by Leslie Papandrea
I am so excited to share Golden Consulting's holiday video greeting with you!  Spend a few minutes and find out about our Business Intelligence team's favorite holiday memories.  Because while we certainly enjoy sharing data analytics, dashboards, technology training, and Business Objects consulting with our clients, I think we like sharing festive holiday cheer even more.

And on a personal note, I enjoyed lampooning my own "crazy bird lady" ways in the video.  Don't miss my precious cockatiel Spencer's starring role at the very end!  In a world where we strive continually to improve our clients' business intelligence...sometimes it's nice to also include a "bird brain."

by Leslie Papandrea
Erik and Alan are Golden's experts at helping clients choose the right Business Intelligence solution or Business Objects software, planning a Business Objects consulting engagement, and helping clients master their data analytics with Xcelsius dashboards.

Basically, these are two smart guys.  I have a lot of confidence in their technical abilities.

But even they can be derailed by a blown fuse...

Enjoy this teaser for our upcoming holiday video...and stay tuned for next week's full-length installment -- "From Our Family to Yours."

by Leslie Papandrea
What are you most thankful for this year?  I'm thankful for my family, my health my job -- and I'm really looking forward to a relaxing long weekend to reflect and recharge!

The Golden team took a break from Crystal Reports, Business Objects consulting, creating Xcelsius dashboards, technology training and all of the other Business Intelligence stuff we do to make a brief video sharing what we're most thankful for as a company...and what our team is looking forward to during Thanksgiving.  So please enjoy this video, from our office to yours.

And have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

by Leslie Papandrea
Bad decisions.  People make them every day, both big and small — mismatching an outfit, marrying the wrong person, speeding on the highway next to an unmarked police car.  Goodness knows, I make mistakes every day, but usually the fallout affects only me. But for some people—like top politicians, military strategists, and business leaders—their bad decisions have huge consequences for many people. 

And in most cases, a bad decision can be avoided if we have better data and reliable "what if?" scenarios to help with our choices.  More data analytics and a reasonable sense of what's coming in the future could avoid a lot of snafus.

When you're a business owner, executive decision maker, or manager, your business choices affect not only the future of your company but also the livelihood of its employees and their families, not to mention the fates of your clients, investors, or patients.  How's that for pressure?  It certainly trumps the pressure I feel when I stare into my closet every morning!

Particularly in a small- or mid-market company, decisions like how to staff your organization and where to invest your resources could potentially "sink the ship" if made based on bad information or tunnel vision.

So while you can afford a speeding ticket, can you really afford to be misinformed, confused and "blind" when making business decisions that affect your organization, its clients, and its employees? 

That's where Business Intelligence comes in.  I may never be able to have interactive Xcelsius dashboards that tell me what to wear, or Business Objects software that shows me "what if" scenarios before I start dating someone new, or a Crystal Report that informs me of speed traps on the highway.  But you can have all of those tools to help you in your business decisions...  

So while my obvious "quick fix" is just to drive under the speed limit, maybe your business fix is not so obvious.  Wouldn't you breathe a huge sigh of relief if helpful BI tools could take some of the pressure off your corporate decision making?

by Leslie Papandrea
On Thursday, October 30, Golden Consulting hosted a Business Intelligence seminar about "Dashboards and Data Visualization" to showcase how performance management dashboards from Business Objects help organizations make better business decisions.  We had a great turnout -- including both IT staff and business users -- which is yet another indication of just how popular dashboards and data analytics are becoming in the business world.

If you'd like to view sample dashboards, you can visit our website.  But -- and perhaps more entertaining -- if you'd like to view pictures of Golden staff in all of our Halloween-costume glory, scroll down.  Because at Golden, we know seminars should be informative and educational, but aren't they even better when they're fun??  That's why Thursday's seminar ran complete with candy, a jack-o-lantern or two, scary wax fangs, and appearances from a pirate, Indiana Jones, and our very own "Crystal Reports fairy."  And yes, Lance Armstrong (aka Erik Golden, VP) did give his portion of the presentation from atop his bicycle). 

