Turn data into intelligence: Uncover insights. Take action

Editor's Notes

• #4: Goal: We understand midsize companies and their importance in the global economy Although many midsize companies may not be well know brands, they have a dominant impact on the global economy Midsize companies have been the engines of economic growth for a long time, 65% of the worlds GDP is driven by midsize companies. Globally, midsize and smaller companies represent more than 90% of all businesses and employ over 90% of the world’s workforce. Midsize companies are the thinkers, doers and creators of the new ideas that are driving growth, not in theory, but in practice. They produce more patents and more innovations per employee than large firms. To continue that path to success, midsize businesses must embrace new and better ways of doing business. Leaders of these organizations are being counted on to find new growth opportunities and deliver innovation to support the accelerating rate of change.
• #5: Goal: Even though it is a difficult economic climate, midsize companies are well positioned While most people are starting to see the green shoots in the economy, these are still difficult times But interesting to note that historically, in past recessions, small and midsize businesses have suffered less and recovered faster than larger companies according to US Department of Labor Statistics IBM recently conducted a comprehensive survey of over 1,800 midsize business and IT leaders globally. Approximately half (53%) of surveyed companies are concentrating their efforts on increasing efficiency and lowering costs, The other half (47%) have an innovation mindset with their primary focus on finding new sources of growth, transformation for competitive advantage, and strengthening customer relationships The magnitude of change that is affecting industries today is unprecedented. Difficult economic conditions, a broader set of business imperatives, and evolving technology requirements are presenting midsize companies with as many threats as opportunities. It’s becoming increasingly clear that innovative, forward thinking organizations can do more than survive in this environment, they can thrive. To continue that path to success, midsize businesses must embrace new and better ways of doing business. This is a smarter world, one where midsize companies are taking a fresh look at ways to make far better use of the information and resources available to them.
• #6: Goal: Establish that midsize companies have a competitive edge by outsmarting the larger and smaller competitors Compared with larger companies, midsize companies inherently have the opportunity to be more agile. Regardless of whether the economy is going up or going down, midsize companies can outflank their larger competitors or smaller rivals based on their ability to adapt faster to changing market conditions. If a midsize company can rapidly change their business model and align resources quickly, they will be able to capitalize on new opportunities
• #7: Goal: Describe the pitfalls of how most midsize companies work today Typically midsize companies are not lacking in data about their products or customers and their buying trends, however, they often struggle with yielding meaningful insights from that plethora of data and are not able to make fact-based decisions or derive insight from information at their disposal People are taking snapshots of data and putting into spreadsheets and applying their own custom formulas and calculations. How many times have you walked into a meeting with three people having 3 different sets of data on the same topic? You spend more time arguing about the data than analyzing it. So often decisions are made on “gut feel” - because those decisions are based on the information people have on hand, and if not accurate, timely or complete. And because the planning process is often a disconnected exercise conducted periodically, when key decisions are made it can take a long time to align the appropriate resources, both people and dollars.
• #8: Goal: Set up the need to do things differently, more interconnected Clearly we need to do things differently. It must be an interconnected system. First we need to better manage key data and get control over this proliferation of spreadsheets and data silos. We can then begin to provide meaningful information. And to dive deeper and uncover key insights and new opportunities. And finally, to take action by aligning the right resources to capitalize on these new opportunities. It’s this interconnected system that enables you to go from Data to Information. From Information to Insight. And from Insight to Action.
• #9: Goal: Ask the question why are more midsize companies have not yet implemented BI I find it interesting that BI has been a top priority for midsize companies for many years. You clearly recognize the need. Yet most analyst firms estimate that only 35% of midsize companies have actually implemented BI. Clearly there is a gap between the haves and the have-nots. The question in why?
• #10: Goal: describe the barriers that have prevented companies from implementing BI The existing BI solutions, designed for large enterprises, are not working for the majority of midsize companies. Just because you call it a midsize package and lower the price, it is clearly not meeting the needs for most of you. The largest barriers to meeting your goal include: High cost, and limited budget -- and you need to take into account the total cost of ownership. Not just software but the IT and consulting expense of complex solutions Disruption to business – if the learning curve is too steep or it requires you to change your business process to fit the tool IT experience, skills, resources – IT resources are already overstretched and most don’t have a deep pool of resources or the expertise in BI and planning. Over 2 years ago we formed a new product unit dedicated to building a new solution to better meet the needs of midsized companies.
