E-Business Intelligence: Turning Information Into Knowledge Into Profit

This book is rare in my experience. It is helpful to both the executive who wants to develop important customer and competitive advantages and to the CIO who has to plan the company's electronic capabilities. The book succeeds in doing this in a way that will improve the dialogue and effectiveness of technical and nontechnical executives in working together to improve their organization's knowledge and ability to make good use of it. Beyond that, the book is well-founded in a vision of individuals (at work and at home) being able to interrogate data bases to find better ways to do things, and then cooperating with other people to save time and money.Business intelligence software basically does two things: First, it pulls off data from other databases so that relevant information is all together in a usable form. Two, it contains simple query tools that allow anyone to ask a wide variety of ad hoc questions and get quick answers back. Think of this as being like turning a large business into the simplicity of a one-person operation being run by the owner. The strength of the book comes in the many detailed examples from around the world of companies in different industries using business intelligence software to improve themselves, their customers, and suppliers. The examples come from companies of many different sizes, dealing with different kinds of problems, and having varying degrees of technical sophistication. These are presented in some detail in sidebars that are highlighted in gray backgrounds so that they are easy to find.I intend to recommend this book to all of my clients, which is something I seldom do.The writing in this book deserves special praise. Mr. Liautaud and Hammond have done a very careful and thorough job of taking complex ideas and breaking them down into simple words, concepts, lists, and examples. They have done this without "talking down" to the reader, and the material is consistently interesting. Mr. Hammond deserves special credit for understanding the advanced thinking of Mr. Liautaud that has led to the development of an entire industry around helping companies expand their e-business intelligence.I am often annoyed by books written by CEOs of companies that have services to sell. The books often come across as one big piece of advertising or brochureware. Although the examples here come from Business Objects clients, I did not have that negative reaction to this book at all. After you finish this book, you will realize that the key thing to getting benefit from e-business intelligence is to ask better questions once you have the databases and query tools in place to do your own interrogations. I suggest that you start asking those questions now. You may find that some can be answered simply and quickly without bogging down the IT department, and you will obtain the benefits sooner. What's even better is that you will find ways to start thinking in improved ways about your business sooner.Enjo

I've read E-Business Intelligence twice and think it's a thorough overview of the subject of extracting intelligence from data. The book shows the different ways companies are actually exploiting information to help give their business a competitive advantage -- as opposed to simply automating the running of their operations.Most information books today take a "stovepiped" view of the organization and talk only about one part of a company -- doing supply chain, customer relationship management, sales force automation, etc. What I like about this book is that it's holistic. It shows how us of these pieces fit together. It's a rare sideways (or transverse) way of looking at information exploitation.The case studies are not highly detailed, but they do provide enough detail to illustrate "the point" behind each example, and they do stimulate the reader into thinking of new ways that he/she can exploit the information that they most likely already have in their information systems.I think it's a must-read for business executives who are trying to get a handle on what's possible with today's technology and for information technology staff trying to get the business perspective on IT.

If you are seeking a quick, concise, yet thorough analysis of how to make an impact with your e-business data, this is the book for you. The book is easy to follow, well-written, and most importantly, provides great examples.There are volumes of data flowing into every enterprise at a record pace. Data analysis tools and strategies are expanding to meet the increasing needs for corporations to turn data into dollars.Liautaud's book will help you to better understand the key elements of any successful e-business intelligence strategy. The examples represent a broad range of industries and really helped apply real-world thinking to the content.It is nice to see a publication on this topic that is more than theory and predictions. This one is a winner.If you are in this space, read this book.

As the CEO of a starting vertical B2B netmarket, I have read Mr. Liautaud's book with great anticipation, because I had read in the press that his company (Business Objects) has already done several interesting e-business data analysis implementations in both B2C and B2B environments. And indeed, the book was very useful in combining both full insight into the philosophy and methodology of modern data analysis (clearly showing how it has evolved from simple pivot table analysis to a complete exchange of information and indeed knowledge between trading partners, customers and suppliers), together with very clear and insightful business examples from all kinds of companies (and indeed even B2B netmarkets like Ventro). If you're not yet convinced that the pile of data you're sitting on is a true information and knowledge treasure, then this book is for you. If you already realise this, then this book will show you how to unlock that treasure.

This is a great book for anyone thinking about business strategy in the "information age", and trying to figure out how to best leverage the mountains of data in every company. I particularly liked how international this book is -- it features examples from more than just a few of companies in the US, but includes organizations across Europe as well (Fiat and British Airways along with US brands MasterCard and eBay). I was a big fan of customers.com, and this book is right up there on my list.