Author: Raymond Borhan

With all the rapid changes taking place in the world of Business Intelligence these days, it’s hard to get a grip on just how to tackle your data delivery problems. Should you consider a cloud-based solution? Or SaaS-based? Has the time for an in-memory solution finally arrived? What implications do the rapid changes in BI/DW technology hold for the investments you’re making now? And what if the 6-9 month average time to delivery just isn’t fast enough for your organization’s needs? These are just some of the questions TDWI’s World Conference in San Diego (Aug. 16 – 20th 2010) and its concurrent Executive Summit (Aug 16-18th 2010) promise to address, and the overarching theme which ties it all together is Agile BI.

According to Wayne Eckerson, the secret to success in today’s environment goes beyond just agile methodology. Success he says, also involves adaptability. Eckerson’s keynote speech which will open the conference will therefore focus on a practical framework for creating agile BI environments which can not only respond rapidly to business needs, but have the flexibility to respond to new and unforeseen changes in business and technology environments with minimal pain. Among other things, such a framework, says Eckerson, will help to prevent what has been the nemesis of corporate BI organizations for years – the dreaded growth of shadow systems created by business users for whom the sanctioned delivery system always offers too little too late.

Indeed, in an environment where business needs and technologies are rapidly changing, it’s all about “adapt or perish.” That’s why the second keynote speech at TDWI conference – delivered by Ken Collier of KWC Technologies on Thurday, August 19th – is entitled “The Katabatic Winds of Business Intelligence.” The katabatic winds of Antarctica are among the strongest winds on earth, and require constant monitoring and adaptation for those brave researchers who live on the continent; monitoring and adaptation become key to survival. Collier argues that the rapid changes shaking the world of business and BI technology are no less cataclysmic and require the same degree of monitoring and adaptation by those BI organizations who hope to survive them. With this in mind, Collier will examine emerging agile technologies which are conducive to adaptability – including Cloud and SaaS environments and the no SQL movement.

TDWI’s Executive Conference will elaborate on the themes of adaptability and flexibility with an in-depth look at the hot topics of cloud computing, MDM, and the role these topics play within the agile framework. Featured at the Summit will be the representatives of companies with enviable records of delivering timely analytics for driving business processes, including Eric Colson of Netflix whose presentation - “Radical BI: Moving Fast as the Business Wants” – is, in our opinion, by itself worth the time and costs of attendance.

Of course, as always, building on the topics covered in the keynote speeches and the in-depth presentations will be TDWI’s broad range of course offerings. “There’s always something new” says Eckerson, who also says of this year’s courses “it’s the best line-up of content we’ve ever had.” TDWI promises fully updated material, and at least a quarter of the courses will be covering completely new material. In addition to the core offerings leading to the industry’s most respected certification (CBIP), this year’s courses will include plenty of courses related to the agile theme, and some of the courses of particular interest include:

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