Dashboard Insight

SAS, a provider of business analytics software and services, has unveiled Rapid Predictive Modeler that develops predictive models to address an array of business scenarios. The company said that the new offerings allow business users to select data and choose inputs for the outcome they desire, and the software processes the input variables and selects the best predictive model.

CTI Group has signed a partnership agreement with Convergys to integrate its advanced A7 analytics technology into the Convergys' Smart Enterprise Solution. CTI Group said that the partnership will enable Convergys to offer telecommunications operators serving enterprise clients efficient analytics as part of the latter's Smart Enterprise Billing.

MicroStrategy® Incorporated, a leading worldwide provider of business intelligence (BI) software, today announced that TAP Portugal has deployed MicroStrategy dashboards to analyze air transportation and flight operations performance data. TAP Portugal, the leading Portuguese airline and a member of Star Alliance, currently operates over 1,850 weekly flights.

Organizations that arm business analysts with SAS® Rapid Predictive Modeler empower a whole new group of employees to determine the best actions for reducing risk and improving organizational performance. SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, is making its award-winning predictive analytics even more pervasive in the launch of SAS Rapid Predictive Modeler. SAS provides a quick, easy and effective way to develop predictive models that address a broad range of business scenarios, including customer segmentation, up-sell, cross-sell, campaign management, customer acquisition and customer churn across many industries.

Aster Data, a proven leader dedicated to providing the best data management and data processing platform for big data analytics, today announced they have been named as a 2011 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Aster Data joins an exclusive group of award recipients including Google, Mozilla, PayPal and Twitter.

Tasso Argyros, CTO and co-founder of Aster Data said, “It’s great recognition for everyone at Aster Data because from the moment the company was founded, our technology vision has always been to deliver solutions which lead the field of big data management and advanced analytics which help our clients improve customer service and sustain competitive advantage. And for Aster Data to be recognized as a Technology Pioneer by such a globally renowned organisation as the World Economic Forum is a great honour for all of our team.”

Many businesses today still operate on creating and making business decisions based on “gut feelings” where the decision maker believes that his intuitive snap judgments are far superior to the rational analytics-backed decisions. However, senior managers who rely heavily on “gut feel” and “soft” factors, including consultation with others, intuition and experience, unfortunately find that these rarely work in the current business environment. Gone are the days when instincts formed the basis for most management decisions.

Actuate Corporation, the people behind BIRT® and the leading open source Business Intelligence vendor, today reported key momentum drivers for BIRT. In less than 4 years, Actuate has generated over $50 million in BIRT-based revenue, further entrenching the company as the leading force in open source BI.

Tableau Software, the leading provider of rapid-fire business intelligence solutions, today announced that it has teamed with Triad Technology Partners to provide data analytics and business intelligence solutions to government customers. Triad will market and sell Tableau's rapid-fire business intelligence software solutions to federal, state, and local government agencies through Triad's General Services Administration (GSA) IT Schedule 70 contract GS-35F-0298W.

In the current economy, businesses are looking across their enterprises and using a variety of technology and analytics to increase profits. One such technology, price optimization, is gaining favor for its ability to help companies positively impact revenue.

As more and more products are sold via the Internet, particularly in the areas of travel and consumer products, the ability to quickly assess price points and SKUs and react with a competitive price is increasingly important. Lixto, a provider of competitive price Intelligence solutions, shares five recommendations for utilizing price analytics.

Like many managers, Michael Lambert needed to accomplish more without spending more. The technology manager at nonprofit Compassion International figured that an increase in headcount was unlikely, so he considered how data analysts could offload routine but vital reports that consumed 80 percent of their time. He found SAS® Business Analytics.

Realizing that many reports resembled each other, Lambert sought to provide internal users with self-service reporting capabilities. SAS Business Analytics frees his analysis team to concentrate on work that yields more intelligence and benefit to the 58-year-old child advocacy organization.

InetSoft Technology, an innovator in dashboard, reporting and mashup solutions, announced that SUNRx has selected InetSoft’s Style Scope as its business intelligence solution for internal use.

“We were impressed with the visual appeal and ease-of-use of the interactive dashboard software,” asserted John Giolli, CFO at SUNRx. “InetSoft was easy to deal with and has a number of flexible license options on its products to choose from.”

IDBS, the leading worldwide provider of data management and analytics solutions to R&D and healthcare organizations, today announced that it has concluded an agreement to acquire Quantrix, an award-winning company that provides business modeling and analytics software and services. As part of the cash acquisition, Quantrix will continue to operate as an independent business unit from its headquarters in Portland, Maine, USA.

Radically backtracking from its earlier stance on the open-source community, software giant Microsoft has now admitted that its earlier hostility was a mistake. Almost a decade ago, company CEO Steve Ballmer called the open source Linux operating system a "cancer" where its IP was concerned; Microsoft has also accused open source providers of violating hundreds of its patents in recent years.

In a recent interview with Network World, Jean Paoli, the general manager of Microsoft's interoperability strategy team explained that the mistake has to do with equating Linux with all open source technology. "We understand our mistake, he says," and pointing out that the various work that Microsoft has since done with open source, he quipped, "We love open source."