Business Intelligence and Collaboration: The new frontier of decision making

By Kristina Kerr
How often do consult with your colleagues or an expert when you're making an important business decision? Probably most, if not all, of the time. A natural step in the decision-making process is to collaborate with people to ensure expertise, insight and stakeholder opinions are factored into each decision. Technology is evolving to support this growing trend (see Gartner's report titled The Rise of Collaborative Decision Making). Microsoft customers, like Univerzal Banka, are at the front of this technology curve using Microsoft SharePoint Server, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft Office Excel for BI and collaboration. This allows Univerzal Banka personnel to boost their productivity and work more closely with colleagues.

Effective decision-making also requires data in the hands of everyone who needs it. That's why Microsoft has made large investments in managed self-service BI that enables end users to quickly manipulate large datasets in Office Excel 2010 (often millions of rows), streamline the integration of data from heterogeneous sources, and effortlessly share analysis through SharePoint 2010. Scroll down to get a sneak peek at some minute-long vignettes of a project code named 'Gemini'.

I encourage you to learn more about these important trends and their benefits at the upcoming SharePoint Conference 2009 and PASS Summit Unite 2009 - please note the special discount code for Microsoft guests below - where the BI team will show you how these innovations will help you make the most of your investments in the Microsoft BI platform.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Kristina Kerr
Group Product Manager
Microsoft Business Intelligence