Wednesday 27 July 2011

Softwares as Services - Securing Data

Custom SaaS application development services have been in demand ever since it sprung up about a decade ago and has created quite a stir in the IT world. SaaS gives remote access to software Web-based services and allows different businesses to access applications at a low cost, lower than most of licensed applications because it’s a monthly fee subscription.

The software is remotely hosted so there is no need to invest in more hardware. Further, it eliminates the need for small businesses to have to deal with installation, set-up, daily upkeep and maintenance. For companies without any IT resources, this is certainly an attractive proposition.

Companies that offer SaaS also gain access to your computer systems other than hosting services in the user systems. So just how secure are the services?

The last thing anyone will want is that their data is in unwanted hands. It is hence essential that one makes it sure that the SaaS implementation vendor is one who can be reposed faith in, as well as reputed in the line of business. Customer references in great numbers are a must while making the choice. Some kind of track record of successful delivery should be traced for a new provider.

Another angle is customer support. Obviously, software and data security should be at the forefront in the list of SaaS service vendor selection criteria. Additionally, a vital part is how vendors keep their data secure and how doe they protect the data in times of disaster.

A good SaaS service vendor is expected to have many mirrored data centers where client data will be backed up and always available even in times of crisis.

SaaS service vendors use a variety of ways to secure client data. Some prefer a to have a collection of disks containing data protected with encryption. Some prefer the data locked up in large vaults especially in a remote location.

Article Source

http://www.articlecity.com/articles/web_design_and_development/article_1722.shtml

Tuesday 19 July 2011

Real Time Business Intelligence - BI 2.0

So you thought the beginning and end of BI is the setting up of a cutting edge Data Warehouse? Well, think again. The BI landscape has undergone a sea change. Trying to articulate its various aspects and how it is evolving would fill several books. In this article, we will skim the surface and talk about the various ways in which BI is being perceived and handled in the current IT landscape.
BI Dashboards
If Traditional BI = Data Warehouse + Reporting Tools

Then BI 2.0 = (Past + Present) Data/Analytics + Future Business Analytics + Reporting Tools

I have used this simple equation by way of demonstration: BI v2.0 is all about studying and analyzing Past, Present and Future trends using archived and real-time data feeds and then turning this data into knowledge for stronger decision-making.

It is real-time or it is of no real use:

When it comes to Traditional BI tools, the data retrieved from them, in today’s parlance, is considered outdated. Intelligence is gleaned after the fact—after significant time has elapsed between the actual activity and the time when it is analyzed in either an individual or aggregated fashion. In this Internet Age, even the lapse of a day could render that data obsolete.

BAM and CEP are real-time tools; data is analyzed as the transactions are being executed. It is this optimally effective decision-making in the moment that makes BI 2.0 so attractive to new age businesses.

Use Case:

Let us now look at a common use case: the Shopping Cart. Shopping on the web is one of the most common online transactional activities today, and it is increasing year over year. For high traffic sites like eBay and Amazon, business cannot be made truly agile without the use of real-time analytics. Traditional BI just will not suffice.

So let us consider the following example:

• Acme Mart is a medium-sized discount store with brick and mortar stores throughout the country.

• It also sells merchandise through its high traffic website acmediscountstore.com.

• The transaction volumes both at the stores and online is quite large—to the extent of several million per day.

• It has a mature, established SOA infrastructure and its entire order management process is service-enabled.

Acme Mart also uses BAM (Business Activity Monitoring) to monitor services. Custom dashboards have been built to monitor sales of specific item categories and even items through sophisticated dashboards.

Contrast this with a similar business that uses Traditional BI mechanisms. It is obvious that it will not be able to match the level of agility of Acme Mart. By the time the sales data is analyzed, the opportunity to respond proactively has passed. Acme Mart is clearly more capable of reducing costs and increasing revenues via its real-time BAM-enabled BI solutions.

While CEP (Complex Event Processing) is similar to BAM, it is more of a services agnostic technology. It is sort of a real-time message aggregator that can process messages from various different sources including web services. One example of this can be applied to the current use case, along with order information, if related stock price information for the companies that produce those products are also needed in a separate dashboard then this feed that would normally come from the likes of a Bloomberg or Reuters can be combined with this Order data and displayed.

BI Technology Trends: The Past

We need not go into the details of how BI functions were being performed or are still being approached using DW-driven technology. If Business needed insights into key trends then they would follow this well beaten path:

- Setup a de-normalized DW or Data Mart

- ETL information from transactional data stores into DW

- Use reporting tools like Cognos to generate the required MIS reports.

