IBM Expands Information Analysis Offerings
IBM, at its annual Information On Demand Global Conference in Las Vegas, also unveiled a new content analysis system and enhancements to its stream computing technology for analyzing data in real time.
IBM executives, speaking at the conference, said they see a shift in IT spending from ERP applications and other technologies that automate processes to IT used to manage and analyze information.
"How do I anticipate shifts in markets around the world? How do I anticipate upturns and downturns?" said Steve Mills, senior vice president and head of the IBM Software Group, citing the kinds of questions managers are trying to use IT to answer. "We think there is a very important evolution taking place. This idea of information-led transformation, in our view, is the next big wave that's going to be hitting us over the next decade."
IBM introduced three new pre-configured analytical applications: IBM Cognos Customer Performance Sales Analytics for analyzing sales according to sales reps and customers; IBM Cognos Workforce Performance Talent Analytics for assessing recruitment and employee training processes; and IBM Cognos Supply Chain Performance Procurement Analytics for determining a supplier's capacity to provide needed products and services.
The new Content Analytics system combines technology from the IBM Cognos business intelligence software and the vendor's FileNet content management application. IBM said the product provides an integrated view of such content as customer correspondence or market trend reports.
The new InfoSphere Streams Mining Toolkit lets businesses develop scoring models for use with InfoSphere Streams, IBM's advanced technology for analyzing structured and unstructured data in real time as it streams into a data warehouse. And the new Master Information Hub is an option for developing customized views of data in IBM's InfoSphere Master Data Management Server.
IBM also unveiled a number of new applications that bolster the company's data archiving product line. Those include InfoSphere Content Assessment for identifying high-risk and valued content such as corporate records that need to be secured, and InfoSphere Content Collector for collecting multiple types of content such as e-mails and documents from disparate sources for archiving.