value for the enterprise.  There is a big push for enterprise dashboards currently but most are jumping in without understanding the consequences.  Work backwards and start with the ideal dashboard you need to run your business or division. 

Step 1 – Create an ideal Dashboard

Step 2 – Create a draft layout

Step 3 – Find the enterprise data you need to create the dashboards

Step 4 – Work with IT to determine difficulty of connecting data to an enterprise dashboard 

Step 5 – Build a conceptual plan for dashboard interactivity (how will you interactive with the dashboard? Drill downs? Contextual dashboards?)

Step 6 – Choose an Enterprise Dashboard solution that’s best for your organization based on steps 1 - 5 

Step 7 – Connect data to your Dashboard

Step 8 – Test and adjust

Step 9 – Review monthly for accuracy and adjustment

Summary

From my perspective, the future involves personal dashboards for everyone in the company.  They will be work dashboards that automatically capture work and project activities from email, Google Wave, project management systems, enterprise collaboration platforms, IP phones, social media systems, and any other digital information that can be captured by computers. 

Then, the data will be fed into your personal dashboard and rolled up to enterprise dashboards so that executives can see the health of the organization and take corrective action if necessary.  Everyone will know in real time how much they are contributing to the company and be given multiple grading scores related to their job function and responsibilities.     

The future knowledge worker?  We’ll see.

Technorati Tags: enterprise dashboards,pentaho,mindtouch,sharepoint 2010,jaspersoft

The Google Enterprise Strategy Starts with Google Wave

Eric Schmidt – Google CEO

Sources inside Google are telling me that 2010 is really the ‘Year of the Enterprise’.  For a company better known for its’ consumer products, this is a major shift in strategy.  They’ve been steadily laying the technology foundation for the enterprise blitzkrieg and expect to start profiting from it next year.  Yes, Google Docs has yet to make a huge splash, but the company is betting Google Wave will beachhead the company’s products into the enterprise. 

At the Gartner Symposium this week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt sat down with CNET for an Interview.   During the interview Schmidt said; "it's the next big billion-dollar opportunity after our display (ad) business."  Schmidt, a Novell and Sun veteran, knows all too well the amount of wealth creation that can be created selling to enterprise customers. 

I’ve looked at Wave from a number of angles and determined the application has enterprise capable legs.  The issue today however is that Wave does not have any killer applications associated with it that will drive massive enterprise adoption (I know it’s still in Beta).  Moreover, most of the current Wave Robots and Gadgets are consumer focused (with some exceptions – notably SAP) which I believe is a big mistake.  

Google must carve Wave into Enterprise and Consumer editions then support each with their own ecosystems.    As an enterprise customer, I don’t want to see Name that Beer Robots or Solitaire Gadgets.  Show me robots that translate my technical documentation into foreign languages on the fly and Predictive Market Gadgets that leverage the wisdom of the corporation for answers to business issues. 

Google must cater to each segment despite Schmidt’s claim that consumer and enterprise products are converging.  I call hogwash.  Business and social issues are different and the value to each segment needs to be packaged correctly.      

Schmidt can start by following a methodology that in retrospect made Microsoft incredibly successful.  Those close to Bill Gates and Steve Balmer know that they have always promoted the fact that Microsoft became successful because they focused on making other businesses rich.   Build a platform (Windows and SharePoint) that makes it easy for others to build applications and programs that make companies a lot of money. 

Wave can and should be that platform.  Yet Google needs to cater to enterprise developers and build a Value Added Reseller channel that can deliver Wave into the corporation.  For that, Wave needs to build mission critical enterprise applications that solve real business issues.   A few high level examples:

1. A healthcare Wave that easily fosters collaboration between Doctors, patients, and insurance companies. 
2. A legal Wave that makes it easy for attorneys to share discovery, case notes, case law, and research.
3. An innovation Wave that makes it easy to build new products within the corporation yet extends into the supplier base for input on prices, materials and suggestions.

  These are but a few of the potential use cases for the enterprise.   At the same time, Google needs to make using a Wave easier by creating specific solutions that start the viral effect.   How about an expense report Wave?  Travel requests? A marketing process workflow approval Wave?   

But like Salesforce’s App Exchange, Google must create an enterprise repository for innovative developers, companies and entrepreneurs to build solutions that will potentially make them wealthy.   It must look like a business exchange and exclude consumer oriented applications.  

The thing that makes Wave fascinating is that it’s highly extendable and open source. There's little barrier to entry and for the most part easy to use.  This is why most organizations will try it.  Whether it sticks or not entirely depends on the strategic moves Google makes during the next 12 months.   They need to have the confidence to make decisions that depart from the Google consumer status quo. 

