As we get ready to host IT Forum EMEA June 9-11 in Lisbon, we will be conducting interviews with some of the key Forrester speakers and our invited industry keynotes. With so much attention being focused on business intelligence these days, we decided to sit down with Senior Analyst James Kobielus, who covers analytics, data mining and warehousing and business intelligence. James will be delivering a presentation for Business Process and Applications professionals.

YATES: What is the key lesson/theme that you will present at IT Forum EMEA?
KOBIELUS: I’m speaking on four topics in four different sessions with the common theme being that pervasive adoption of business intelligence (BI) can make organizations more lean, agile, and adaptable to changing conditions. I’ll be discussing “Driving Better Business Outcomes with Pervasive BI,” “Best Practices for Centralizing and Consolidating BI,” and “Transforming Business Processes Through Business Analytics” (with Derek Miers). Also at ITF EMEA, I’m moderating the SAP Espresso Lounge session on “Transform Your Enterprise into a Best-Run Business.”

YATES: How do these sessions tie into the overall theme of making business technology real?
KOBIELUS: All of this ties directly into that theme, since “making business technology real” can be defined as empowering information workers with tools that they use all the time and without which they would not be even half as productive. BI is just such a technology, because it can infuse every decision with the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and trustworthy information available. In this way, every information worker can have greater confidence in every action they take, can justify it fully, and can adjust their plans rapidly to fit changing circumstances.

YATES: What steps would you like to see attendees take after hearing your presentation?
KOBIELUS: I would like attendees to engage with me to discuss how they can maximize the ROI of their BI initiatives. I’ve developed a Forrester Total Economic Impact ROI model that can be used to calculate the decision-support productivity payoff from pervasive BI — from centralizing and consolidating your BI and data warehousing (DW) to automating more decisions using inline predictive models integrated with business process management (BPM) platforms. I’d also be delighted to help attendees identify opportunities to build out their process analytics strategies, leveraging their BI and BPM investments to enable real-time tracking of key performance indicators (KPIs) across their diverse process platforms.

YATES: What will you be talking about at the Forrester Leadership Board Member Meetings?
KOBIELUS: “Driving Better Business Outcomes with Pervasive BI.” I’ll be discussing the benefits, applications, approaches, platforms, and tools for diverse pervasive-BI approaches. I’ll be drawing from the research that Boris Evelson and I have been working on in self-service BI, in-memory BI, BI SaaS, BI mashup, and BI workspace. I’ll be discussing the pros and cons of the various approaches, and helping our members understand and clarify and articulate their BI strategies at the senior executive level and among operational line-of-business users.

YATES: What other ideas are you working on that people should be on the lookout for in the coming months?
KOBIELUS: I’m also Forrester’s lead analyst for customer service platforms, social customer relationship management (CRM), social network analysis, process analytics, and predictive business processes. Common themes among these areas are the continued adoption of social media in business processes (internal, B2C, and B2B) and the pervasive role of BI in everything. In Q3, I’ll be publishing a Forrester Wave on Customer Service Software Platforms, and CRM support for social media and BI are among the key criteria. I’ll bring these and my other coverage areas into a holistic discussion that helps clients align their investments and strategies across these converging technologies.

YATES: Thanks James. See you in Lisbon!
KOBIELUS: No problem. I'm looking forward to a great event!