• Salesforce.com yields to pressure over analytics pricing

  By Chris Kanaracus | 01 February, 2012 12:26

  Salesforce.com will include some new analytics capabilities at no additional cost with the Enterprise and Unlimited editions of its CRM (customer relationship management) software, following complaints from customers who argued that the features should have been used to fill long-standing gaps in the products' core functionality, not sold separately.

• Salesforce.com customers say new analytics should be included in core fees

  By Chris Kanaracus | 28 January, 2012 08:08

  Salesforce.com customers are sounding off about the fact that an upcoming Analytics Edition of the CRM (customer relationship management) software will have an additional price tag, saying that the functionality it includes should be part of their base subscriptions.

• Microsoft reveals launch date for next-generation SQL Server 2012

  By Chris Kanaracus | 25 January, 2012 03:15

  Microsoft has announced a March 7 online event for the launch of SQL Server 2012, the next generation of its database product.

• Net Optics acquires nMetric, targets network intelligence

  By Colin Neagle | 24 January, 2012 07:40

  In a move to broaden its offerings for the growing network intelligence and diagnostics market, telecom equipment manufacturer Net Optics recently announced the acquisition of network analytics software provider nMetric.

• Enterprise Hadoop: Big data processing made easier

  By Peter Wayner | 18 January, 2012 22:21

  It's been a big year for Apache Hadoop, the open source project that helps you split your workload among a rack of computers. The buzzword is now well known to your boss but still just a vague and hazy concept for your boss's boss. That puts it in the sweet spot when there's plenty of room for experimentation. The list of companies using Hadoop in production work grows longer each day, and it probably won't be long before "Hadoop cluster" takes over the role that the words "crazy supercomputer" used to play in thriller movies. The next version of the WOPR is bound to run Hadoop.

• In-memory computing

  By Brad Howarth | 20 January, 2011 09:33

  The massive explosion in data volumes collected by many organisations has brought with it an accompanying headache in terms of putting it to gainful use. Businesses increasingly need to make quick decisions, and pressure is mounting on IT departments to provide solutions that deliver quality data much faster than has been possible before. The days of trapping information in a data warehouse for retrospective analysis are fading in favour of event-driven systems that can provide data and enable decisions in real time.

• 5 open source BI projects to watch

  By Rodney Gedda | 07 December, 2010 16:03

  Business intelligence (BI) is frequently among the top prioroties for CIOs and finding the right software to do the job is always a challenge. Cloud-based software may be all the rage, but CIOs must still manage in-house information and make better use of it through analytics and reporting tools. The big four software companies have all made strategic investments in the BI space over recent years and the options have dimnished, but there are alternative tools popping up and snatching a lot of customers in the process. This installment of '5 open source things to watch' is all about BI that doesn't scar the annual report.

• Business intelligence evolution

  By Brad Howarth | 01 October, 2010 18:24

  Australian CIOs may be thankful this year’s flu season was relatively sparing on their employees, but many have themselves become the source of another form of infection within their business - the ever growing call for more robust business intelligence.

• Apocalypse: 52 percent of CIOs plan to blow up IT groups

  By Thomas Wailgum | 24 July, 2010 09:00

  The saying goes something like this: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The statement is, of course, embraced as dogma by those fearful of change and by automobile owners praying for a reasonable bill of charge while waiting at the mechanic's garage.

• An IT department's crucial role in a new product launch

  By Kim S. Nash | 22 July, 2010 07:01

  In late 2008, Monsanto licensed a seed coating that helps corn, soybean and other seeds fight insects and disease during the tricky germination stage. By early 2009, company scientists had finished work on that cocktail of fungicides and insecticides, dubbed Acceleron, and the company wanted to get the coating to market in time for the 2010 planting season. "We were going after that opportunity very aggressively. If we don't hit season, that opportunity is another 12 months away," says CIO Shirley Cunningham.

Whitepapers about business intelligence

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  Forecasting & Planning - Achieving the correct staffing levels with continually fluctuating demands

  Managing a high performing service operation in today’s complex environment requires a complete rethink of the way the operation is managed. Accepting current capacity without a real understanding of the fluctuating demand will lead to inconsistent performance. This white paper looks at the applications and processes available to achieve a balanced demand capacity curve, which will deliver consistent high quality service, satisfied customers and good margins.

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  Visual Collaboration: Boost Employee Productivity and Drive Customer Interaction

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  Storage Virtualisation - What to Know and What to Look For

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  Building Virtualised Datacenters and Private Clouds: The Critical Role of Unified and Converged IT Infrastructure