Panorama Business Intelligence

Our friends at Microsoft have long topped the content management and collaboration market with their wildly popular SharePoint solution. As a single platform for structured and unstructured data, SharePoint has been a favorite of companies looking for a tool that can help them both get organized and promote a team-first environment.

So it’s easy for you to see why Panorama Software is excited about its latest endeavor.

We recently announced enhanced integration between the cutting edge Necto business intelligence solution with SharePoint. Necto and Sharepoint are the peanut butter and jelly duo in the collaborative & Social BI space.

The collaborative capabilities of SharePoint are combined with the social aspects of Necto, and hat you get is the sleek and user-friendly interface of Necto combined with the heavy-hitting content management power of SharePoint.

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Given their increasing production of data and reliance on the insights it holds, retailers are among the most serious users of business intelligence technology in the world. From customer information and tracking the performance of certain products to targeting specific marketing campaigns, analytics is key for just about any retailer.

That’s why we’re particularly excited about participating in the National Retail Federation’s upcoming conference, Retail’s BIG Show. The NRF has been promoting retailers for a long time, this is the organization’s 101st annual gathering. Panorama Software is looking forward to the opportunity to showcase how our solution can help retailers of any size.

We will be presenting along with two of our partners – Microsoft and retail solutions provider ITR Software – at the event, which takes place at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on January 15-18.

Conference attendees should make it a point to stop by to find out how ITR Software has incorporated Panorama Necto into its SPIN offering to provide retailers with a well-rounded and highly effective analytics solution. SPIN, which is a key piece of ITR’s Buyer’s WorkMate Suite, delivers relevant, timely and detailed analytics to retailers to allow for better decision-making that can be applied to a wide range of different processes.

Using the SPIN Data Repository, all pertinent performance-related metrics are housed in a central location. That supports decisions based around size optimization, store grading and seasonal forecasts. All are important for a high-performing retailer.

It’s all made possible through Panorama Necto’s cutting-edge analytics capabilities. That’s because SPIN is built on top of Necto and takes advantage of the Panorama application’s Business Intelligence 3.0 functionality. It enhances the overall analytics experience by focusing on relevancy, as well as social and self-service capabilities.

Combine that with ITR Software’s retail industry-specific expertise, and companies have access to technology that provides the insight necessary to increase sales, while giving them a leg up on the competition.

So stop by the Microsoft booth #1337, and visit Panorama at the BIG Show and see how a retailer of any size can benefit with the help of Panorama, ITR Software and Microsoft.

Some can still doubt the value of Mobile Business Intelligence (BI), others question data security but the numbers exemplify a rapid growth rate for Mobile BI! And it seems pretty reasonable if some of the obvious benefits of Mobile BI are taken into consideration. Aberdeen Research analysts are firm that it will help companies to:

• Get into real-time decision-making
• Improve operational efficiency
• Create and manage flexible work-flows
• Increase their responsiveness to customers

Moreover, Gartner, one of the most advanced and reliable research organizations, predicts one-third of all BI functionality will be accessed mainly through devices like mobiles and tablets within one to two years. This isn’t a question anymore. Vendors need to hurry to get on-board this train!

Here at Panorama we have never doubted the importance of mobile BI. When Necto was introduced to the market and Social BI started to catch up, there was no chance the platform would not be available on mobile. The only question was how we would offer our application in the most secure setting.

With development of iOS and other platforms dozens of companies have developed BI applications of all sorts in effort to get business intelligence at the fingertips of users while they are on the go. But the main challenge they all faced is the fact that their Apps are not the same as desktop BI – They create a totally different user experience. Many of the apps are even limited by the data volumes they can analyze in order to grant the stable performance on a mobile device. Don’t get me wrong here, it’s not that all Apps are bad, they are simply different. Different interface, navigation and other limitations require from users have additional knowledge which creates more frustration and leads us to a well-known road to low BI adoption numbers.

Here’s another interesting fact: despite the growth and attention from the media, still only 30% of the companies surveyed allow their business data to be accessed by smart phone users and only 19% by tablet users as was revealed by another study conducted by research company Vanson Bourne. This is understandable as companies strive to protect their data, which is compromised if a device gets lost or stolen. And as we dive deep into the world of Mobile BI excitement, we have to remember about the other side of the coin. Mobile devices are easy to learn, more fun to play with, easy to carry around and much easier to loose.

With all that in mind Panorama has developed a Mobile BI solution that enables organizations not only to place the business data at the fingertips of its employees while they are on the go, but also to eliminate 2 major pitfalls on the road to Mobile Enterprise future: Security Issues and Interface dissonance.

Necto Mobile creates the same self-service and intuitive user experience throughout all desktop and mobile platforms. Creating the same cross-platform interface ensures the increase in overall technology adoption which correlates with the main goal of Necto – always deliver powerful and innovative Business Intelligence technology in an efficient and simple manner.

Using advanced virtualization technologies we have lead everything to a common denominator and created a virtual environment where all platforms are seamlessly integrated for Necto user. He has no need to worry about data transferring as it is done automatically every second.

The world around us is inevitably becoming more pertinent. Even big companies like Google are striving to provide users with the most relevant information in order to avoid the messy alternative that comes with large volumes of information. Finding and retrieving relevant information is becoming increasingly difficult in the age we live in, as information is being created at exponential rates.

I remember when its convenience first made Google so famous. Google easily dominated the market by providing people with the most relevant information according to their needs and in a matter of minutes. Previously, the alternative was searching for information in huge archives such as a library.

Likewise, business intelligence has become a valuable asset for organizations as it also provides information and insight from stored data. Such capabilities are essential because highly relevant insights are needed for companies to make better strategic decisions to run their business.

