IBM’s New Cloud-Based Solution Offers to Manage Big Data Analytics for You

IBM launched a new cloud-based service program this week to help companies jump-start Big Data analytics, called IBM Cloud Business Solutions.

The first batch includes 12 subscription-based managed services, which basically means it couples consulting services with pre-built IBM assets, including advanced analytics and cloud infrastructure.

Eventually, IBM will have 20 cloud-based business solutions available. The first dozen address high-demand areas such as customer analytics, customer data, marketing management and industry-specific mobile tools.

IBM ranked as one of Information Week’s top 16 Big Data Analytics Platforms earlier this year, but this is its first foray into a cloud-based service for Big Data. Other companies do offer cloud-based Big Data analytics, including two pure-plays, 010data and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

IBM’s entry into the cloud infrastructure/SAAS market is in part due to its $2 billion acquisition of SoftLayer last year.

Who Are MDM’s Stakeholders?

It’s always important to identify the stakeholders in any project, but it can be tricky with master data management, according to Jessica Banks, a marketing analyst for master data management vendor Verdantis.

Generally, when I think of stakeholders, I think of business stakeholders, but as Banks points out, a long list of people are involved when it comes to MDM, including:

• Executive management
• Business users
• Business clients, as indirect stakeholders
• Applications owners
• Metadata analysts
• Information architects
• Data governance teams
• System developers

While executives, obviously, top the list when you think of anything as comprehensive as MDM, she makes a good case for the importance of the worker bees of IT.

“…, it is also essential to work with application owners and system developers. Show them the flow of strategy and convince them of its potential to successfully implement the same,” she writes. “Successful MDM implementation depends on the combined efforts of all stakeholders – both direct and indirect.”

Pentaho Hosts First World Conference: A Sign of the Times?

It’s probably not a coincidence that Pentaho, which specializes in BI, analytics, embedded analytics and data integration, is hosting its first global user conference this year.

My guess is that this reflects the growing interest in analytics, especially Big Data and embedded analytics.

PentahoWorld is for business users and analysts, as well as technologists such as BI and data integration developers. It will be Oct. 8-10 in Orlando, Florida.

MuleSoft Targets Common Salesforce Integration Problems

MuleSoft says the latest release of its Anypoint Platform simplifies common Salesforce integration frustration points, including connecting Salesforce to ERP and CRM applications such as Siebel, SAP and databases — particularly when there are multiple Salesforce instances.

The platform does this through templates, which should make the tool easier for tech-savvy business users as well. There are also templates that address common integration patterns, such as synchronizing data across platforms, and more support for integration applications that leverage best practices from MuleSoft, according to a press statement.

The release also supports new security certifications for CloudHub.