Panorama Business Intelligence

If you hadn’t noticed yet, cloud computing is reaching for the stars.

Companies everywhere are realizing the savings on operational costs and hardware that cloud computing brings to the table. And yes, there are many who aren’t sold on the security the cloud offers versus the comforts of keeping data on-premise.

Regardless of which side of the fence you fall on, you can’t ignore the facts; both IDC and Gartner are predicting huge numbers for the future of the cloud industry. A recent report by market intelligence firm IDC claims that revenue drawn from cloud computing is expected to reach $55 billion by 2014 (up from its current $16 billion), making it one of the fastest growing trends in IT. IDC also claims that on-premise IT is only moving at a 5 percent annual growth rate—in stark contrast to cloud’s 27 percent rate.

Gartner Research released its own report in late June, a day prior to the IDC report. According to the market research firm, cloud computing should reach $140 billion in global revenue by 2014.

While there is a bit of a disconnect between the two projections, one thing is for sure: the future looks bright for the cloud computing industry

Today’s software industry buzzword is “Cloud.” We all know what it is, and some of us are already leveraging Cloud platforms to reduce resource consumption on-premise. Right now, many ISVs are making a black-and-white distinction between Cloud and on-premise platforms. When you’re evaluating software platforms, there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground because many providers are exclusively leveraging either one or the other.

The problem facing most of us as technology managers is whether Cloud or on-premise makes the most sense for our businesses. Because there are strategic benefits to both, the decision can be a struggle. But what CIOs should know is that you truly don’t need to make a clear-cut decision for your business. Implementing platforms both in the Cloud and on-premise is a great way to play to multiple aspects of your business while enjoying the benefits that each strategy has to offer.

Read full article from the CIO Update: How Cloud and On-Premise Platforms Work Together

…And the battle rages on. Cloud or on-premise business intelligence? Cloud is the hot new strategy, has a lower overhead and leverages out-of-the-box functionality for quick implementation on new data warehouses, applications and departments and for new users. However, a lot of companies want to keep BI activities on-premise because of the costs and time associated with moving high volumes of data—like entire data warehouses or data-marts—to the cloud in order to realize the advantages of SaaS deployment. This polar dynamic has kept companies in the dark on one simple fact: combining the two platforms offers you the rich benefits of both worlds.

You can build a hybrid solution ad-hoc, leverage one of the few early adopters of hybrid BI, or call on your ISV to adopt a more dynamic strategy—but, however it’s done, it’ll be crucial that your business leverages a combination cloud and on-premise business intelligence in the coming years.

How does it work?
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Over the past few years, open source business intelligence has played a significant role in the BI marketplace. But just why, exactly, is the cloud marketplace suddenly putting such a heavy strain on the use of open source BI software?

As is the case with a lot of market shifts, cost plays a crucial role here. The original adopters of open source BI were SMBs without the resources to spend on complex business intelligence solutions. But with the evolution of SaaS, the parameters of “inexpensive” BI solutions are shifting away from on-premise open source towards solutions that don’t require costly hardware.

Well, advocates for political correctness will be happy to hear that cloud is chasing open source out the window, especially in the BI space.

SaaS business intelligence solutions are starting a run to dominate the BI market. Without the need for hardware, extensive time-to-market, or extra resources for setup, the cost to set up a BI solution plummets – even from the relative cost-effectiveness of open source.
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The battle between on-demand and on-premise business intelligence solutions is heating up. As more and more BI solutions begin offering cloud services, the question lingers: is SaaS or on-premise BI more adept at satisfying an organization’s needs?

Let’s answer that question with another question: why choose one when you can have the best of both worlds?

Every business is different: different sizes, different shapes, different business needs. The real choice shouldn’t definitively be between on-premise and cloud BI; it should be between which components of your suite run on-premise and which components run inside the cloud.

Many of today’s SaaS vendors don’t offer you the choice. Because on-demand BI is still relatively new, it has been perceived as the future of BI. Unfortunately, many SaaS vendors are leveraging the popular belief that you must choose between one or the other to push cloud services on unsuspecting businesses. The truth is you can keep the on-premise components that work best for your business while adding on-demand components that complement your BI platform.
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Most users are unaware that Google Spreadsheets, a part of Google Docs, the online productivity suite that’s free for individuals, has a majority of the features users look for in Microsoft Excel. Google Spreadsheets’ analytics capability can instantly enhance your use of business, organizational or personal information. Knowledge Center contributor Oudi Antebi explains how Google Spreadsheets can satisfy virtually all of your daily spreadsheet needs, including how to use Google Spreadsheets for no-cost data analytics.

In some ways Google Spreadsheets goes beyond Microsoft Excel and can actually extend the enterprise user’s capabilities. Google Spreadsheets can help users in the enterprise with collaboration, visualization and analytics.

