Tableau and IBM Cognos - Essay Example

Tableau and IBM Cognos affiliation Tableau and IBM Cognos Tableau software is a business intelligence software that mainly focusses on business to enhance their interactive visualization of data through representation using graphs. Tableau software provides applications that are easy to use hence faster analysis and visualization of information. Tableau integrates data analysis and subsequent reports into a single process of analysis making users to see different patterns in their data swiftly. The software also shifts views on the fly. Data visualization and exploration are in an application that is easy to use, and any individual can learn quickly. Interactive analysis and the presence of a powerful dashboard makes users very comfortable to create excel and securely share them across the enterprise. It enables IT teams to manage data and metadata in a central and control permissions as well as scale up to wide deployments in the enterprise. Tableau is a generational business intelligence and visual analysis software that the work by putting data on the hands of the individuals who needs the information (Havenstein, 2006). IBM Cognos is a business intelligence dashboarding solution that helps the user in monitoring, measuring and managing performance of corporates. At a glance, performance that are timely, factual and views of the business are provided by the dashboards. Anomalies that can turn into business issues that are of significant importance can be identified using IBM Cognos and the root causes can be dug deeper. IBM Cognos offer the following solutions to their users; personalization view of the information that are, deliverance of high degree visualization that have graphs, gauges and charts. IBM dashboard can be delivered easily in multiple formats that can suit specific needs of users who do business. Finally, they are easily managed from IT perspective. IBM Cognos has scorecard software that helps the individual to align teams and tactics with strategies, communicating goals consistently and monitoring performance against targets. Individuals can use IBM Cognos Scorecarding in management of the full scope of processes in business (Havenstein, 2007). How organizations benefit from Business Intelligence solutions Business intelligence is a term that means to end despite the approach used. The term end sounds decision making in the organization. Therefore, there is a need to understanding organization decision-making process. There is a need to differentiating information, data and knowledge in an organization. Information is differentiated from data by the use of context. When related to other data, data itself appears to be insignificant. When it is in a context form, data produces information with meaning and has purpose and relevance to what the organization needs (Elena, 2011). The major reason the operational databases have been unable to satisfy the need for information by managers has been failing of managers to differentiate information from data. The data in operational databases may be found to be useful. Therefore, it is necessary for higher managers to have a different type of information. Making decisions at the right time is essential to ensure proper management. Having the right decision-making tools and all the information from not only the sources that are internal, but also external. The reports and analysis enable the organizational management to make decisions that are that can lead to a reduction of costs; efficiency increased, increased in profits and growth of the organization. How can dashboards help the average user? Dashboards can be said to be virtual interfaces that allow data and information collection and computation for daily organization usage and operations. Dashboards are not for the purposes of business but also can be used in sorting out and gaining acceptance within and between a diversity of government agencies and other consumer based agencies. The popularity of dashboard is gaining continuous growth as organizations are looking out for more effective and easier methods and ways of information access within larger data sets and information analysis in hopes of information performance. Making faster decisions and lowering of overall costs. The development of dashboards is from becoming easy. Organizations are at liberty of choosing charts, graphs, maps, reports and almost any visualization imaginable to using within dashboards. Several organizations are now adopting the use of dashboards in processing their data into purposeful information and helping them understand ways of managing their operational business. Dashboards provide organizations with several benefits, which include the following: Technical level benefits include A business user’s ability to reach and consolidate data that is relevant from one or other sources Formatting of business reports effectively and up to the standard At a higher and a strategic level, the results of the benefits include: Monitoring of business operations effectively Making communication of information to be effective Sharing of information analyzed in an effective manner Making decision-making process to improve and become better Role of Business Intelligence plays in competitive advantage and organizational strategy Business intelligence offers solutions that benefit organizations through dissemination of real-time information, Creation of new knowledge that is based on the past information, enabling decisions that are both responsive and anticipatory and improving the capabilities of planning. These intelligence solutions help in producing outcomes that are positive in terms of operational performance improvement, satisfaction of the organizational customers and new opportunities identification. Organizations benefits from four synergistic stems of business intelligence I terms of the memory of the organization, integration of information, creation of insight and presentation. For organizations to benefits from business intelligence, they have to overcome the barriers caused by the organization as well as technological advancement. Business intelligence can also be used by organizations to have a part in management of knowledge so that financial sector can be able to benefit. This is because, the financial sector is considered to have a huge amount of data the market. It helps in bringing out patterns that are and are of valuable information from sources of data that are internal and external. The knowledge of business intelligence has roles in covering the explicit knowledge within the organizations that have great functions in enhancing the performance of the organization. What business intelligence does is sustaining the management of knowledge in order to maintain and enhance organizational, financial performance (Grünwald, 2010). As a tool for managing knowledge, business intelligence can act as a competitive advantage to the financial consultancy of the organization. This is because business intelligence helps in providing services that are professional to the financial sector. Business intelligence can act as a tool for collaboration that may exist between any business intelligence and the concepts required. Therefore, the company must have a competitive advantage so that it can be able to remain in the global market that keeps on fluctuation every time. How can “Big Data” and Business Intelligence work together? As organizations devote themselves to technological resources to enable them tap the huge terabytes of data that keep on flowing in the organization and externally in social media data and any other source that might be involved, the big data keeps on growing at a faster rate as a result. It is important to integrate bid data from advanced analytics with business intelligence systems. This is an important step will be aiming at gaining great returns on the organizations investments. The use of advanced analytics helps to provide the organization with deeper and exploratory perspective of the data whereas a more structured user experience system can be provided by business intelligence. The richness of Business intelligence is in the visualization of dashboard, performance management metrics reporting and more can be in making the actions of advance analytics possible. Case study of a company that implemented a BI solution case study of a company that implemented a BI solution Praxis paper was using shell as its project. Their macro process was later investigated. Investigation showed that shell has global respect and is known worldly. The company continues growing and doing well. The organization starts using its assets based to take care of its requirements. The organization later realizes that another advantage that it has is to focus on its core activities so that it can improve. References Elena, C. (2011). Business intelligence. Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology, 1, 101. Grünwald, M. (2010). Business Intelligence. Intelligence, 3, 398–403. doi:10.1007/s00287-009-0374-1 Havenstein, H. (2006). Cognos Updates BI Suite. Computerworld, 40, 17. Havenstein, H. (2007). Cognos Adds Link to IBM-Yahoo Search Engine. Computerworld, 41, 6.  Read More