Think about Bill and Steve’s philosophy on making other people money and build a Wave platform - wealth building ecosystem. This will take months and cost millions to develop.  But in return will make Google billions. 

Technorati Tags: google wave,salesforce.com,app exchange,Google,Strategy,Eric Schmidt

SharePoint 2010 Conference Review – Dashboards, Social and User Configuration

7000+ people showed up for the SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas yesterday.  The conference was overbooked and many more people wanted to attend but couldn’t. 

Why all this demand for what amounts to be a large product pitch?  Because the enterprise collaboration space is white hot right now with many companies looking to leverage collaboration suites to reduce their costs and increase worker productivity.  

There are three basic feature pillars Microsoft is promoting in 2010. 

1. Social Computing Features
2. Business Intelligence and Dashboards
3. User/Team Page and Workspace Configuration

Social Computing Features:

I like the new content rating system.  It allows users to rate content (like documents, lists, and content) and store the ratings in a database.   No word yet on if the ratings influence the search results.  

The implicit tagging feature (if it works as advertised) is destined to be an important feature.  The ability to suggest tags and experts from context is something that has been missing from most Enterprise 2.0 technology solutions.  On its surface, implicit tagging doesn’t appear to be important unless you’ve been in a large corporation with vast amounts of information stored on the intranet.  Finding content and experts in those situations are near impossible.  This feature will help tremendously.   

Business Intelligence, Dashboards and Scorecards

Called Insight, the new BI and Dashboard tools have been improved.   Excel integration is easier and better with additional claims that Excel URL’s are RESTful which means you can commit an action via an URL post.   Excel is then updated on every property simultaneously because a single version of truth (their term not mine) is stored on the SharePoint server. 

Other dashboard and scoreboarding features include new indicators that help managers quickly zero in on problems. 

And task indicators that show progress and completed tasks. 

The SharePoint team is relying heavily on the Excel integration to drive the dashboards and scorecarding.   Apparently, Excel 2010 will allow users to manipulate and quickly segment 100 millions rows of data.  That will eliminate some of the need for data storage in databases and open up data access to the masses. 

Another great feature is the ability to pivot data in real time  and update dashboards and scorecards automatically.  In fact, you can right click in the browser to drill down into the data (decomposition tree for the technical crowd) to see where and how the data originates.   This tool creates a contextual dashboard that is updated based on the data displayed.  Very powerful.  

User/Team Page and Workspace Configuration

The SharePoint team skimmed this topic but I heard it loud and clear.  Microsoft is making it very easy to generate content on SharePoint without the need for IT.  They are attempting to cross the IT chasm into the rich world of business users with deeper pockets. 

I’m impressed by how easy it is to customize a workspace.  Each department or team can have a unique personality which enhances the user experience (thus more adoption).  I don’t know the extent of the customization (beta is to be released next month) but it appears you can edit the space extensively.  In fact, pulling in themes from other Office appears to be simple. 

 

Summary

There is of course a lot more I didn’t cover in this review.  Including visual upgrades, IT management tools for SharePoint, monitoring the health of SharePoint, and so on.   It’s a promising start for SharePoint 2010, the beta is coming out shortly followed by a Q2 2010 formal launch.

Complimentary companies and products are wise to build a SharePoint connector or at least have a compelling SharePoint integration story to tell. SharePoint 2010 appears to have some legs (outside of IT) and will raise the tide for all vendors in the space. 

The main reason SharePoint and other enterprise collaboration vendors are having considerable success is that it's easier to create high ROI collaborative sites today than any other time in history. 

Technorati Tags: sharepoint 2010,review

Note: For another perspective please read Oliver Mark’s review. 

Live Google Wave Presentation and the BEST Google Wave Video Yet

Whether you’ve heard about Google Wave or are interested in using it for your business, you must see my presentation at SanDios next week on Oct 22. 
I’ll be highlighting the following:

1. How Google Wave may replace email in the near future
2. What new business opportunities are there for Wave
3. Will Wave help us collaborate more efficiently?
4. Is there an ROI for Wave?

Just register online at SanDios and get 50% off by using code OFF50

The Best, Most Original Google Wave Video
 
Looks like some enterprising group with too much time on their hands has produced what I consider the most original Wave video yet.  It won’t help you understand Wave anymore than you do now, but it’s entertaining.
Here's the video based on a scene in Pulp Wave Fiction.

Google Wave Video - Pulp Fiction @ Yahoo! Video

Technorati Tags: google wave,videos

What does the Crowd think of Enterprise 2.0 and Social Media?