1. Collaboration
Google Spreadsheets allows multiple users to work together in real time on a single spreadsheet report. Even if you’re not ready to replace Excel, you will benefit from uploading your existing spreadsheet to Google Spreadsheets, then inviting people to a collaborative session. When finished, you can simply save your spreadsheet back to Excel or keep it live on Google Docs.
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New Version of Free solution for Google Apps provides native Excel support; Other Features Include Website/Blog Embedding; Customized Formulas

TORONTO, ON – (January 13th, 2009) – Panorama Software, a global leader in Proactive Business Intelligence solutions, today released a new version of Panorama Analytics for Google Apps, its free analytics solution for Google Apps. By enabling native Excel and other files to load directly into the application, Panorama’s new version gives Excel spreadsheet users an even easier-to-use and more collaborative alternative to the analytics tools in Excel.

Panorama Analytics for Google Apps, powered by Panorama’s comprehensive set of powerful and intuitive BI technologies, is ideal for business and consumer data analysis, reporting, visualization and dashboarding.  As part of the free Google Docs or the enterprise edition  Google Apps, anyone can use Panorama Analytics for Google Apps to process spreadsheets from any source. Users can perform analysis on their excel data to identify interesting and powerful insights off of the data in new “Google like” ways.

The new version of Panorama’s analytics solution adds a number of new features and capabilities to an already impressive list.  Updates include:

• Native Excel and .CSV Support.  Panorama Analytics for Google Apps users can now upload Excel files as well as CSV (Comma Separated Values, the file format often used in line-of-business applications) files directly into Panorama Analytics, without having to upload into Google Spreadsheets first.
• User-Defined Formulas.  Panorama Analytics for Google Apps now allows users to create formulas—or select from a list of pre-defined formulas—and insert them for faster processing of the data.
• Gadget Embedding.  Similar to the way YouTube videos can be embedded in websites and blogs, this unique and innovative capability lets users upload data and embed their interactive charts and tables into Web pages, blogs and other forms of online communication. The embedded material can be made totally interactive, enabling readers to do their own analysis on-the-fly giving a new experience for sharing data on the web.
• Interactive Help.  Panorama Analytics for Google Apps introduces interactive tips and explanations that explain the functions of the solution—a convenient way to maximize the value of Google Docs and the free BI application.

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Adding interactive analytics of your data to your website was never easier. Whether you’re sharing financial data, weather forecast or product comparisons, an interactive tool to navigate through the data gives your blog and website visitors much more than simple static tables of data.

Panorama Analytics can be embedded in your web site or blog just like YouTube videos. First, create a Panorama Analytics gadget, connect and upload your data, and prepare the initial report or chart. Save it and use the “Embed” option under “Save” menu to get the embedding code.

Uploading Data From Your Excel or CSV File

1. Login to iGoogle

2. Click “Add Stuff” or “Insert Gadget” and search for Panorama or look in the “Tables” category. There are two Panorama gadgets available, use the “Panorama Analytics” one. Or you can click on this link and add the gadget to your iGoogle page.

3. Login inside the gadget with the same Google account you are using. That’s how we’ll authenticate and recognize you.

4. Choose the data source and upload some data. For example, it can be some Excel file with interesting data to analyze.

Uploading Data From Your Google Spreadsheet

1. Login to Google Spreadsheets and open / create a spreadsheet with the data you want to analyze.

2. Once your data is ready, click insert and chose Gadgets.

3. Select the “Tables” menu on the left.

4. Click “Add to spreadsheet” below the “Analytics for Google Spreadsheet” gadget and follow the wizard to create your first interactive report

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Robert Scoble interviews Oudi Antebi of Panorama Software:

“In addition to the interview I did yesterday with socialtext, which explores some of the disruption coming to enterprises, there’s another trend I’m tracking: the coming fight between the collaborative web and Microsoft.Now some pundits in the industry think that the fight will be head on. Not me. I think it’ll be more parasitic. Like how mold takes over a strawberry. Slow, but in the end the strawberry dies.Is that what we’re seeing now? Well, here’s something that is a small piece of the bigger trend. You could call it a few cells of mold on the strawberry, if you’d like.What is it? Panorama Software for Google Apps. I shot two videos with Oudi Antebi, VP of marketing and strategy of Panorama Software. Never heard of them? Neither had I, but what they are doing is very disruptive to bigger companies:

Part I. Where we discover what is happening in the Business Intelligence space and learn what Panorama Software is doing. (This video is embedded above).
Part II. Demo of how the Panorama gadget is used to display real-time data.”

Read full blog post: http://scobleizer.com/2008/12/31/the-story-of-2009-enterprise-disruption/

 

 

Following the latest announcement by Salesforce.com on its native support of the Google’s Visualization API, Panorama has extended its analytics solution enabling any programmer to integrate, in a few simple steps, dashboards and interactive reports with their salesforce.com application. By simply using the tools made available by Salesforce.com, including code snippets and APIs, and combining it with Panorama’s analytics solution, you can now deliver a set of applications that range from powerful executive dashboards to custom reporting applications over live Salesforce data that can then be published on any webpage.

Check it out! http://www.panorama.com/salesforce/