Summary
Recently, line-of-business managers have been making it a priority to use performance management in the operations of their units. However, they are often impeded by the fact that many current performance management products were designed for use in analytics by technically sophisticated users, not for easy-to-use deployment in operations. But now performance management software provider InetSoft has released a major new version of its Style Intelligence software that makes advanced performance management capabilities easier to use and interact with as part of operational management decision-making.
Assessment
InetSoft’s dedicated performance management platform and tools have delivered and continue to offer management reporting, scorecards, and dashboards that are easy to configure and deploy. The products have appealed to organizations that want a simpler way to do business analysis by merely identifying their data sources and then rapidly assembling reports and dashboards. InetSoft accomplishes this with a unique “data block” model that can map data from multiple sources into a data integration environment that also supports a spreadsheet-like user interface.
| #1 Ranking: Read how InetSoft was rated #1 for user adoption in G2's user survey-based index |
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New Dashboard Reporting Features
The most recent version expands its capabilities in collaboration and exploration. These capabilities are integrated with the established InetSoft platform, which uses Ajax-based technology to simplify user interaction. InetSoft includes a visual composer that provides a dynamic way to drag, drop and associate data with charts, tables and other presentation components. Ad-hoc reporting remains a particular strength that is now complicated with sophisticated visual analysis and multi-dimensional charting. This intuitive data modeling approach helps business users assemble their information more quickly.
Other useful features for business users include facilities for filtering data, building metrics from measures, other iterative analytic capabilities and direct publishing to Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, as well as the popular Adobe Acrobat PDF format. A standard calendar display simplifies selecting the desired time intervals for analysis and reporting. To distribute and provide access to information, Style Intelligence enables users to assemble dashboards with pages of content appropriate for each area of the business. For more sophisticated users, it offers geographic mapping, scorecarding, management of metrics and the ability to set thresholds for action. The product proves to be more cost-effective than "big BI" vendors thanks to by pricing per CPU rather than by named user, which has been the method used by most BI providers.
Market Impact of Operational Performance Management
Being able to use performance management for operational purposes is a significant opportunity for any size organization, but especially for those of medium size. Ironically, though, the consolidation of the performance management market over the last five years through mergers and acquisitions has made it more complicated rather than simpler to assemble and deploy particular capabilities. Large vendors have a confusing array of components to choose from and then configure, which impacts not only deployment but also the total cost of software and consumption of resources. In this market, many vendors tout their products as providing capabilities to address every need, which is often not accurate — and, more to the point, not needed by every customer. In this market, InetSoft offers a distinct advantage. The company demonstrates the relative simplicity of its approach to organizations seeking dedicated performance management capabilities.