IBM Unveils New Information Management And Analytics Software

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Press Release via HRIQ
11/08/2010

LAS VEGAS - Nov 2010: IBM recently introduced new software that combines the most sophisticated business analytics and optimization capabilities for today's evolving workforce. For the first time, the new offerings combine social networking and collaboration capabilities for the burgeoning mobile workforce, expected to reach more than 1.19 billion by 2013.

With today's news, IBM is bringing business analytics capabilities to the masses with a new look and feel that more closely mirrors people's every day use of technology including support for new mobile devices and integrated social networking capabilities for faster, more collaborative decision-making.

The new software takes analytics out of the traditional format of reports and charts to a more interactive design and broader analysis and insight making it easier by providing built-in images and videos to guide business users. They can now gain instant insight with analytics in an easy to use format anytime, anywhere on their mobile devices. These new capabilities will have a profound impact on the way all business users interact with their teams, partners, managers and customers around the globe.

Spurred by the growth of mobile transactions, expected to grow by 40 times by 2015, the increase in the rate and pace of data is accelerating the IT opportunity around business analytics and optimization. When combined with the unprecedented growth of the mobile workforce, this presents an opportunity for businesses to embrace the borderless office and extract intelligence to better interact with customers. A recent IBM study with 1,900 CFOs globally revealed analytics-driven organizations had 33% more revenue growth with 32% more return on capital invested.

To address these changing market dynamics, IBM is announcing a set of new business analytics and information management offerings:

Cognos 10: New software that brings together the power of social collaboration and analytics for business users to gain real-time intelligence in a single, user-friendly interface -- online or through mobile devices such as ipad, iphones and blackberries.

DB2 10: New database software that helps businesses combine data - from past, present and future, delivering 40% performance improvements.

IBM InfoSphere Server: New software that redefines how an organization handles data behind the scenes with faster and more accurate integration of diverse forms of data, and the ability to see the quality of data before it's used.

A technology preview of Hadoop-based big data analytics software running on premise and the IBM Test Development cloud.

New Analytics Software Brings Speed to Insight with Social Collaboration and Mobile

With the launch of Cognos 10, IBM is delivering the most significant analytics offering since the acquisition of Cognos, one of the largest acquisitions in IBM history. For the first time, this new software brings together the power of social collaboration with Lotus Connections software and business analytics with Cognos in one unified experience with intuitive navigation capabilities and simplified user experience. This removes the frustration of having to interrupt user train of thought resulting from the need to switch between views to get the right information. The software supports the natural path of seamless views from browsing to investigation to decision making.

This new software provides business users with an integrated view of historical information with real-time updates to give users a complete picture of their business. Now, business users can benefit from accessing information with a range of views from simple real-time information to advanced predictive "what if" analysis. The integrated social networking capabilities with analytics allow the employees to interact with each other in real time in communities, wikis and blogs. This combination fuels the exchange of ideas and knowledge that naturally occurs in the decision-making process, but is typically lost in meeting notes, manual processes and emails. Users can now initiate activities, engage others with their expertise, post messages, files, links, and discuss or review opinions – all in real time for faster, more accurate decision making.

For example, a regional sales manager can spot a spike in sales in a popular pair of shoes with the store manager and marketing team in real time to identify the cause and brainstorm to resolve the issues around managing supply and demand. Doctors can spot trends for patient treatment of certain diseases, share insight with other doctors, and agree on a preventative course of action and treatment with a team of doctors, all without having to change a single view with this in-depth information. A brand manager sees product sales declining and needs to discuss the issue with the store manager, production department, and marketing team – all at the same time. The manager can instantly set up a decision network to connect the right people and information to share insights and capture annotations.

Office Depot, a leading global provider of office products and services, uses IBM analytics software to track, analyze and report on its retail store performance to help drive profits, reduce losses and provide business insight to management. With more than 41,000 associates worldwide, annual sales of more than $12.1 billion, and 1,598 worldwide retail stores, Office Depot needs simplicity in its analytics software.

"Efficiency is very important in our business," said Brian Wood, Senior Manager, IT Enterprise Intelligence Systems for Office Depot. "If we can identify customer buying patterns, forecast demands for a specific product and get it on the shelves at our stores faster, we’ll be more profitable as a business. With IBM analytics software, we’re able to identify product sales patterns and buying preferences by store or by customer segment."