Therefore, this was the tried and trusted method and was considered business as usual. Traditional BI is very batch-oriented in nature and not real-time. However, while real-time mechanisms may look very compelling in terms of their value proposition and ROI, it may not be feasible to implement these quickly as they are dependent on a services-based infrastructure.

BI Technology Trends: The Present

As the competitive landscape becomes more intense, the need for real-time business intelligence is almost De Rigueur in certain types of industries, in order to gain business agility and competitive advantage. With the advent of technologies such as BAM and CEP, it is possible to perform real-time and even future what if business analytics.

BAM and CEP fall under a new category called Event Driven Architecture (EDA). These tools permit BI in both synchronous and asynchronous modes.

Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) is associated mainly with Web Services. It is a dashboard driven toolset that is comprised of various design time components and a runtime component. It is used in conjunction with other runtime components of a typical SOA implementation, such as ESBs and BPEL engines.

CEP (Complex Event Processing) is similar to BAM with the difference that CEP is not tied to web services alone and is message agnostic. You can aggregate disparate messages from myriad sources and use them as part of one CEP application.CEP is usually event driven.

The online shopping segment is also benefitting a lot from these advanced BI Solutions paradigms. The likes of Amazon, eBay and Zappos are rejoicing at the arrival of BAM and CEP. In such high traffic sites where the hits are measured in millions per day, attaining the level of agility and edge over the competition is virtually impossible without real-time analytics. Traditional BI strategies fall woefully short and are not equipped to deal with these types of business operations.

BI Technology Trends: The Future

There are several game changing trends that are in vogue in the BI field that promise to change the face of the industry. While BAM and CEP are the pre-cursors, they are fueling other paradigms that were not possible before.

Here is an example that is taken from advertising industry pundits whose central focus is always on “The Consumer”: Smart Billboards that will glean biometric information based on facial features of anyone walking by. If the consumer turns out to be a young 20-something year old male, the backend system would beam back relevant information such as ads for an iPod, cell phone, energy drink, sports car or anything that fits this particular demographic.

Just 5 years ago, this idea would have seemed outlandish, but not anymore. With real-time BI delivery mechanisms at the foundation, scenarios such as this are becoming reality. With a little ingenuity and BI 2.0, the possibilities are seemingly endless.

Dashboards Making Business Decision Quick and Easy

Businesses face a unique challenge in today's world

Decision-makers in today's business world face challenges placed upon  them because of advancements in technology and globalization. Executives  must now sift through data presented in different formats, stored in  different places, and created by multiple people. Managers often work  with staff dispersed not only in multiple offices, but often across the  country and the world. Smart business decisions are based on "all the  facts" but pulling those pieces together is a daunting task.

How do dashboards help decision makers overcome those challenges?

dashboardsToday's smart business leaders look to business dashboards to help them  meet those challenges. Why? Because dashboard solutions pull the data  together into one at-your-fingertips place. And they enable users, no  matter where they are or what their technical know-how, to contribute to  and use the data.

A well-planned dashboard is easy to use. It clarifies the relationship  between data for better decision making. It allows decision makers to  spot opportunities and trends which enables many positive outcomes such  as cost reduction and optimal use of resources. Since dashboards quickly  sort through data, they help promote informed and responsive decisions.  The user can see results and understand what drives the numbers.

The benefit of a dashboard is it draws together the data AND the people.  Companies that use a dashboard to allow automatic access to corporate  data (accounting, inventory, customers, etc.) and with this gathered  data they can automatically produce and distribute reports to people in  the organization.

Some reporting tools deliver automated reports to users on a pre-defined  schedule. Users can set whatever schedule they choose, ie. daily,  weekly, monthly, or on an as-needed basis. People in the organization  can customize reports by inputting parameters like date ranges.

Excel dashboard software is an example of a business solution that  allows everyone in an organization to get the most out of business  resources they already understand. Excel is a tool that most business  people are accustomed to using on a day- to-day basis. They know how to  use the basic features, already have it on their computer, and can  easily share files between one another. One of the challenges of Excel  is manually creating visually complex dashboards. Reporting tools enable  everyone on staff to use automated Excel dashboards.

Executive dashboards lead to informed decision-making and collaboration

In summary, dashboards enable decision-makers to look at the whole  picture. They enhance a company's ability to share and update data  across boundaries of time and space. This data is then available in one  consolidated place in a familiar format like Excel that makes access  simple, useful, and universal.