Free BI Seminar: Fishing for Information: Feeling Hungry?

• Date: Wednesday 6th April 2011
• Time: 9.30 am to 1 pm
• Venue: SAP Business Objects, Maidenhead, UK

It is highly likely that the internal rate of return your organisation is reaping from its investment in Business Intelligence is less than it could be, due to some mundane, real life challenges which may not be mentioned in the boardroom or corridors of power.

Many people in your organisation only need to analyse corporate data sporadically and If it’s outside of their routine work they may have limited time to dedicate to the task.

Silver Bullet Approach?

There are several recognised methodologies for getting people the numbers they need, yet these problems persist. Whilst there may not be a silver bullet, could there be a silver fish?  We know from history that “give a man a fish he will eat for a day; teach him to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime”. 

Join us on the day to see how this has been applied to BI.

>> Register

Five Benefits of Faster Report Design

Some report requests come with far too little lead time. And, it’s these instances that tend to be the most urgent. To fulfill the request, you have to drop everything, pull the necessary data and format the report in a way that will highlight the right information and resonate with the target audience. Meanwhile, other tasks continue to accumulate. Figure out how to accelerate report design, and you’ll deliver a higher level of analytical services while also recapturing time to address your other responsibilities.

SAP Crystal Presentation Design can take the stress out of short-lead report requests. Use this solution to design complex reports quickly, and you’ll save time you can use for other tasks, while also increasing the visual quality of your reports. Here are five ways you can use SAP Crystal Presentation Design to accelerate results.

1. Plan ahead: create presentation templates for reports you run frequently. You don’t have to start from scratch every time.

2. Use automation: SAP Crystal presentation design includes a number of tools that are ready for use immediately, obviating the need for repeated manual efforts.

3. Go interactive: use SAP Crystal Presentation Design to bring data to life … without having to engage a designer or programmer. Interactive tools will help presenters illustrate key points, making your reports far more effective in the decision-making process.

4. Mitigate risk: reduce the manual involvement in presentation design, and mistakes become less likely. Increased accuracy naturally results in better reports.

5. Cut costs: there’s an implicit cost associated with everything you do. Faster presentation design can alleviate workload, making it possible to defer hiring and make existing employees more productive.

Source:  SAP

Visit www.crystalreports.co.uk for more information.

Business Intelligence: Find Missing Insights in the Clouds

Does it feel like you have too much data? Your company produces plenty every day, but there never seems to be enough time to use it effectively. Reports take time to pull together, especially if the data has to come from multiple sources. Priority becomes an issue, and some opportunities are missed because you don’t have the resources you need to conduct thorough analyses. A business intelligence solution would be the answer, especially one designed for small and mid-sized businesses.

Many companies believe that business intelligence is the exclusive domain of larger organizations. Software and implementation costs, they feel, are too high, making the investment imprudent. Further, the attendant IT infrastructure costs and complexity exacerbate the challenge.

At the same time, not having access to business intelligence has costs: opportunity costs. Without the insights from data already resident in your organization, you aren’t equipped to make the best decisions for your company.

So, which do you choose: cost containment or an aggressive investment in growth? With SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand, you can choose both.

SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand provides powerful and reliable business intelligence capabilities specifically for small and mid-sized businesses. As a result, report development is streamlined through automation, making the data you have more useful. Additionally, the cloud computing-based model means that no infrastructure is necessary, leading to lower costs and a simpler IT environment.

Translation: you can spend your time focusing on your business, not on technology.

You don’t have to miss opportunities because there’s too much data at your disposal. SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand puts you in control of your information, and lets you turn your attention to making better decisions.

Source:  SAP

For further information visit:  http://www.dscallards4bi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107&Itemid=66

Use Business Intelligence Efficiency to Drive Business Results

Profitable growth is a business objective held by nearly every company. After all, higher revenues don’t help much if they don’t come with sufficient margins. But, this goal can be difficult to reach. Competition is stiff, and a recovering economic environment is clouded by memories of the difficult conditions caused by the recession. So, how can you invest in growth without committing too much capital—and assuming too much risk? Well, the answers are already sitting inside your company. Use SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI to learn more about your business.

