Principal analyst at Forrester Research, Martha Bennett, who serves the CIO role and is an expert in business intelligence (BI), big data and analytics, will visit SA to participate in the upcoming ITWeb BI Summit 2016.
At Forrester Research, Bennett serves the CIO role predominantly, covering BI, analytics and big data.
Her current research has two main areas of focus: the investigation of best practices for making the most of an organisation's data, as well as building appropriate processes and organisational structures.
She also analyses the effect of emerging technologies and business pressures on the way BI capabilities are managed and delivered. Other key research areas include BI in the cloud and mobile BI.
Bennett believes that making the right data available to the right people at the right time has long been more than an aspiration - it's a business necessity. "Whether it's an interactive dashboard for executives or a self-service discovery environment for a data analyst, fast time-to-delivery is essential, as is flexibility and the ability to roll out changes quickly," she says.
According to Bennett, many firms' existing BI and analytics environments aren't up to the task, and businesses are putting pressure on their CIOs to provide more suitable information delivery environments.
"Moving to cloud BI holds the promise of addressing those issues, but there are risks involved as well. Indeed, for many CIOs, the risks continue to outweigh the benefits."
Bennett sees technology decision-makers increasingly looking to the cloud to procure new, or augment existing, BI and analytics solutions to satisfy the need for improved BI capabilities and to do so fast. "Cloud BI comes in many shapes and formations, says Bennett. "Arguing over what constitutes 'true' cloud BI is pointless in the enterprise context. What matters is understanding the key characteristics of the different options that are available and the degree to which they match your requirements."
ITWeb BI Summit 2016
The eleventh annual ITWeb BI Summit 2016 will present South Africa's BI practitioners with the tools they need to manage their data effectively and adopt innovative BI practices for smart decision-making. Find out all you need to know about the pertinent issues that keep BI practitioners and strategic decision-makers awake at night, including mobile BI, analytics and forecasting, BI in the cloud, big data, self-service BI and more! Click here to pre-register.
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