Enterprise BI industry solutions, meet GIS industry solutions
Posted by Dave Kerr on Fri, Jan 21, 2011
Enterprise vendors, it would seem, speak pretty much the same language.
Being essentially the "glue" that binds IBM Cognos enterprise Business Intelligence with Esri GIS, we at SpotOn are always very interested in what these companies have to say about their offerings, and how they fit together.
So recently we looked at the "Industry" pages for both of these organizations:
IBM Industry solutions for IBM Business Analytics
Esri Industries GIS Mapping Solutions for Industry
It was not surprising to see a degree of overlap. After all, these are both global enterprise vendors in leadership positions in their respective domains.
What was most interesting was the extent of the overlap in what both IBM and Esri actually say. For example, if you take a moment to compare the descriptions related to banking on each site, you'll quickly discover that they both describe (among other things) improved insight into risk management, operational efficiencies, and a single view into customers and markets for better insight.
So here we have two global enterprise vendors, both aiming to make data analysis and understanding easier for managers in virtually every industry. Both of whom are recognized leaders in their fields.
It's nice to see our strategy and products validated.
If you are an IBM Cognos customer, and you need maps in your BI and analytical applications, you may well be considering Google Maps as a solution. We love Google Maps -- for consumer applications and qualitative (as opposed to quantitative, crunch and the numbers and analyze them) spatial work and usage. We're not so convinced that it's been designed from the ground up to solve the problems inherent in secured, "behind the firewall" business data analysis. You can probably make it do that, with enough time and coding resources, but that's not the sweet spot for Google Maps. That is clearly the sweet spot for combined IBM Cognos BI and Esri solutions.
Not convinced? Take just a few minutes to see how quickly you can integrate maps into your IBM Cognos reports.