QuickBooks and Dropbox? Yeah… No.

Having your data available from anywhere is awesome. Storing files in the cloud and being able to sync them with files on the computer is a great way to make sure the files are centrally available regardless of which machine you use to access them with. Dropbox is among those favored solutions which provide users with the cloud drive storage and an ability to seamlessly sync those files to various computers. It’s pretty cool, but let’s face it: not every type of file loves living in a Dropbox or sync folder. Particularly for folks who want to be able to store and sync their QuickBooks and other business files to the cloud, there are a few things to be aware of when using these nifty sync solutions.

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Fixing Finance with CPM

A recent article in CFO magazine (Fixing Finance: Work in Progress, March 27, 2014) discusses the great improvement in productivity and cost savings that finance departments have made over the past 15 years. Despite this great improvement 81% of the finance executives surveyed said they were “seriously committed” to more efficiency and effectiveness.

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Paralysis from Business Information Overload

Our brains are made up of special cells called nerve cells. A nerve cell has a bulb-like cell body attached to a long nerve fiber, which is like a wire, and it actually carries very tiny electrical signals. These signals are the information that tell us what we feel, what we think, what we see, what we touch. They also tell our bodies how to move and how to function. All this information is carried by nerve fibers to and from our brains. There is so much activity going on as we process, think, reflect and analyze information. Everything we see, smell, hear, taste and feel is collected and processed to navigate us through our lives. Our world is a virtual database that feeds our brain and is analyzed by our very own intelligence.

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Most Metrics Are RELATIVE, Not Absolute

What are metrics for? When properly used, most are nothing more than a relative tool for comparing one time period – or company, or country, or person – to another, or actual results to planned or expected results. They are not an absolute score, meaningful on its own. It’s important to remember this, whether the metric involves business, government, sports, or national economic performance.

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Cartoon: Analytics Reinvention

New technologies like Hadoop are reinventing analytics. Most of it isbreakthrough additions to existing analytic systems – and some of it is reinventing the wheel (and alternative caption would be “it’s for car-like workloads — the rest of it is coming soon!”). Yes, many existing DW workloads will move to Hadoop. But just as many will…

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Analysts can be Big Data Pioneers

Analysts today have a vested interest in the quality of their data. This would include where it comes from, its historical completeness and information clarity. In some organizations, blaming IT is no longer acceptable when the analyst is unable to do her job. Many analysts are involved in setting the precedents for the future of big data initiatives due to their responsibility to support the decision-making process.

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Spreadsheets aren’t the answer for Finance Analytics

Did you know:
Only 12% of organizations are satisfied with the software they use to create and apply analytics,
71% of them use spreadsheets for analytics, a higher percentage than any other tool,
and 67% said spreadsheets cause problems in their use of analytics.

Once again we find the pervasive use of spreadsheets to perform functions they were never meant to do.

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Mobile BI Design Framework: Consistency Principle

In mobile business intelligence (BI) design, the “consistency principle” is the most powerful tool to effectively deliver a mobile user experience. Developing components that are both consistent and repeatable greatly accelerates the “mobile learning curve,” leading to higher user adoption.

We apply the consistency principle at two levels:

The macro level occurs at-the-project or engagement level and covers all resources or artifacts that are used to deliver and support implementation of mobile assets (like user guides, communication, online stores, and support).
The micro level deals with the design of each individual mobile BI asset (like a report or dashboard).
Here are three key design fundamentals of the consistency principle.

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We Still Believe That Business Intelligence Gives Amazing Vision Instantly.

Let’s apply the x-ray vision concept to data analysis. Possessing the ability to see through the layers of data would be amazing! Imagine having “Green” colored glasses that allows the user to quickly see through data. Yes that is it, Business Intelligence “X-Ray” vision glasses! Today this technology is not available yet, (although Google Glasses is getting pretty close), but the amazing visualization does exist which allows the end-user quick access to pertinent data.

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