Blog 
SaaS vs. Traditional License – What’s Best?
We work with large companies and dealing with them can often be problematic, as they have intrinsic business and technology issues. We may convince managers of our value proposition only to later run into ‘not on my network’ from the CIO. Other times, an organization has a budget for a solution but not enough funds [...] Read More »
Business Intelligence and the AGILE Development Methodology
When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time sailing boats offshore. In those days, we used to navigate with a sextant. Every night my dad and I would take star sights to determine our location, and after we figured out our new location, we would adjust our course to make port. We [...] Read More »
Integrated Business Planning Breaks the Capex Hex
It’s the curse of every CFO. It’s the blight that mysteriously lures managers into exaggerating the return on invested capital. It’s the deep, dark chasm that separates earth-shaking ROI from the reality of misguided monies. It’s the Capex Hex. And it dilutes financial performance with little regard for industry, department or manager.
Year after year approved [...] Read More »
Trade Promotion Optimization for Retailers
The latest in retailer loyalty programs is here. Chains like Starbucks and Gap are increasingly tracking and rewarding customers who show up at their locations and check in via smartphone apps and social networking sites. Customers are offered real-time promotions on the spot based on their shopping habits and loyalty to the stores and/or brands. [...] Read More »
Changing the Graph Type is not Analytics
It’s really important that analytics technology allows users, from the executive office to the field, ask hard what-if questions about their business. As a technology evangelist, I strive to educate analysts, customers, prospects, and the marketplace about the importance of driver-based modeling and planning tools. The good news is I’m beginning to hear others run [...] Read More »
Analytics and Integrated Business Planning Gain Wider Attention
Harvard Business Press has released a second book on the use of analytics and planning in support of rational decision-making. Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results by Thomas Davenport, Jeanne G. Harris, and Robert Morrison is an easy read and proposes an interesting framework for using analytics in management.
The book lays out the need [...] Read More »
Capturing Intelligence and Transforming It into Useful Information for Analyses
by F. Shan McAdoo, VP Technical Development and Donna Martinez, Director of Marketing
OLAP and Business Intelligence (BI) systems provide strong reporting capabilities and valuable ad-hoc data analysis, and over the last decade, they’ve been further refined; however, they overlook a common business issue: they do not enforce data correctness. Users can use OLAP reports and [...] Read More »
Integrated Delivery Planning – An Introduction
While attending the recent HIMSS Southern Regional Conference in Dallas, Texas, I engaged in several conversations pertaining to the unique planning and budgeting challenges facing integrated delivery systems. Several recurring themes emerged in these conversations, including:
Physician/Administrator alignment
Driver-based budgeting
Detailed costing
Robust decision support (particularly pertaining to capitated care, self-insurance, and pay for performance)
After considerable investigation and follow-up, [...] Read More »
What is Integrated Business Planning and Why the Fuss?
Question: There is a lot of noise about Integrated Business Planning (IBP) in the market. What is driving this?
Answer: Today, more than ever, there is financial pressure to perform. This is driven by the increasing power of retailers and circumstances imposed by the recession. This has resulted in the need for companies to [...] Read More »
Business Modeling: From Tipping Point to Turning Point
Spreadsheets are no longer enough to support client projects – they are not adequate for creating complex and dynamic business models
In the best-selling book, The Tipping Point, author Malcolm Gladwell defines the tipping point as that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change at once. Currently, there is a tipping point, a [...] Read More »