Today BI platforms are no longer limited by the technology assets, like physical memory. Nowadays the possibilities are endless. From this, however, arose a new problem. Companies are struggling to separate and identify which insights are key to their business, due to the high volumes of information stored by companies. BI industry experts are saying this is the major problem, and we need to fix it.
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Our friends at Microsoft took another step toward releasing SQL Server 2012 database platform, code name ‘Denali’, by announcing today their new licensing model and pricing for the product.

This is significant step forward for Panorama Software customers, as well as business intelligence users around the world. The newest version of SQL Server, set for an early 2012 release, is the first to include an edition devoted specifically to BI.

Pricing for the SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence Edition will be $8,592 per Server. The other versions will run $6,874 per core for the Enterprise Edition and $1,793 or $898 per Server for the Standard Edition.

By all accounts, it seems as though the Panorama customer base is pleased with the announced pricing of the new platform. Given the affordable price tag that will be attached to SQL Server 2012, more companies around the world will now have an opportunity to leverage business intelligence to make better, data-driven decisions that will steer the organization toward increased revenue and profitability.

“Our customers are very excited with the new BI capabilities in SQL Server 2012,” said Eynav Azarya, CEO of Panorama Software. “With the new packaging and licensing, in particular the new SQL Business Intelligence Edition, the total cost of ownership (TCO) is being kept low, meeting the demands of what our customers are looking for in both scope and price.”

We at Panorama couldn’t be happier about the prospects that SQL Server 2012 holds with its focus on offering BI at a price point that makes the technology available also to mid-market organizations.

We’re also pleased that our stable of customers is excited about the release, since Panorama makes a conscious effort to align its own latest product, Panorama Necto, with what Microsoft will be offering with the new database system. Years of working alongside Microsoft made us confident that the company would hit a home run with the next SQL Server 2012, and so far that’s turning out to be true.

Days of thinking led me to write this post. Are technology issues really what are preventing people from using business intelligence for real-time and better decision-making? Are the limits of technology the major issue?
The answer to both is a definite no.

Of course, these limitations have played a huge role, but technology is evolving fast and now there are numerous tools available that allow companies to pull insights from enormous amounts of data.

For a long time, we were trying to find how to make BI work for organizations in way, that will allow for a wide adoption. With the invention of Necto, which is the first Business Intelligence 3.0 enabled suite, we finally nailed it. The main problem wasn’t the technology, it was always a question of how to organize all information inside and outside (data flows) the BI system in a way that allows people to use it without costing businesses an arm and a leg.

Here’s the thing – data means nothing until it’s translated into information. That’s the purpose of BI and why it originally failed to deliver on its promised value. Making information – whether it’s a dashboard, visualization or KPI – digestible for all users within a company is difficult.
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Meetings are a necessary yet tedious part of everyone’s work day. No one, myself included, enjoys spending hours on end in the board room only to later return to a backlog of 20 emails and a stack of paper 6-inches thick.

While meetings are the age-old collaboration practice of just about every company, they can also effectively bring productivity to a screeching halt. They take time away from many tasks in order to focus on just one.

Such issues were addressed in a terrific podcast I recently came across entitled Read This Before Our Next Meeting. The premise of the podcast is based on the book of the same name by Al Pittampalli. In short, both address how disruptive meetings have become to daily operations.

But it doesn’t necessarily have to be this way. We believe that, through business intelligence and synchronized employees, companies will have a better means for gathering ideas, while still getting work done efficiently. It’s my belief that all of this can be accomplished with the help of business intelligence 3.0.

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With the recent release of our latest solution Panorama Necto, Panorama Software has ushered in the next generation of business intelligence technology, inspiring many of our well-respected business partners from around the world to jump on board with the cutting edge of analytics.

In addition to a recent world tour to promote the newest capabilities and state-of-the-art features of Necto, we’ve also gotten our worldwide business partners up to speed with the latest in business intelligence. By holding training sessions for our business partners, we’re teaching them how to leverage all that Panorama Necto has to offer in order to make better business decisions and move their companies forward.

The initial response to the sessions has been overwhelmingly positive, and we couldn’t be happier about the enthusiasm surrounding our newest offering.

To date, 16 of Panorama’s business partners have participated in a three-day training session and have become certified users of Panorama Necto. These partners are located all around the world, from our home country of Canada to South Africa, Israel, Croatia and many other locations in between.
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Panorama Software recently did its best rock ‘n roll impersonation and ventured out on a world tour to spread the word about our revolutionary solution, Panorama Necto. Okay, so our trips through the U.K., Germany, and Singapore may have been different than those of the Rolling Stones, but the Panorama Necto roadshow still gave us a great opportunity to connect with the many organizations we regularly rely on.

It’s always great to host workshops with our partner community. From all that we’ve heard at the various seminars we’ve hosted recently, Panorama’s partners are both excited about the future of BI technology and eager to learn more about how it can help foster better decision-making and accelerate business growth.

On August 4, we hosted the Future of Information Management – Mobile BI and the Cloud. Focused on the hottest trends in BI right now – the spread of mobile devices and managed services is creating the desire among users to gain access to BI reports anytime and anywhere.

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If you’re a regular reader of this blog, or follow the business intelligence industry and are interested in where the technology is headed, then you’re aware of how excited we are about Panorama Necto. The revolutionary BI 3.0 solution from Panorama Software will completely change the BI industry and how decisions are made.

Members of our organizations have discussed the new solution at conferences and trade shows around the world, while Panorama Necto has also been at the center of experts’ discussions of where BI is heading.

While that all got people talking about the technology and created plenty of buzz for Business Intelligence 3.0, we still wanted to share social BI with the world. So we packed up our suitcases and the Winnebago and hit the pavement for the Panorama Necto roadshow.

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