IBM has expanded its line-of-business analytics tools to provide enterprise-wide visibility into performance and data analysis so that companies can adapt quickly to changing business needs.
At its Information on Demand Global Conference today, IBM announced analytics software for procurement, sales, and human capital management; Content Analytics software to access and analyze structured and unstructured data, such as e-mail and blogs; stream computing technology to make sense of structured and unstructured information stored in data warehouses; and Master Information Hub software, which expands upon the preconfigured data categories offered by traditional master data management products.
Different departments, say, finance, supply chain, procurement, and manufacturing can use the metadata-driven software to set up their views and analysis metrics, based on their specific needs.
One of the new modules, IBM Cognos 8 Supply Chain Performance Procurement Analytics, is designed to help procurement professionals assess suppliers’ ability to deliver products and services in line with their contractual obligations and the business goals set by the manufacturer. At the same time, finance managers can access the data to gain insight into overall spend management and sourcing, and operations managers can slice and dice the information so that they can react to changing demand and supplies.