Reality Check: search is lacking

Reading Frank Buytendijk's post on search conjured up memories of the hours I've spent on Google (I admit I haven't used others, even Yahoo or LiveSearch) trying to find information or a birthday present. Sure when I know exactly what I want, it's easy... I only receive a million links to trudge through.

But when I don't know precisely or I'd like to have options to my original thought, I spend hours trying different keywords to give me those options. The same is for any keyword search in Forrester, eBay, Amazon, etc.

For example, when I was interested in buying a video camera for capturing ad hoc interviews at conventions or a spontaneous family moment (not a complicated or expensive camera), you can imagine the results I received -- 52 million. The first couple pages are riddled with product pricing and accessories -- no trusted, non-marketing information -- definitely no options!

This relates to BI too. When I search for corporate information in a BI system, such as, "sales performance 2007", I don't necessarily want every report and KPI with the word "sales", "performance", or "2007" found in the name and description. That would assume I know the name of the report or KPI from a list of thousands -- I have more important things to remember.

The search engine optimization strategies don't work for me, the average consumer. Seth Godin thinks Internet SEO's are problematic for marketers too. So today's keyword search is not working for either the consumer or the marketer.

Here's what I'd like to see from a search engine (if you know of one, BI or other, please let me know):

• Search shouldn't be a yes/no answer. When I ask for 'video camera', the search engine should also come back with options, such as, accessories and comparisons from trusted, non-marketing information. Not just 52 million results with those words or nothing.


• Search should ask me for clarification. When talking with people, we ask clarifying questions, like "did you mean camcorders, professional cameras, or picture cameras with video?" It's the help me, help you situation.


• Search should provide flexible results. From Frank's post, "If you search for a second-hand Jaguar in black, with not more than 100,000 kilometers, perhaps the dark blue one with 101,000 km is fine too."

I want search to be intuitive, easy like Google, but have some "intelligence". Access to information is great but now there is too much available to us in an inefficient manner.

Now to BI. Business Intelligence provides insight into your organization but at what cost is accessing the content. Ask yourself how easy is it for the average person in your organization to gain insight through your BI system (without knowing exactly what the name is). How easy is it for management to find information in your BI system? Do you need a dedicated power user who is the only one that knows what is available?

Think how easy BI would be adopted within your organization if access to the information was as easy as using Google.

First BI mashup with Google Maps

Okay, being the first out of the gate with a new technology doesn't mean you will be the long term winner. But in this case, they could be. A mashup between BI and Google by using the open source, collaborative model gave Pentaho the edge they needed.

That collaborative model may also keep them the front-runners in the future. Instead of using only in-house IT people or consultants to build new products, the Open Source model uses hundreds and thousands of people outside of company walls, many of which are in the new Web 2.0 world, to design and build the next generation of software.

In this case, Pentaho mashed Google Maps with their graphical dashboards to display location-based metrics tied to geographic maps. And Google featured this as an innovative example in Google Code.

Here's an example,
"The combination of Pentaho’s charts and other graphically expressed metrics with visual geographic information can help companies rapidly identify regions associated with certain customer behaviors or spending patterns, (...) zero in on location-based business opportunities, and gain other insights that are difficult to see in a traditional report or spreadsheet."

So chalk this up as a win for the Open Source, collaborative model (and Pentaho, of course).

I'd like to continue with this topic of conversation and ask, "Have you come across other mashups that move BI closer to a Web 2.0 world?" Or know of new innovative features (or would like to suggest ideas for BI) that push the BI envelope to be more mobile, easy-to-use, or ways that would make BI utilized by more people within the organization? Let's hear from you.

Biggle me this

Gartner has created a new word for us. They do this once in a while.

Biggle -- The intersection of BI and Google.

They call it the concept of easy-to-use BI where data warehouse software is sophisticated enough to relate similar concepts and products. I like the concept but is Biggle (the word) really innovative? As far as trend-setting, Gartner doesn't always hit the mark.

So let me take a stab at this. Google's search engine is being used by various BI vendors to give business people easier access to their information. And BI vendors, such as Cognos & SAS, have redesigned their web portals so people can use the familiar Google search bar. Is this telling BI vendors to focus on what they are great at, which is BI and not Web 2.0 applications?

(A quick aside) Business Week writes about BI uncovering $13M in improper Medicaid claims in New York. They say it could have been $3.8 Billion!

And the same article also talks about Biggle:

"For instance, if a business-unit leader searches for first quarter financial results, she might also get reports on the 10 largest customers by profit and revenues."

This post was a bit of a hodgepodge but the underlying message is this:

BI needs to be simplier so business people can accept and use it in a meaningful way.

