Technology is the tool, people are the key and results are what matters

Microsoft is here at IM2008 as well, driving the message home that technology is not the solution in it self. Actually, technology is the barrier, simply because it is too difficult to work with technology, it is usually fragmented and almost always inflexible and when it is deployed departmentally, the business never gets the larger benefit of a complete view of the business.

Online tools are prevalent in the worlds most successful enterprises with almost 60 percent of managers in World Class enterprises, while less than 40 percent of more average “peer-to-peer” companies can access tools immediately where ever they are. This analysis was made by Hacknet.

As Platon, Microsoft wants to focus on the people in the processes. To do this, solutions needs to be focused on the results and the way to these results. Data is still important, technology is important, but it’s how people leverage data and technology that sets companies apart.

While Microsoft focuses on large enterprises Acinta uses Microsoft technology to deliver the results speedy, in real time and without the usual heavy investments in data warehouse and hardware upgrades. Acinta exploits SQL Server to deliver swift and on-time BI to companies with millions of rows of data at a fraction of the cost of other solutions.

Dashboards are vital in all solutions that handle large amounts of data. They are easy to understand and immediately usable. As Michael Borges mentioned in his keynote this morning, we need to measure how well we do, to make sure that we maintain focus.

Microsoft looks at BI in three different ways:

• Personal BI: Analyze your data and use it to work smarter. It is usable in small companies, but as soon as you need to share your data, you need other solutions.
• Team BI: Lets your team access data, the relevant dashboards, report data and maybe even run their own analysis
• Corporate BI: How does your company do in the market? Corporate BI paints the large picture and should ideally give you a direct reading of your companies pulse. But, special needs arise as well, because Corporate BI needs to reach the end-users in the organization. To do this and benefit from it, you need a thorough Information Strategy

Tying Microsoft’s products together makes it possible to do all this, scaling from the largest companies in the world down to SMB and even SOHO. The technological advances makes it possible today for smaller companies to get into BI without investing heavily in hardware and network upgrades – what we call Lean BI.

Lean BI is faster, simpler and better. Faster because LEAN BI accesses your data directly in the system where they belong, for instance in Microsoft Dynamics. It’s simpler because LEAN BI contains ready to use data models that will get you started doing BI within hours. And it’s better because there are fewer possibilities of errors in the simpler architecture.

With Microsoft and Acinta, you get a BI-solution in as little as half a day at a fraction of the cost of data warehouse BI. If you already have MS SQL-server and Microsoft Dynamics, you just need Acinta to get into lean BI