It’s clear that the Business Intelligence community is trying to better understand SaaS BI. Case in point, we held a webinar with Wayne Eckerson (When SaaS BI and On-premise Worlds Collide, Nov 19), and another with Claudia Imhoff (SaaS BI – The New Framework for End-user & IT Success, Oct 29), both of which showed heavy attendance. Wayne and Claudia started their respective webinars by defining SaaS BI to clear the confusion around terminology, applications, strengths and weaknesses. As if to reinforce this, there were many questions from the audience during Q&A – many more than you would typically have for a webinar.
The analysts’ approach reflects the mind-set of the business intelligence community. Yet, Claudia and Wayne were each followed by a case study presentation where the VP of Data Management at a distribution company (DMA) and the CIO of a consumer products company (Shaklee) discussed how effectively they have been using SaaS BI for several years. Their passion is undeniable. It was this very dichotomy that set off the avalanche of questions.