We hope all of our guests had a great time -- I know we did!

by Leslie Papandrea
This morning I was drafting an invitation email for a business intelligence seminar we're hosting on October 30—the day before Halloween—about interactive dashboards and how they can help organizations make better, smarter business decisions.  I'm very enthused about our Halloween-themed seminar:  I've got my dalmatian costume ready (it's left over from a childhood church play, but it still fits....so either my dear grandmother allowed me room to grow or I was just a very large 10-year-old!).  I've got a half-eaten bag of candy under my desk that I can't seem to resist, and I can't wait to string my jack-o-lantern garland around the whiteboard in our presentation room.  I am ready and excited!

But how to market a seminar about dashboards with a Halloween theme?  Clearly we need something more alluring than candy and me in a puppy costume!  As I wrote the invitation, I was thinking about the ideal Halloween — the stuff of movies and childhood fantasy.  It's a foggy night.  Clouds fill the sky.  There is a sense of fright and trepidation in the air.  No one knows what scary thing waits behind the next tree, or what creepy phantom is about to swoop down out of the sky and attack. 

Foggy.  Cloudy.  Frightening.  Afraid of what lurks around the next corner.  That's Halloween for sure!  But that also sounds like a good description of how many businesses approach their decision-making process.  Without accurate and meaningful data and the ability to predict "what if" scenarios, decision-making is like a shot in the dark.  Deciding which course of action your businesss should pursue can cause great trepidation. 

Interactive dashboards from Business Objects can cut through the fog and alleviate your fears of not having relevant and trustworthy data and not being able to anticipate what's coming for your organization in the future. We like to have a little shiver sent up our spine when we're trick-or-treating or heading off to a Halloween party — but not when we're making choices about our company budgets, business plans, and staffing and such.  Don't we all want our decision-making to be more like a walk in the park on a sunny day and less like a haunted house?

So check out my final invitation for yourself...and if you can't join us on October 30, then I hope you'll at least eat some candy for me! You can also view Golden Consulting's sample dashboards to see how they might help your organization avoid the ghouls and goblins of spooky decision-making.

by Ken Dixon
With the current $700 billion financial bailout package on the table in Washington DC, there has been a great deal of discussion at home and around the water cooler relating to personal feelings about the bailout and the economy overall.  Several people from the company have come by my office to ask about my opinion of the situation and what the impact will be on Golden Consulting.

All this discussion draws me back to a conversation I had with my barber during the economically challenging times of the 1990s.  Like then, today we all need to be thinking about the business intelligence we have to really analyze our businesses.  Can we bring all the relevant data together in a warehouse or data mart so that we can do basic reporting that helps us understand the underlying health of key business trends and activities?  Are we able to do more in-depth analysis and create what-if scenarios should specific business lines or products become less viable due to challenges facing consumers or purchasing departments?  Can we quickly depict operational trends through dashboards, scorecards and other visualization tools so we can make decisions quickly and accurately based on energy prices or shipping costs?

The ability for businesses to answer "yes" to these questions is critically important in economically challenging times.  I have assured people at Golden and elsewhere that we are in an extremely positive position to help companies who need better reporting with Crystal Reports or Microsoft Reporting Services.  As a Business Objects platinum partner, Golden’s ability to develop dashboards depicting key, relevant data is extremely strong.  There is no doubt in my mind that companies need the software, skills and consulting capability that we offer in these challenging times. 

And I also believe the words of my barber still ring true over a decade later.  He said rather sheepishly that “when the economy is bad [his] business is great.  As a precaution to a personal downturn, people ensure that they are looking good just in case.”  While I hope every company has their reports, analytics and dashboards looking great, if you need help, Golden would enjoy the opportunity to take a look, just in case!

by Leslie Papandrea
Have you seen the new Microsoft Windows commercials?  If you haven't, click to watch the video, or trust me for a brief synopsis:  The spots begin with a character similar to the "I'm a PC" fellow in the now-famous Mac ads, whom Apple uses as a foil for all that is hip, useful and desirable.  Then Microsoft presents a parade of people who are indeed hip, useful and desirable and asserts that they too "are PCs."  The clear implication is that PCs must be great tools if all of these interesting and everyday people can do great things—medical research, artistic and architectural design, humanitarian and environmental work—using their PCs.

