(CDT) Tue Jul 1, 2008 10:45am -- Announced today, the next release of
Yellowfin Business Intelligence, 4.0 is scheduled for the end of July.
Whilst most of the activity in the BI space has been busy with merger
and acquisitions, Yellowfin has continued focussing its efforts to
develop web Business Intelligence software that is not only an
enjoyable user experience but also delivers insight through advanced
data visualisation.
One of the key motivators for Yellowfin has been addressing the BI
industry’s aura of complexity. Business Intelligence does not have to
be complex, and Yellowfin is making it easy. In release 4.0 Yellowfin
has turned its attention to Location Intelligence. Google has
certainly made map-based querying a household concept, however, the
application for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) within Business
Intelligence is still one that is viewed as overly complex and too
specialised for the average business user. Well, according to Justin
Hewitt, Yellowfin's COO, with Yellowfin 4.0 it isn’t!
With map visualisation organisations can free themselves of the usual
constraints of traditional charts and table concepts and explore data
based on spatial elements. Yellowfin enables a variety of mapping
visualisations to be utilised, either Google Maps, Heat Maps or fully
enabled GIS data type rendering.
“With Yellowfin 4.0,” explains Hewitt, “we are able to take two mature
technologies and combine them, creating a unique symbiosis that
generates new ways to visualise data. Most importantly though, we have
opened this rich functionality up to the casual business user who can
now discover what value location-based reporting can bring to business
decision making. You no longer have to be a GIS expert to gain
location based insights.”
Yellowfin Business Intelligence has been creating a quiet revolution
with its easy to use, web dedicated, embeddable Business Intelligence
software. “Release 4.0 is a major release for us and is one that we
are thrilled about,” says Hewitt. “Although there are a host of new
functional elements a huge emphasis is to continue to improve the
existing application. Whilst there is a tendency in the industry to
cram a new release with additional bloat-ware, a large part of 4.0 has
been focussed on improving existing functionality by altering the user
interface. To this end we have completely redesigned the view builder
using the latest in AJAX techniques to provide a truly ‘wow’ factor to
what is generally perceived as a mundane task.”
This continued investment in the user interface is indicative of
Yellowfin’s development philosophy. “We don't believe in technology
that you have to read the manual to use. Our goal has always been to
refine the user interface with a highly intuitive workflow so as to
guide the user through what is traditionally seen as complex
processes,” explains Hewitt, “Yellowfin release 4.0 is another leap
forward for us and we are excited about the benefits that it will
deliver to our customers, providing them with additional capability to
explore, mine and visualise their data.”
Reproduced by Permission
