Delivering Real Data Analytics over the Web
As many applications and services becomes cloud based, there is a strong push to
get data analytics and business intelligence into the cloud. There have been numerous
private-cloud offerings for BI over the last decade, but most tend to deliver 'lite'
analytic platforms that do not exceed the current capabilities of the web in general
and browsers in particular. Public cloud offerings have been somewhat limited, as
the challenge of hosting reasonably sized analytic databases remotely has not, historically,
been effectively handled.
With the improvements in bandwidth, browsers and the web in general, these challenges
are being overcome. However, the applications that drive this revolution have not
necessarily kept up with the demands of a cloud-based solution. This is particularly
true for the client tools that front-end the hosted analytic databases. Generally,
they are weak, unsophisticated and scaled-down to meet the limitations of the web
as a delivery platform for deep, complex applications.
Until now.
Desktop Analytics, Reporting and Dashboard Tools in a Browser
Pyramid Analytics' Business Intelligence Office suite
is a set of synergistic applications designed to deliver high-end data analytics
and reporting tools via the web. The main goal of the suite was to deliver the same
desktop functionality found in competitive products, except in a browser. In achieving
this goal, Pyramid delivers a powerful platform for cloud-hosted BI applications.
Cloud-Hosted BI Solutions
There are numerous companies world-wide selling data-rich applications or data frameworks
that involve giving their clients access to the data collected or analyses performed
on this data. Examples include:
- SAAS providers hosting CRM solutions (like Microsoft Dynamics CRM), wishing to provide
BI on the CRM data
- Specialized providers of vertical data solutions (like healthcare or insurance),
wishing to provide end-user access to the analyses for both standardized and ad-hoc
reporting
- Global Organizations that need to provide 'internal' access to corporate data across
a geographic divide without needing users to log in through slow VPN solutions
- Companies wishing to give suppliers detailed access to corporate data and analytics to better
improve their operations
- Public institutions that need to provide details of their operations or programs
to their constituents or electorates
In each situation (and many others), there is an overwhelming need to deliver a
set of sophisticated tools that have the ubiquity of the web without the yoke of
an installed client application. It is in this context, that Pyramid's
products stand out.