You may have noticed Google’s new search suggestion feature that purportedly makes search recommendations based on what people are searching.  I decided to capture a few of the more interesting ones related to our space.   

 

 

There you have it.  Now you see what the crowd is thinking. 

Are you surprised by the results?  Thoughts?  Other related searches you’ve made with interesting outcomes? 

Technorati Tags: enterprise 2.0,social media,web 2.0,Google Wave

Another Enterprise Web 2.0 “WOW” Experience

It’s been awhile since I posted my last WOW experience.   It didn’t happen to me, but I will relay a co-worker’s experience where she was blown away by how the encounter came together.

It all started in late July 2009.  Sarah was excited her boyfriend had reserved a room at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and decided to share her reaction with her followers.   What ensued was a masterful Web 2.0 business interaction which ended in a marriage proposal. 

Because @BiltmoreLA was monitoring the conversation on Twitter, and in less than three tweets they had given Sarah a “WOW” experience.  How much time did it take?  3 minutes – to gain a customer for life.  Plus, Sarah has been promoting the experience since her return. 

 @BiltmoreLA cleverly continued to subtly promote themselves while focusing on their customer.   Each of these responses is micro-building their brand.  The Biltmore became part of Sarah’s story and was not an overt advertisement for the hotel.  Masterful, smart and a lot of lessons to be learned for large and small businesses here.   

The conversation continued throughout her stay as 1300 of Sarah’s followers tuned in. 

To end this near perfect experience, on Saturday, September 26 Jason (Sarah’s fiancé) popped the question over (literally) a delectable red velvet cake; and YES she said YES.  

The lesson for businesses here is that you don’t need to spend a lot of money in advertising in order to become part of your customer’s story.  Visibly help and provide perks to tuned in followers and watch your business grow.  Viewers are much more likely to believe their friends and people they respect then your press releases and advertising.

Leverage free media and connect with your customers.  Respond quickly and engage your customers or prospective customers in a conversation that educates them to your product or service.   Become part of their story (ideally the hero). 

So, what are you waiting for?  Go do it.

 

Technorati Tags: Biltmore LA,WOW Experience

And the Nobel Peace Prize Goes to… Enterprise 2.0

Yesterday was just another busy day.  But it wasn’t.  For some reason, the Nobel Peace Foundation decided that Brand Obama was the person most responsible for peace in 2009.   Whether you like the direction the Obama administration is heading or not, awarding prizes for peace that may or may not happen is plain silly.  

 

Image by --Tico-- via Flickr

 

Former President of Poland and Nobel Prize winner Leac Walesa actually said what everyone else was thinking: “Who? What? So Fast?”  He went on to say, “well, there hasn’t been any contribution to peace yet. He’s proposing things, he’s initiating things, but he is yet to deliver.”

Worse, the Obama administration now feels like they need to live up to the Peace Prize’s expectation.  All decisions will consciously or unconsciously be filtered by the pre-award so that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.  Whether it’s good for America or not, Obama will feel obligated to apply a peace filter to his foreign policy decision making.

So what lessons can the Enterprise 2.0 crowd learn from this situation? For one, let’s show some real wins in the Enterprise before we declare it the new era in business.   Second,  let’s turn the business promises into proven ROI and efficiency gains.  Let’s continue to capture them in case studies and promote the benefits.   

No, we're not going to declare Enterprise 2.0 the recession savior.  Yet.

Thanks, but let’s deliver results first.

 

Technorati Tags: obama,nobel peace,enterprise 2.0

How bad do we really want Google Wave?

 

A case study in how you leverage community on Twitter,  Google Wave has been overpowering the Twittisphere with requests for Google Wave invites.  I’ve highlighted some of the outrageous, funny and sarcastic tweets.   Below is a thumbnail sketch of went went on during the last 24 hours: 

The Shocking:

Some people will do anything to get into the best restaurant, a popular club, tickets for the Superbowl, or apparently a Google Wave invite.

 

The Hilarious

Sarcastic, witty and downright insightful.

Google Wave Pacts

Taking a page out of the Survivor papaya play book, these enterprising individuals are taking the quid pro quo route. 

The Disappointed

Call a therapist please.

Those with Capitalist Motives

Nothing like scarcity to create demand and our capitalistic impulses.  

The Wishful

Let’s hope someone takes pity on the despondent.

From the Beat Them When they’re Down Department

Delusional?

Yes, Google Wave will solve all of the world’s problems. 

Completely out of Touch

I think we need to help them out from under the rock they’ve been hiding. 

 

 

 

 

 

@mttgamer – Appears to be the Harry Potter of Google Wave – magically creating Wave invites at will. 

Technorati Tags: google wave,humor