The challenge most companies have right now, when it comes to finding insights into how they do business, is efficiency. The reports that would be most useful tend to be time-consuming, and thus costly, to prepare. Rather than have an already lean staff take on these projects, they are often skipped completely, in favor of higher-priority activities. It’s a costly decision in terms of future opportunities, but there isn’t always much of a choice: your employees need to keep the business running.

The efficiency supported by SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI changes this.

Reports that currently take hours, or even days, to assemble can be prepared in minutes with SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI. Not only does this put information in your company’s hands faster, it accelerates analysis and decision-making, as well as attendant ROI. The operational efficiency that comes from being able to access your company’s various systems from a single source, pull them into a consistent and manageable report, and automate distribution lowers the costs associated with business intelligence, expanding the ROI that can be generated.

Efficient business intelligence enables your company to make smarter decisions, faster—and at a lower cost. With SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI, you can cut the time and overhead associated with locating and using company insights to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. The goal is profitable growth, and streamlined business intelligence will help you get there.

Source:  SAP Partner Edge

For more information visit:  http://www.crystalreports.co.uk/sap-businessobjects-edge/

DSCallards work with Burns Pet Nutrition to Produce SAP Crystal Reports Video!!

Under the SAP Best Run Business Initiative, DSCallards have worked with Burns Pet Nutrition to produce a video that examines how they have deployed SAP Crystal Reports Server to provide critical business insight throughout their growing manufacturing business.

To view the video click here :: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj8W4LXVjrw

Source:  DSCallards Marketing Team

Five Ways Report Presentation Design Leads to ROI

Looks make a difference—at least they do when it comes to your reports. More than merely present data, your reports are intended to make a point. Whether it’s about your company’s financial strength or a new market to be exploited, appearance can affect interpretation, and thus the decisions that are influenced by your data. A carefully designed and presented report, therefore, can shape the direction of your company.
So, does this mean you need to hire a graphic designer and incur even more overhead to drive decision-making in your organization? That just sets the ROI bar higher and puts unnecessary pressure on your margins. Instead of making it even more expensive to gain insights into your business, you can use SAP Crystal Presentation Design to make the data you present easier to read and interpret, ultimately driving better company results with no significant incremental increase in operating costs.

Here are five ways you can use SAP Crystal Presentation Design to generate ROI for your organization:

1. Use speed to lower base costs: you can create professional-looking presentations and reports in just a few minutes, preserving your own time and avoiding the need to spend on design resources.

2. Make data visual: SAP Crystal Presentation Design gives you the tools to turn rows of numbers into interactive charts and maps, not to mention other visual elements. This can make information easier to interpret.

3. Sway the crowd: visuals become compelling tools for driving company investment. Use them to make clear what you’d otherwise hope your readers to infer from the data lined up in columns and rows.

4. Understand all your options: with SAP Crystal Presentation Design, you can model several hypothetical scenarios in order to optimize company decision-making and resource allocation.

5. Accelerate results: the pre-built templates in SAP Crystal Presentation Design give you an effective and consistent starting point. You’ll be able to cut your up-front time investment and begin to realize ROI sooner.

Source:  SAP PartnerEdge

For more information:  http://www.crystalreports.co.uk/xcelsius-software-solutions/

Five Steps to Better, Faster Decisions

Business is moving faster than ever, and your company has no choice but to keep up. At the same time, the consequences of ineffective decisions are growing, and it can take a considerable amount of effort to make up for it later.

With an agile, powerful business intelligence solution, you can make smarter decisions faster. Use SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI to understand your company and the opportunities in front of it, and you’ll gain a significant competitive advantage.

Here are five ways you can use SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI to make better decisions more quickly:

1. Cut report development time: SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI streamlines the process of developing intricate reports. Spend less time piecing together spreadsheets and more time using information to advance your company in the marketplace.

2. Access multiple systems from one business intelligence solution: instead of manually pulling data from all over your company, use SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI to access everything you need from one place. You’ll save time and reduce the risk of manual error.

3. Automate regular reports: don’t start from scratch every time. Rather, schedule the creation of periodic reports. You can use SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI to have them sent directly to the people who need them.

4. Present information effectively: use SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI to present reports in a readable format. This makes it easier for business users o focus on the data, draw conclusions, and take action.

5. Foster an information culture: a streamlined reporting process makes it easier to communicate important information. By doing so, your company will become more likely to look at the data before making decisions.

Source:  SAP PartnerEdge

For more information visit:  http://www.crystalreports.co.uk/