Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

Search is having a major influence on BI and data retrieval and analysis in general. Although the technology is still developing, the combination of BI and search is important because it can provide nontechnical business users and BI consumers with easier access to -- and the ability to analyze -- both structured and unstructured information.

A business can gain significant value from the Semantic Web by drawing on its capability to combine and interoperate with several technologies and services, encompassing data warehouses, disparate operating systems, and myriad types of messaging. The resulting "cohesive" technological platform allows in-depth user participation and collaboration that also reveals new and meaningful relationships among information silos and applications that may not be obvious to the business.

In my last Trends Advisor ("Netbooks, 4G Networks to Spark IT's New Generation," 3 September), I suggested that the netbook, as opposed to what folks like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer have been suggesting, is one of the major "disruptive technologies" of the decade.

The accompanying Executive Report discusses the framework, process, and practical enactment of business transformation. The report is based on the unique experiences I've had providing consulting and training services to three separate organizations over the past two years.

Enterprise data integrity, security, and confidentiality have long relied on combined network- and application-based security. When data was secured on local centralized systems using role-based account access supported by strong firewalls, the thinking was that corporate data was well secured.