Q&A with Norman Warren, author of "Business Intelligence in Microsoft SharePoint 2013" Q. Why is your book timely-- what makes it important right now? A. Our book can be considered a quick guide to getting value from Big Data. Why? Because much of the focus is on Excel and the business intelligence tools that are now baked into it. Additionally, there is content on how to connect to Hadoop data with Excel. There is no better time to embrace the fact that Excel is the preferred tool of choice for analyzing and exploring data. This book provides the keys for getting value from data and sharing discovered insights in SharePoint 2013. The tools that Microsoft provides are less expensive, integrate more easily in the corporate datacenter, and are accessible to mainstream information workers and developers, using the skills they already have. Q. What information do you hope that readers of your book will walk away with? A. 1. A quick tour with exercises for using new BI features in Excel 203 and Visio 2013 and then how to get the most from SQL Server 2012 tabular and SharePoint 2013 when implementing self-service and enterprise BI solutions. 2. A clear understanding of what business intelligence is. Also, an understanding of what Big Data is, its role in surfacing insights, and how to use Microsoft BI tools to get value from it. 3. Useful instruction on which tool to use. Customers often ask which tools they should use when trying to select among a variety of Microsoft offerings. They’re often confused and need information as to why they might want to prefer SQL Server Reporting Services in SharePoint over PerformancePoint Services, or why they might use the Excel 2013 PowerPivot add-in instead of Excel or Excel Services. After all, each product connects to a database and surfaces data from an OLAP cube. 4. A better understanding on how to get to trusted data and the shortened life cycle of BI implementation while using the latest Microsoft BI tools. Q. What's the most exciting and/or important thing happening in your space? A. Managed and guided self-service BI works. People don't have to wait on IT to get a report. This book gives tips for successfully implementing self-service BI with tools like Excel 2013 and Visio 2013. Big Data is here to stay and you can learn what it is and how to get value from the huge data store immediately by using tools discussed in this book.
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