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The Business Value of Super Graphics

by
Mukesh Gordhan
Andrew Cardno

Introduction
Businesses are facing extraordinary challenges with today’s global economy. Doing business as usual is now a risky strategy. Businesses are forced to rethink their basic strategies and the core business processes for achieving those strategies. In 2008 IBM conducted a global study with over a thousand executives representing 32 industries in 40 nations. The study revealed that:

• Many organizations are struggling with their inability to manage expected change.
• Demanding customers are viewed as an opportunity to differentiate, rather than as a threat.
• Business models are adapting, with two-thirds implementing extensive innovations.
• Collaboration with global partnering and integration is a key innovation.
• Successful companies are adopting bolder strategies to disruptive basic markets.

Faced with these challenges, companies must detect unexpected trends rapidly, understand implications and take action quickly. Some describe this as a ‘perfect storm’ as shown in Figure 1.

Data volumes are more than doubling every two years; the velocity of data is increasing from daily uploads to near real-time and data variety has also exploded with complex operational and interaction data about customers, supply chain, manufacturing and risk management.

BIS² provides the essential tools to visualize the complex patterns of your business activities, thereby allowing persons with strategic or operational perspectives to understand the problem intuitively and contribute ideas to the solution. In other words, these tools enable companies to see what they need to do.

The Super Graphics approach of BIS² is revolutionizing corporate business intelligence with a new generation of analytic tools. Unlike traditional reporting that blur details with totals and averages, the vizbybis² set of industry solutions enable users to see a multitude of data points simultaneously to understand patterns, identify meaningful relationships, and gain new insights which were not previously possible (Figure 2).

Super Graphics to Enable the Adaptive Enterprise
Facing massive amounts of complex operational data, the advanced data visualization solution from BIS² enables you to see the patterns in your business so you can understand what actions are required now and tomorrow. With patent pending Super Graphics, you can adapt to changes by rapidly generating crucial insights from both inside and outside your enterprise.

Complementing Your BI Platform
Companies have made considerable investment in their BI platforms ranging from the data warehouse itself and its ecosystem, the various tools and analysis procedures, and the information distribution network to business users and others.

The point is that Super Graphics complement your BI platform in an important and unique way. Analysis tools within your BI platform fall into three categories (Figure 3).

First, reporting tools summarize and display existing data within the data warehouse. The data and the relationships among the data are known since they are based on historical facts recorded by the company’s transaction systems.

Second, forecasting tools analyze the trends in the historical data and predict future values, which is useful for planning.

Third, exploring tools generate insights into the unknown relationships within your data. Super Graphics is a discovery tool that complements the other tools of the BI platform. It enables you to probe into the dynamics of your business...to realize the critical interdependences among factors that generate revenue and profit, and those that do not.

Driven by Business Value
BIS² has developed Advanced Intelligence Methodology (aimViz), which draws together into one methodology, three powerful techniques – Super Graphics, Advanced Clustering Techniques, and Business Value Questions. In other words, questions about the business value drive both the Super Graphics and clustering techniques, which in turn refine and extend the questions about business value.

aimViz consists of the layering of these techniques (Figure 4). The first layer (Data) is Advanced Clustering Techniques that prepare the operational data by reducing the dimensions (i.e., collapsing
attributes (columns) that are highly correlated), clustering customers with high similarities, and identifying clusters that contribute little additional information.

The second layer (Visualization) is Super Graphics™ that display the clusters using one of the visual designs, such as quartal, temporal, spatial, and pivotal. The user can visualize the whole to/from the part.

The third layer (Insight) is Business Value Questions that result in delivering real value to the company. The example questions on the left drive the design of the specific Super Graphic, which will result in business insight (Figure 5). Would knowing these answers help with your business?

Let’s expand on this third layer with industry specific questions about business value for: retail, telecommunications, insurance, gaming, entertainment, manufacturing and general finances. These industry solutions are the spokes that connect into the bottom of the aimViz layers and provide the foundation for the aimViz methodology (Figure 6).

The business value of Super Graphics comes from focusing the analytics on critical business problems with a clear vision of desired outcomes. The aimViz methodology, combined with the appropriate industry solution package, delivers on that business value (Table 1).

Table 1 – Key Benefits of BIS²’s Industry Solutions
• Focuses on solving industry issues – provides direct benefit to the industry-user.
• Captures in-depth industry knowledge and leading practices in the industry.
• Staff are more comfortable with the solution as it captures industry-specific terms and business practices.
• Flexible to meet company-specifi c requirements and individual work practices.
• Rapid Return on Investment.

Key Points Summary
• Businesses are facing extraordinary challenges with today’s global economy. A ‘perfect storm’ representing data volumes, data velocity and data variety is upon us.
• The Super Graphics approach of BIS² allows users to obtain real and actionable business value from their data, something that has been a challenge with traditional reporting tools.
• The business value of Super Graphics comes from focusing the analytics on critical business problems with a clear vision on desired outcomes.
• The Super Graphics are presented as specific industry solutions focusing on solving industry issues and delivering a rapid ROI for users.

More About Super Graphics and vizbybis²
BIS²’s Industry Solutions allow you to directly query your data and see the results visually using innovative and powerful Super Graphics (Figure 7).

Set out below are key reasons for choosing vizbybis² and BIS²’s Industry Solutions as your analytical solution for tough business challenges. vizbybis² leverages a new generation of visual analytics to enable companies faced with painful business challenges to quickly see what they need to do.

1. Unique visual presentation methods - allows users to comprehend a multitude of data simultaneously in a natural and easy-to-use way. Also enables users to capture their business in one single picture and then look at relevant detail where appropriate.
2. Extensive and expanding visual library - extensive and expanding library of Super Graphics that have built-in data visualization expertise to enable users to create and use meaningful Super Graphics.
3. Framework for powerful industry solutions - as a generic tool, vizbybis² provides a strategic and operational intelligence framework for powerful and value-based industry solutions.
4. Easy-to-use powerful technology - simple, easy-to-use graphical interface that allows users to directly act on the data within the context of the advanced data visualization.
5. Unique underlying algorithms - unique and patent pending algorithms that translate data and business performance drivers into easy to understand and useful visualizations.
6. Utilizes industry databases - enables an organization to get more value from its existing investment in its industry data warehouse. vizbybis² interrogates the database directly without the need to create a separate database or cubes.
7. Rich Internet Application (RIA) - web-based enterprise software that is deployable with only a URL.
8. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) - built using J2EE technology with USEful™ and RESTful interfaces and deployed on IBM WebSphere® Application Services or JBoss EAP.
9. Leverages your existing investment in BI tools - vizbybis² has been designed to work with most other major BI tools. vizbybis² provides the big picture whilst other BI tools can provide more detail.
10. Direct database access - vizbybis² interrogates the database directly without the need to create a separate database or cubes.

BIS² NORTH AMERICA:
Business Intelligence Systems Solutions, Inc.
16955 Via del Campo, Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92127
USA
Phone: 1 858 592 BIS² (2472)
Fax: 1 858 408 3660

BIS² EUROPE:
Business Intelligence Systems Solutions Europe B.V.
Koningin Wilhelminaplein 13 WFC 2.10.02
1062HH Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Phone: 31 (0)20 34200 28
Fax: 31 (0)20 34200 27