Where is your pipe dream

Lyndsay Wise writes how "business performance management (BPM) is the next generation of business intelligence". Not so sure this is true when Hyperion is already adding Google search to their BPM and BI toolsets.

The next wave for BI, which includes BPM, will probably focus on two objectives:

1) Simplify BI so non-tech people can actually use it. Google search is a start.

2) Once it is easier to use, BI will quickly be pushed out to more people within an organization.

BI and BPM can be a huge benefit to a business. At this point, only 20% of people gain this benefit.

Imagine your business using a pipe with two open ends. At one end, information enters the pipe. Invoices, customer support, case management... data goes in. The pipe makes the magic happen and information should come out the other end. (The pipe is a metaphor for BI technology, in case it wasn't clear.)

You want the information coming out to be at a good flow and the pipe at the correct width. I suspect most have the tap on too high. Or not enough flow. The point being that every organization has different needs. And people within a company also have different needs.

Do a quick check. Are your executives receiving the same flow of information as people on the front line? Different information and tools for different folks.

Unique

There are 44,200,000 Google matches for "Information Management". "Business Intelligence" beats that with 55,600,000, while "Data Warehouse" is far behind with 12,600,000. "Performance Management" is in the middle with 21,600,000 matches.

Are you using these words to describe you or your company? You may not be so unique as you think you are, I'm guessing.

Compare that with Google matches for vendors. Business Objects at 9,100,000. Cognos at 4,630,000. Down to Microstrategy at 1,660,000 and Pentaho with 240,000.

Does more content suggest a better product? More matches suggest more installations? Being the loudest doesn't mean the best.

Squeezed from all sides

A generic strategy for most companies attempting to increase market share would be to innovate with leading edge services or products and jump ahead of the competition. Not Google. With Google Spreadsheets, they replicate an existing product that has been around for years, Excel, and shune the fact that it was created by the world's largest software maker, Microsoft.

You may say Google has too much time and money on their hands and their programmers are bored with building Internet search. But this could be one small strategic step with a leading edge vision.

One: I like this move because you shoot Microsoft in their sweet spot, Office products. Yes others have tried, but Google is on the software as a service (SaaS) model and they have a massively well-known brand backing them.

Two: They are now going after market share other than the cool search/consumer industry.

Now, here's where we get to BI.

Combine Google's SaaS model with it's recent partnerships with BI vendors, which is their public attempt to reach the corporate market (and they will). Together, and given time, you get what SalesForce.com, NetSuite, and ADP have done successfully in their industries for years but now in the BI space.

BI via software as a service.

Easy to use, Internet-based, BI paid by the month. No more unused licenses sitting on shelves. Increase or decrease users - only paying for what you need. You'd want configurable transformations and easy report building techniques.

Now before you discount the SaaS model or raise the privacy of information issues, consider this. Of all the companies that could leap frog the competition with leading edge innovation and technology, Google is a sure bet.

And it could be BI's time to take the next visionary leap.

9 things about BI from Google Trends

Google Trends can provide interesting results, as with Steve Rubel's 25 things in society's psyche post. So here are 9 BI industry trends.

1) Cognos and Business Objects are neck and neck, except Cognos is in the news more often.

2) There is double the popularity in DW than BI when in Pakistan, Indonesia, and Thailand.

3) And MIS jumps even higher in that area of the world.

4) Microsoft is still bigger than Oracle (both are searched more than IBM).

5) Almost no one has interest in ROLAP. Is OLAP now the winner?

6) Kimball is more popular than Inmon. Or is Kimball, the name, just more common.

7) Dominican Republic and Netherlands look for BPM more but overall BI searches are higher.

8) Informatica is untouchable, except when the giant SAS enters the picture.

9) Six Sigma out weighs Balance Scorecard by... well, alot. And India sure is looking for process improvement information.

And one from Steve's post...

Google is bigger than God?

Cool tool and perhaps real analysis

The latest from Google.

Very interesting way of trending Internet data but can someone use it to learn remarkable and helpful information. Using the tool is easy and fun.

Possibly a great way to bring BI (or at least analysis) to the masses. Software should make our lives easier and this is a major step in that direction. The next will be to drop Google Trends on top of your data and let your people learn more about your business.

Google does BI

Google and Cognos team up to offer Google-styled text searching of BI content.

You may not agree with freely entering text to search BI content but isn't the goal to have more people use BI? This mashup of technologies is moving BI into a space where people can do analysis using the familiar Google text box. Less training (or even none). Because who has taken any training to use Google and surf the web?