• #11: Midsize business challenges are similar to large enterprises, but midsize companies don’t have the budgets, IT resources or expertise to undertake a large BI/PM initiative. An effective solution must provide: Shorter time to value Easier to manage with limited to no IT support Support for “just enough” BI and FPM functionality Embrace and transform MS Excel Provide “Glide Paths” to new capabilities as they grow IBM Cognos Express delivers the essential business intelligence and planning capabilities purpose-built and priced for midsize companies. All business users are empowered through self-service reporting, analysis, dashboards and planning. With access to any data in a consistent and secure manner, and a powerful but user-friendly analysis engine combine to provide an information foundation leveraged across the organization. Everything required for immediate success is included in a self-contained solution that makes it simple to own, operate and grow. IT staffs with limited resources and budgets now have the flexibility to start small, demonstrate immediate returns, and add new capabilities when required. Cognos Express is the only mid-market product that delivers integrated Reporting, Analysis and Planning
• #12: Easy to Install - Pre-configured solution includes everything required for simple deployment and management Easy to Use - Self-service access empowers business users and removes the burden from IT Easy to Buy - Packaged and priced right… Start small, start anywhere, deliver immediate value, and grow
• #13: IBM Cognos Express includes everything you need for immediate use in a preconfigured solution with no assembly required. It plugs into your existing infrastructure with minimal impact and can be deployed within an hour – not in weeks or months. A single, centralized Web-based console manages all administrative aspects of installation, deployment and ongoing management, using only a few simple mouse clicks. There is no extra burden on IT staff and no additional investment in software infrastructure. All the essential reporting, analysis and planning capabilities are available in one integrated solution from a single vendor. This simplicity eliminates the time and costs associated with more complicated, developer-centric implementations and enables you to be more productive right away. It also reduces the complexity of deployment and ongoing maintenance, which minimizes the IT resources required. As your needs expand in the future, IBM Cognos Express provides a smooth path to add capabilities, using the same familiar software application. There is no extra training required or additional demands on overstretched technical resources.
• #14: IBM Cognos Express is so easy to use that it can be managed and operated by business users themselves. Self-service access enables users to work independently to quickly access information and create and modify their own reports and analysis —without having to rely on constrained IT resources for help. Data is presented in a business context that business users understand while ensuring data accuracy and consistency throughout the organization. This allows executives and managers in different departments to spend more time analyzing data and less time arguing over whose data is correct. While IBM Cognos Express empowers users to be self-sufficient, it does so in a controlled way, using common metadata models to ensure that everyone works with the same trusted information. Simple, intuitive authoring capabilities support the needs of all business users from the novice to the advanced “power user.” As a result, managers can spend more time analyzing data and formulating business strategy so they can make instant adjustments to plans, budgets and forecasts to respond quickly and effectively to changing business conditions.
• #15: IBM Cognos Express is packaged and priced to let companies start small with only the capabilities they need, realize immediate business value and expand their solution as they grow. Its affordable pricing includes everything you need to get started – there are no hidden fees for additional software, as is typical with more complex solutions. Simple administration also saves time and resources to deliver faster time to value. With no hidden costs and unsurpassed ease of use, IBM Cognos Express delivers a rapid return on investment and a predictable ongoing cost of ownership.
• #16: IBM Cognos Express offers a complete, integrated self-service solution for a midsize company’s BI and planning needs. The following three modules can be used separately or together: IBM Cognos Express Reporter for reporting and ad hoc query IBM Cognos Express Advisor for freeform analysis and visualization IBM Cognos Express Xcelerator for Microsoft® Excel® based planning and business analysis Purchase the product in its entirety with its reporting, analysis, dashboard, scorecard and planning capabilities or start with the specific modules you need today while creating an easy growth path toward the future. This flexible approach gives you the freedom to “think big, but start small” – an effective strategy to match project and business needs with budget and resource constraints.