Watching this ad, I wondered how many of the worthy ventures spotlighted therein are using—or should be using—Business Intelligence tools (like Business Objects) that really make the most of their PCs?  How do clothing designers track sales and distribution and plan for future marketing decisions?  Do genetic researchers pull from and contribute to databases that inform larger scientific institutions or hospitals?  Could the man who sells fish benefit from Crystal Reports or Xcelsius dashboards that provide data analytics about his markets and seasonal trends? 

At my desk, I use a PC, so I guess in Microsoft's eyes, "I'm a PC."  But I also am always looking for ways to identify trends, understand our data, have more flexible reports, and know—at a glance—what direction our marketing should follow.  Business Intelligence takes regular technology to the next level and helps businesses make smarter decisions, and isn't that what every organization wants?

So I'm Leslie:  I'm a PC, I'm a BI...and like Bill Gates, I too wear glasses.

by Leslie Papandrea
Well, the blogs are a-buzzing this week about Obama's comment regarding putting "lipstick on a pig," so mine will be no different.  But here it's not about politics—whether you sympathize with Obama or McCain or Palin or whomever—but more about the meaning behind this not-so-common colloquialism.  There are plenty of things that you can try to "dress up" but will still remain pretty dismal:  economic policies, bad haircuts, a fallen souflé, to name a few.

Similarly, you can "put lipstick on" your organization's data and reporting system by creating new spreadsheets and protocols, scheduling more meetings, and overloading your IT staff with manual tasks.  But, if your data is stale or incomplete, your processes are inefficient, and your decision-makers lack the proper analytical tools to make sense of it all, can you really make better business decisions?  Or are you just putting lipstick on a proverbial pig?

Without the proper business intelligence software and systems, your organization will still be overwhelmed and unprepared to use its data effectively.  Tools from Business Objects designed for reporting, dashboarding and data analytics—and the technology training to use them properly—are critical to moving your business forward.  They can be the difference between making real progress...or simply dressing up the same old data problems that you've always had.

So don't waste lipstick on a pig — make genuine progress and truly increase your organization's business intelligence instead.  Then, thanks to your new found efficiency, you'll have more time to follow the clichés used by this year's presidential campaigners.

by Ken Dixon
I just returned from a week-long visit with my in-laws, who live on an island, about an hour by boat off the coast of Maine.  While the visit was great (I actually like my in-laws), being on an island for a week gives you some time to think about lots of things.  Since the only commerce on this island is commercial lobster fishing, I did spend a little time wondering about that commercial trade.  I found I was asking myself questions like: what business intelligence do they need to be successful in their businesses?  Do they have any analytics?  Do they have a way to generate reports that will help them understand how their business is doing this year versus last, or others before that?  Is there a method to correlate prices to their catch to maximize profitability?  Are there areas where they fish that generate greater profits than others, and what is the relation of other trackable data points to profitability?

It is extremely clear that the way of life on a Lobsterman’s island is much, much different than mine in Connecticut.  However, with some simple business intelligence tools and easily collected data, it might be the difference between a great winter vacation in the coming year, or a relatively cold time on the fringe of the Atlantic Ocean.  It also might mean a new boat with new technology and better equipment, which could yield even a greater catch and more prosperity.  It might mean some additional funds stored away for a bad fishing year, an injury or what might be an early retirement.

They have great internet access and even better cell coverage than at my home in Connecticut.  While there is knowledge passed from generation to generation on the art of lobstering and where and when to fish, I have to believe a little stored data with basic analytics and dashboards could go a long way.  But who knows, maybe I just had too much time to think about all the benefits business intelligence could bring to any business!

by Leslie Papandrea
Who handles Business Intelligence work at your organization, and where did they learn how?  Was it through on-the-job training?  Product training from a vendor?  Self-taught?  Lessons cobbled together from college MIS or Computer Science courses?  Is your BI team tech-savvy but lacking in analytical skill?  Or vice versa?

In his article "The Business Intelligence Education Problem," Richard Herschel notes that few people outside of the BI world have a firm grasp of what Business Intelligence actually is, nor are they aware of the potential for career growth in this area.  Herschel is Chair of the Department of Decision & System Sciences at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, and he argues that BI should be formalized as a distinct field of study at the university level, much like computer science or MIS. 

