by Mark Dwyer

 ”Business Intelligence and Reporting” has become such a broad and inappropriately overused term during the course of the last 10 years. A small consulting firm plugging Excel templates as well as the big boys like Business Objects and Cognos are all flying under the ever expanding Business Intelligence Radar.

I was alerted to a LinkedIn group discussion by one of my network connections – “By the year 2015 which [sic] will be the biggest BI and Reporting Software”  - to which I replied “there will be a continued wrestling match for the top position as declared by the folks at Gartner and the like. In my opinion – the REAL growth will be found with software vendors that can add value across the board – not only in pretty in-memory dashboards or “big data””.

Vendors that will start to grab market share and make a BIG difference to their clients are those that can go into an organization and get at the hard to ‘get at’ data that maybe trapped in bespoke 20 year old applications, external third party reports, e-commerce site data, semi-structured information as well as tap the relational structured data sources and bring it all into a centralised environment. This will offer value from the executives down to the coal face worker bees. As a software vendor – wrapping our arms around the myriad of information that an organisation has – regardless of source – and delivering that to the business in a timely, dynamic and cost effective manner is key to our continued success.

 

– Mark

@mc_dwyer
@datawatch

 

by Sandy Cavalaris of ExcelwithMonarch

We’re a very lucky little group, we Datawatch customers. We can, and do, benefit from being able to acquire data from many sources. For those without the tools that we utilize, that data is often practically inaccessible. Users of the complete range of Datawatch solutions from Monarch Professional right on up to Monarch Enterprise Server and Monarch Report Mining Server can, and do, capitalize on their investments and reap the rewards.

Visitors to my site, ExcelWithMonarch.com, are often Monarch users, but also often have never heard of Monarch, so I gladly introduce them to the software. But as you’re reading this here now, I suspect that you’re already a Datawatch customer, and as such you’re already making the most of your software that’s based on Monarch technology. You are, aren’t you? You (and your staff) know how to use your software to create any custom presentation of your data that you can envision in mere minutes, don’t you? I’m sure that you do, because that’s why you initially decided to invest in these tools. I’m certain that your organization saw these tools as a means to an end; a way to help the organization become the best that it could be.   Read the rest of this entry »

 

by Don Mulroy

Why should report management systems be PCI-compliant?  First, let’s take a look at PCI.

What is PCI?

In 2004, five major credit card companies got together to align their individual security policies and form a single set of mandatory requirements for all merchants and credit card payment processors. The result, known as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), was a set of policies designed to help their customer’s protect credit card account information and prevent credit card fraud.

These policies have been tweaked and changed frequently since its initial release.  PCI DSS is made up of a dozen requirements designed to secure credit card data.

Many different types of companies need to pay attention to PCI compliance; for example, it’s a big issue for financial services, healthcare and telecom companies.  Consequences for PCI DSS noncompliance can cripple a company with overwhelming fines from credit card companies and repeat offenders may even lose of the right to process any credit card payments.

These same types of companies retain thousands of reports and business documents that contain credit card account information.  In order to remain PCI-compliant, companies need to think strategically about their report management system.  Not every report management system is PCI-compliant, and not every solution stays up to date with the changes in the policies.

Do you know if your report management system is PCI-compliant?

– Don
@datawatch

 

by Kelley Lynn Kassa

 

Sandy Cavalaris, founder of Excel with Monarch Training and Services, has trained and helped thousands of Monarch users throughout the world.  As a result of Sandy’s extensive work with Monarch, he received the Monarch Evangelist of the Year award in 2008.

Sandy recently sat down with Michael Morrison, president and CEO of Datawatch to discuss the transition that took place this past year and the direction in which we are heading.

Read Sandy’s interview with Michael: http://excelwithmonarch.com/tips/an-exclusive-interview-with-datawatch-ceo-michael-morrison

 

– Kelley

@kelleylynnk
@datawatch

 

by Carol Giadone

 Boston drivers don’t have the best reputation, so I was happy to hear that my nephew will be starting driver education training before he gets on the road. When I began driving many years ago, driver education was optional, but the reward for participating in the program – in addition to the obvious benefit of being a more knowledgeable and skilled driver – was measured in dollars through a reduction in one’s auto insurance premiums. Now, in many states formal driver education is mandatory because it has been proven to reduce accidents, save lives, save money, and generally make our roadways a more organized and cooperative place to be.

Years ago, when our parents and grandparents learned to drive they were given informal lessons from their father, mother, uncle, or some other well intentioned relative wheedled into service. Each wide eyed student was at the mercy of the knowledge and skill (or lack of) of their teacher who may or may not have been eager or qualified to step into that role. If the student was fortunate enough to have a skilled, patient, experienced and knowledgeable instructor they had a good chance of becoming an equally good driver. But if the person imparting his wisdom to the new driver was himself limited in experience, or had been harboring misunderstandings of his own, the implications and outcome for the new driver would be much less rosy.   Read the rest of this entry »