Birst Brings Data Warehouse to the Desktop
Just like Las Vegas, what happens in the data warehouse has generally stayed in the data warehouse, with data strictly under IT control and users who must wait for IT to address their data analytics requests.
During the last decade many companies made data more accessible to users by adopting data discovery tools that gave users the ability to take data from data warehouses and mash it up with data on their desktops. Such tools still required IT to get data to users, though, creating individual feeds for those who wanted them. And users often created “spreadmarts” containing data that didn't adhere to enterprise quality standards.
Business intelligence provider Birst is introducing a new tool called Distributed Business Analytics that Birst CEO Brad Peters says improves upon the usual data discovery model by offering users direct access to a centralized data warehouse with no need for IT to move or replicate data.
IT in essence becomes a “data bureau,” creating a menu of data assets and allowing users to subscribe and connect to the assets most relevant to them, Peters said. Users can create self-service sandboxes within the data warehouse, where data is still subject to the business rules and logic established by IT.
“IT keeps data secure and manages it, but at the same time gives people autonomous control over their own data,” Peters said. “So IT is now an enabler instead of a counterbalance or a reaction against bad data.”
The data warehouse is “no longer just a way station for data,” said Peters, adding that Birst's goal is “to hasten the death of the data feed once and for all.”
Wayne Eckerson, executive director of the BI Leadership Forum, said the new product “will promote true ad hoc development within a corporate data infrastructure, eliminating the proliferation of spreadmarts that often comes with analytical activities.”
Birst Distributed Business Analytics requires the Birst Professional or Enterprise Edition and is priced on users and CPUs. It is available as part of Birst Release 5.3, which is slated for release within the next 30 days, Peters said.
Birst will offer more details on Distributed Business Analytics during a webinar at 1 p.m. ET on Aug. 21.
Ann All is the editor of Enterprise Apps Today. Follow Enterprise Apps Today on Twitter EntApps2Day.
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