SAS, Intraspect extend BI functionality with collaboration

Industry-leading business intelligence vendor SAS Institute is putting a new twist on business intelligence (BI) by incorporating Intraspect's Knowledge Server as an extension to its BI tools.

Intraspect's collaborative technology adds an enablement layer to SAS' business solutions tool set, which will allow users to put information into context, according to Michael Stierhoff, one of three SAS associates leading the initiative.

The resulting solution, labeled by Stierhoff as Collaborative Business Intelligence (CBI), is SAS' definition of knowledge management.

"Business users need information in context, such as who wrote a report, why they wrote it, and what the report means," added SAS president Barrett Joyner. "This is the essence of knowledge."

For several months SAS' sales and marketing and R&D divisions have been using the CBI system, which has "caught on like wildfire," according to Hillary Freeman, SAS strategist for emerging technologies.

Together SAS and Intraspect cover "just about everything" organizations are looking for in terms of KM systems, said Intraspect president Jim Pflaging.

"Customers have been intrigued by knowledge management, but are looking for applications that are safe and they can trust," he said.

"Taking data delivery and analysis and putting it in the hands of the workers is a sure win."

According to Stierhoff, the knowledge management extension will cost between $25,000 and $150,000 "depending on what you're doing with it." However, he points out, "where does business intelligence stop and collaboration begin? That's the gray area."

Read more about Collaborative Business Intelligence in the February issue of KMWorld magazine.