At Golden Consulting, we offer product- and technology-specific training courses that usually range from 1-2 days to a week, such as Business Objects and Crystal Reports courses.  Sometimes we offer "boot camp" programs that extend across several months and focus on a broader set of skills, like mainframe technologies.  Our technology training certainly helps our students learn new skills that help in their job performance, but we're not offering a 4-year, soup-to-nuts BI education program. 

Do you wish you (or your boss, for that matter) had a degree in BI?  Would a more comprehensive, tailored BI background help you in your job today...or are you doing just fine without it?  Does your company have trouble finding new hires with both the technical and the business analysis skills to really improve decision-making in your office? 

And if universities start offering comprehensive BI degrees, what should those programs involve and who should teach the classes?  (I know a few of our in-house technology instructors would love a chance to don a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches and share their expertise behind the college lectern!)

I've raised more questions than answers here, but as a former high school teacher, I know the pressure that young adults face as they choose a career path and seek the requisite training...so I'm intrigued by these questions.  Additionally, I think Herschel's article would interest anyone involved in BI -- particularly anyone who knows the frustration of trying concisely to explain the concept of business intelligence to colleagues or acquaintances.  So check out his article on the BeyeNetwork and enjoy!

by Leslie Papandrea
Austin Powers' nemesis Dr. Evil had all the makings of a great villian--a devious spirit, creepy henchmen, and a cool suit--but he didn't always have the right data.

In this clip, he was about to make a very poor business decision that would have cost his evil cohort a huge amount of money.  His concept of the appropriate ransom to demand when threatening the world with a giant warhead was outdated by several decades.  Thanks to insight from his Number Two, he revised his objective and made a much smarter financial decision.  Without that important business intelligence, Dr. Evil wouldn't have been an intimidating villian at all.

Whether you're leading a mid-size business, large enterprise, or even an evil cohort, you need the right information as you plan your objectives and make decisions.  Business intelligence tools can help you avoid bad decisions about what to budget, buy, charge, manufacture, etc.  Business Objects clients rely on BI solutions, reports, dashboards, analytics and budgeting tools so that they don't end up embarassingly over- or underestimating their financial prospects.

So we can learn valuable lessons from this comedic villian...as long as we don't adopt his fashion sense.

Has better data ever saved you from making a poor business decision? 

**Addendum:  Shortly after writing this blog entry--and lampooning Dr. Evil's choice of fashion--I remembered that Golden's booth at the 2006 Information Technology Training Conference (ITTC) sported a very retro Austin Powers theme in line with the expo theme of "Back to the Future."  So I had to add this photo of Bill Lee, our Director of Education Services, posing alongside Austin in his Dr. Evil suit.  Now, I must say that Bill makes many smart business decisions on a regular basis...but his decision to purchase this suit off of eBAY was probably not one of them.

by Leslie Papandrea
In college, a girlfriend of mine had a spacious Ford Taurus in which she generously transported the rest of us to and from the mall, parties, and movie theaters.  One autumn, her speedometer broke, and as a poor college student, she never bothered to have it repaired.  I remember speeding along in the backseat, leerily watching her dashboard as the speedometer needle dangled aimlessly between 0 and 20 miles per hour. 

"How do you know how fast you're going?" I asked cautiously.  "I just take a guess....and if I don't get pulled over, I figure I'm doing ok," she replied.

In hindsight, I knew she was driving way too fast.  Without a working dashboard gauge to reign her in, we were a car full of foolish girls possibly careening towards an accident...or at least a speeding ticket.

Just as dashboards help drivers make decisions about vehicle safety, corporate dashboards provide the business intelligence that executives need to make smarter business decisions.  Data analytics and dashboards developed using tools like Business Objects Xcelsius 2008 offer metrics and alerts that provide visibility into business data from multiple databases.  Executives can easily monitor their progress against specific objectives.

As a business leader, you should never just "take a guess" and hope that there won't be any negative consequences.  By making the right data instantly available to the right people, a corporate dashboard can warn you when your company is headed for a business "accident."    (View Sample Business Objects Dashboards)