Briefs

Doug Henschen, intelligententerprise.com, February 13, 2008

What's now called "Business Objects, an SAP company" yesterday announced a major new BusinessObjects XI 3.0 platform, but I, for one, had zero advanced notice. Judging by the dearth of coverage until today, other journalists were in much the same position. And this is an announcement that clearly deserves a bit of time to digest!

What's in store in BusinessObjects XI 3.0? Only the integration of text mining and information management capabilities, the incorporation of third-party Web-based data sources and the addition of a search-based interface for exploring structured information. These developments represent the fruition of long-planned strategic directions for Business Objects and, indeed, the wider BI community.

On the text-mining front, the 3.0 platform integrates technologies and capabilities acquired in last year's Inxight acquisition. SAS has been doing text mining for a while and Cognos has partnered with specialists like Clarabridge, but what Business Objects is presenting here is text-mining blended into the same platform alongside more conventional analyses. The goal is to power mainstream uses such as call center applications, where mining can be used on CRM comment fields and customer e-mails to alert reps to angry gold and platinum customers.

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