Things haven't always been this way

When you become used to something working the way it does, it's easy to forget that it's not always been that way. This statement is well illustrated within IT and more specifically Business Intelligence (BI). Over the past decade Business Intelligence has moved forward in leaps and bounds, partly because the software has moved on but more so because the hardware has enabled this to be the case.

Traditional BI solutions involve the data sources, ETL, data-warehouses cubes, the reporting tool and then finally the user. Traditionally the time taken to implement a BI solution can be anywhere up to 18 months from the start of the implementation, with subsequent changes to the report outputs taking up to 4 weeks from the request by the user. That's 4 weeks before the CEO gets his Executive Summary dashboard to display accurate or pertinent information that she needs to run her business.

But times change, things move on.

Look at QlikView from QlikTech. Founded back in 1993 in Sweden (now head-quartered in Radnor, PA) QlikView, developed their business intelligence software to take data from multiple data sources, associate, compress, and encrypt the data then store it in memory - in RAM. Now-a-days that doesn't seem like such a big issue, memory is after all inexpensive and using in-memory technology can deliver immediate sub-second results.

That doesn't necessarily sound a 'biggie' until you consider the impact. No waiting for data-warehouses or cubes to compile, no sitting around waiting for a report to run, no asking IT if they can change the configuration of the ETL to include additional data. QlikView saves time and money during implementation and time to the end user. Production of that Executive Summary application the CEO asked for can now be done with ease, speed, and accuracy.

New technology means new rules

With traditional business intelligence software (using OLAP for example) the users navigation path to analyse the data is pre-defined. This works well at an executive summary level where the applications are pre-defined and fixed, and also where the IT team have developed the low-level cubes and information that the user probably wanted. However, usually this top-down hierarchy dictates the nature of the report where perversely the outcome must almost be known in order for the user to answer the questions (aka criteria) required for by the report. Where a user wants to change the view though, in many cases she has to run another report altogether that's been tailored specifically for her need.

QlikView changes all that. The QlikView business intelligence software associates the data together, by understanding that different elements are linked it allows the user to interact with the data from any starting place, from any angle. QlikView 'works the way your mind works', 'allowing you to ask the last question, first' be it right down at the data analytical level or at an executive summary level . Finally there's business intelligence software that delivers what the user wants and now-a-days expects.

Everyone uses BI, but most tools haven't caught up

I spend a lot of time travelling on trains, planes and in cars and couldn't live without my music and audiobooks. Being a bit of a secret techie I have a plethora of Apple devices from the iPod connected to the in-car entertainment system, iPhone, iPad, and iMac; all delivering my music, audiobooks, movies and podcasts where and when I want them. Other than arguably an unhealthy reliance on one technology manufacturer, this is positive as it allows me to play my all of my media via iTunes, a free application from Apple that organises and plays digital music and video, keeping it in sync with all of my equipment. For sure other tools exist and are freely available including Microsoft's Media Center, and the facility they all provide is neat.

Spending a lot of time in the car though means I have a lot of time to think. Having spent a day extolling the benefits of business intelligence, specifically QlikView and how it allows me to move around my data, I started to think how this translated to other applications. The answer wasn't so positive.

Sat in the car I pondered the 'usefulness' of my in-car stereo: connected to an iPod it offers me a choice from thousands of tracks to keep me entertained. It then occurred to me that, amongst other things this iPod – and arguably the in-car entertainment system were in fact a BI tool and my iPod is indeed business intelligence software: it delivers the information or meta-data I record and tag to my digital music.

Slightly geeky you may say, but so what? It occurred to me that these technologies which I think of as cool or amazing, are in fact traditional reporting tools. They extract the data (from iTunes, Media Center or the like) and build a series of pre-defined 'reports' that are offered to me. For example,

• "Recently Added"
• "Recently Played"
• "Top 25 Most Played"
• "90s Music" and so on.

Sure I can create my own reports (aka 'Playlists') but they're nothing more than slightly personalised pre-defined reports.

Let's look at an example.

On a particularly long journey I decide to make my way through Michael Bublé's album Crazy Love. For those unaccustomed to Mr. Bublé, his music is unoffensive and arguably quite good. I find the tracks by going to 'Music', selecting 'Artist', and then finding 'Michael Bublé' in the long list. As tends to be the way with music on demand I get half way through a song or album and want to move on, getting bored. Having listed to "Haven't Met You Yet" I am in a good mood and decide to listen to something else; something along the same lines but not Michael. I want to listen to something in the same genre.

How do I do this?

I have to make my way back UP the hierarchy. First I go back up to the list of artists, then UP again to the main menu, then DOWN to Genres, then DOWN again to 'Pop' before finding someone similar to listen to.

Everyone perceives these MP3 devices such as those designed and built by Apple as easy to use pieces of technology. Does the above example sound easy to use? I think not. It sounds like traditional BI, and not the business intelligence cure we have come to expect.

The Fabulous User Experience

So let's look at the perfect world of Fabulous User Experiences coupled with Business Intelligence and see what it might look like.

Let's imagine my iPod worked in the same way as QlikView. All of the data and meta-data is associated together. When in a good mood I like to listen to good music. I rate all of my music to avoid being 'interrupted' with music that might spoil my moods. I'm still listening to the album by Michael Bublé but it's occurred to me that I'm about to get to the track "Heartache Tonight". I can't do it, it'll spoil my mood.

Luckily my Fabulous User Experience is here to help. In the same way I would in any QlikView business intelligence application I filter quickly by Genre (Pop) and then by Rating (5 out of 5); it suggests amongst others I might want to listen to "The Defamation of Strickland Banks" by Plan B. Sadly there's only 3 tracks shown in my list (i.e. those that I've rated with 5 stars) so I move on. I see "The Fray" and their "How to Save a Life" album, it has 6 five star rated songs but I'm in a good mood and not wanting it to be tarnished I move on. As it happens I've categorised my music by mood and wanting to avoid attacks of melancholy I quickly find and filter by Mood and ask for music that will only make me happy. It filters my list further, taking away "The Fray" and offering "Take That" next. Over the years there's been plenty of good music and whilst my tastes have changed (I promise) I decide to give it go.

So what just happened? Data was delivered to me via a cross between my existing data in my existing BI tool (iTunes and iPod) and a Qlikview - esque delivery tool to give me a Fabulous User Experience. It allowed me to quickly filter by Genre, then by Rating, then even by Meta Data on Mood and delivered to me a selection of tracks that would fit to my requirement and please me. What many people don't realise is their current MP3 player cannot do this: they do not offer the user the ability to build a view of their own information in a way which is intuitive, easy and quick.

QlikView worked the way my mind works. This is cool.

Okay maybe not straight away

Okay maybe Apple devices offering true BI (Apple's Genius offering doesn't come close for me) might be a little way off, but I would argue it will be on its way. The filtering and increased usability must be delivered to users as they begin to expect it.

QlikView has a lot to answer for and even more to offer in the future.

Wouldn't it be neat if you could get this level of interaction from your reporting tool? Wouldn't it be cool if either at a detailed analytical level, an executive summary level, or even both, you can see what's going on within your organisation immediately? With QlikView, you can.

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Author: Simon Devine.