• #17: Often, the first step toward initiating or expanding a BI strategy involves moving beyond the canned reports included with your corporate applications. You need the flexibility to create reports that combine information from a variety of different sources and to build different types of reports that support the needs of various users throughout the company. Express Reporter delivers complete, self-service reporting and ad hoc query capabilities that empower business users to access, modify or author reports quickly and easily. It provides a consistent view of information throughout your company so users are never confused, misinformed or misaligned. This self-service design helps reduce the cost and time needed to share information throughout the organization. The reduced demands on IT means there are no more reporting backlogs and frustrated business users. The result is better decision-making company-wide. Simple, intuitive authoring for novice to experts Different reports to meet the needs of different users Breadth of report coverage – operational, transactional, dashboards, ad hoc Connect to any type of data and in any combination – relational, OLAP, desktop files Flexible report delivery via web interface, PDF, Excel, email or Portal
• #18: In today’s challenging economic climate, midsize companies need to spot emerging trends quickly and answer essential business questions such as, “Which are our most profitable products and what makes them profitable?” or “Who are my best customers?” and “How effective is my customer service?” Express Advisor provides the ability to quickly answer questions such as these by analyzing complex data and then communicating business insights through high-impact visualizations. You can easily explore and customize data with interactive visuals. For example, click on an image in a chart to drill up or down for additional information or drill through to find the source of the data. Key insights can then be delivered throughout the company using intuitive Web-based dashboards and interactive reports that encourage wide user adoption. Express Advisor includes an analytics server that quickly connects to operational data sources and creates a dimensional view of your business. You can analyze key areas, such as customers, products, geographies, and so on. There are also times when business users want to analyze new data and create new dimensions. Express Advisor enables you to work with raw data in a freeform fashion to combine data on the fly and analyze results in a highly unstructured and iterative manner. The complex technical details of data modeling and real-time OLAP processing are hidden from business users so they can stay focused on evaluating critical business performance data. Real-time analysis with in-memory multidimensional capability Slice and dice, drill down capabilities High impact data visualizations Simplified business view creation and building On the fly business view changes ‘ What if’ scenarios with write back Embed live content into MS Office applications
• #19: Many financial and business analysts are skilled spreadsheet users who don’t want to give up this important tool. Yet most companies recognize the significant risk in spreadsheet-only business processes. With spreadsheets, it is difficult to control access to key financial and operational data and to audit changes. Information is locked in silos and different people can modify information using inconsistent calculations and rules. In addition, spreadsheets lack the ability to slice and dice large sets of data across multiple dimensions. The first step toward initiating or expanding your planning strategy is to enhance the spreadsheet processes while eliminating the inherent risks in using spreadsheets. Express Xcelerator extends and transforms the familiar Excel front-end with a powerful in-memory analytics engine. It’s perfectly suited for multidimensional analysis and strategic planning tasks, enabling a new level of insight and action, as well as speed. Express Xcelerator transforms common spreadsheets for both real-time business analysis and planning, giving users the power to build and test business scenarios with powerful “what if” modeling and to update plans immediately using write-back capabilities. This closed-loop process enables you to take full advantage of the insight gained through analysis by extending it to your planning process. So organizations can use existing Excel skills and investments Extends the familiar Excel front-end with a powerful in-memory analytics engine for multi-dimensional analysis, reporting and planning Centrally managed data, business hierarchies, rules, calculations Excel or Web Interface Business scenarios with powerful “what if” modeling and write back Role-based security and clear audit trails Workflow management
• #20: To “think big” means to have a vision for an information-driven business culture that ties insight to action in all areas of a company  from sales and marketing to finance, operations and human resources. By linking the insights gained through business intelligence and planning processes, companies can start to build a new intelligence that fuels business optimization and drives growth. While these goals may seem lofty, the process does not have to be overwhelming. You can take a modular and incremental approach. Simply “start small” with the capabilities you need now and grow your BI and planning solution over time to meet your goals. IBM Cognos Express helps midsize companies meet all of their BI and planning needs using an integrated, one-stop solution that allows you to choose the capabilities you need, when you need them. With its easy-to-use, self-service environment, business users can independently create and modify their own analysis and reports without depending on IT resources. Centrally managed models and data security ensure consistent, trustworthy information throughout a company. IBM Cognos Express gives midsize companies a competitive advantage by providing powerful performance management capabilities that rival those used by even their largest competitors. Yet it is specifically built and priced to enable you to start small, realize immediate benefits and grow over time as your business grows. Midsize companies can easily match their projects and needs to their budget and resource constraints. The result is the industry’s only, one-stop integrated BI and planning solution purpose-built for midsize companies.
• #21: This is a real breakthrough solution for midsize companies Cognos Express is the first and only offering in the market that delivers… Integrated BI and Planning capabilities – reporting, analysis, dashboards, scorecards, planning Purpose-built to meet the unique requirements of midsize companies – who typically have limited IT staff and BI expertise Prepackaged – requiring no assembly, you’ll be up and running in under 1 hour Modular solution and provides complete growth path both within the express family or up to the congos enterprise product family Empowers all users with self-service capabilities Easy to install, use and buy! no other vendor comes close to delivering this – not Business Objects, not Oracle, not Microsoft or any of the point products like QlikTech
• #22: Closing slide to be included in all external presentations.