SpotOn focus on Geospatial Business Intelligence (GBI)
Posted by Mike Boryski on Fri, Oct 09, 2009
For over two years, we've applied our expertise in the IBM Cognos architecture and SDK to solve the challenge of GIS/enterprise mapping integration within an IBM Cognos BI report. Amidst the blood, sweat, and many tears, the development experience and successful implementations have opened our eyes to the incredible business impact of integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with IBM Cognos BI software.
Originally we gravitated to the term "Location intelligence", but as we gained insight and experience in the possibilities of the IBM Cognos-GIS integration we came to the belief that Geospatial Business Intelligence (GBI) was a more appropriate term.
Business Intelligence (BI) is all about extracting high value information from data, and getting the right information in the right format to the right people within the organization. Whereas, Geospatial Business Intelligence (GBI) is about bringing the power of GIS and spatial analysis to the information foundation provided by the IBM Cognos BI solution.
As a concept, GBI is certainly not new. Rather what is new is the ability for IBM Cognos customers to implement and benefit from GBI without the need for custom coding. With the release of our award-winning SpotOn Vantage software, you can now seamlessly integrate third-party visualizations, such as live, interactive maps from ESRI directly into your IBM Cognos system and reports.
Today we are busy enabling GBI within a growing number of IBM Cognos customers - across a variety of industries. In fact, on a regular basis we learn of yet another novel customer requirement for the integration of a map (both geographic and operational floorplans) into their IBM Cognos reports. Never in a million years would we have been able to imagine all of these unique demands for GBI when we ventured into this area of expertise.
The declaration of our commitment to GBI does not represent a departure from our core business of providing IBM Cognos SDK services - far from it! Assisting organizations that want to integrate, extend, and customize their IBM Cognos BI solutions will remain an integral part of our business.
Rather we see our expertise in GBI as a natural extension to our IBM Cognos SDK professional services practice. Thus, from a product and services perspective, our company will continue to take a leadership role in the enablement of GBI for IBM Cognos customers. SpotOn Vantage is evidence of our commitment to GBI - as are the partnerships, the awards, and most importantly - the customers that we have earned as a result of our GBI expertise.
Having released SpotOn Vantage, we won't be taking time to rest. Rather we vow to continue to invest in R&D and product development to better our out-of-the-box and custom GIS integration solutions for our IBM Cognos customers.