Your SpotOn the IBM Cognos Edge

Hi all,

Just returned from a whirlwind tour in Europe: UK, Brussels, and the Netherlands.  First off, thanks to all my gracious hosts for your tremendous hospitality!

I'm still synthesizing everything, but my one major take-away from the trip is the reaction of clients when they see Cognos BI data organized spatially on an dynamic map.  Every single customer I met with (almost 10 in eight days!) began to envision their business data on the map.  Filtering Cognos data spatially (buffered points, lines, polygons, etc) literally had jaws dropping.

The other exciting thing that has been happening is the SpotOn Vantage - GBI conversations that have been occurring without SpotOn being involved:

• Kevin and the team at Assimil8 in the UK have been pushing the GBI technology stack (Cognos BI/Vantage/Esri) as hard as anybody we've seen.  Follow their exploits on their blog - you'll soon see some of the wild work they've done with Heat Maps.
• I had the fortune of being in Belgium the day of a previously scheduled presentation a public sector audience in Brussels on the various ways of using maps in Cognos: Report Studio maps, Google Maps, and Esri GIS through SpotOn Vantage. During my portion of the presentation, I highlighted the fact that all the seniors ("Grey Pressure") lived on the coast near Brugges.  This  didn't shock people, but did draw some laughs.
• Our newly minted SpotOn Vantage partner - e-mergo is arguable out-marketing SpotOn!  They've launched the inaugural SpotOn Vantage LinkedIn group, and will be exhibiting at the IBM Cognos Performance event in Holland on November 10th.  

Our Dutch Friends also take the award for fitting the greatest number of activities into a 24 hour period.  Their secret?  Just remove all food consumption! 

Also, we've been active in the Twitter-sphere.  Feel free to follow - or whatever it is you kids do these days... (@spotonsystems)

We're gearing up for the big annual IBM IOD event and will have lots of news leading up to this; new offerings, new releases, new capabilities!  Stay tune, things are heating up!

co