This is a short talk on the adoption and use of open source business intelligence software. It covers some of the rationale and benefits, where OSS BI is appropriate, and some of the challenges. This is part of a webcast done jointly with Actuate on the Business Intelligence Network. Full audio of this presentation and Actuate's presentation on BIRT are available at http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=132982&s=1&k=A1AF6A92A073F64F4873542A2D029D03&partnerref=9

1. Leveraging Open Source
Adopting Open Source Business
Business Intelligence and How?
Intelligence – Who, Why Across
Your Organization
Mark R. Madsen – February 2009
Mark R. Madsen – February 2009
www.ThirdNature.net
www.ThirdNature.net

2. What’s Really Going on With Software?
The Internet, providing
connectivity to…
Lots of demand (users),
connecting to…
Lots of supply: (developers),
all of whom can find each
other via…
The Internet.
In other words, the conditions of
the market now enable commons-
based peer production methods.
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February 2009 Mark Madsen

3. A Perfect Commodity Changes Things
Open source is a means of
production and distribution of
software, and is driving
change in the market.
But the fact that the internet is
a massive copying machine
for the perfect commodity is
the real change in conditions.
The basis of open source is economics, not ideology.
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February 2009 Mark Madsen

4. Open Source Disruption
“Which sector of the industry is most vulnerable to
disruption by open source in the next five years?”
1. Web publishing and content management
2. Social software
3. Business Intelligence
Source: North Bridge Venture Partners
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February 2009 Mark Madsen

5. Why Consider Open Source?
IT is after one of three things:
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February 2009 Mark Madsen

6. Reasons for Adopting Open Source?
Source: North Bridge Venture Partners
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February 2009 Mark Madsen

7. Benefits Seen After Adoption
After your organization adopted open source
software, what was the primary benefit of its use?
Flexibility 31%
Lower cost 31%
Reduced dependence on vendors 15%
Performance 10%
Reliability 7%
Security 4%
Other 3%
Source: The 451 Group
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February 2009 Mark Madsen

8. Who’s Adopting Open Source for BI?
1. ISVs
2. The under-budgeted
3. The under-served
4. The over-served
5. Developers who never
had it before
More co-existence and use
in edge cases than straight
replacements, and often
competing with lack of use.
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February 2009 Mark Madsen

9. Adoption by Organization Size
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February 2009 Mark Madsen

10. Discontinuity Drives Open Source BI Use
The situations most appropriate
to open source BI tools often
involve discontinuous change.
• New interface requirements
• New integration requirements
• Platform change
• Schema change
• Data latency / real-time
requirements
• Segmenting the user population
The data warehouse is becoming
much more diverse – one BI vendor
can no longer be expected to provide
tools for all needs.
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11. First Thought is Often “Replace”
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12. Coexist is More Likely Than Replace
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13. Augment is Also More Likely
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14. Resistance: Déjà vu All Over Again
Common objections:
• Not professional software
• Vendor viability
• Lack of maturity
• Lack of support
• Licensing misconceptions
“The greatly increased mass of participants has produced a
change in the mode of participation. The fact that the new
mode of participation first appeared in a disreputable form
must not confuse the spectator. Yet some people have
launched spirited attacks against precisely this superficial
aspect.”
Walter Benjamin, 1935
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15. Common Adoption Barriers: Procurement
Open source bypasses
the normal IT software
discovery process.
• How you learn about
projects
• Where you find them
• How you evaluate them
• How you acquire them
Need to follow a structured
process that differs from the
standard IT process.
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16. Common Barriers to Adoption: Legal
Corporate attorneys need to learn some things too
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February 2009 Mark Madsen

17. Common Barriers to Adoption: Support
OSS unbundles software licensing
and support, Four models:
• Unsupported
• Community
• Vendor
• Third-party
Source: The 451 Group
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18. “When a new technology rolls over you, you're either part of
Questions?
the steamroller or part of the road.” – Stewart Brand
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19. Creative Commons
Thanks to the people who made their images available via creative commons:
glassblower - http://flickr.com/photos/cazasco/261229878/
rc toy truck.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/texas_hillsurfer/2683650363/
asymmetry_building_tokyo.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/fukagawa/2004102417/
beer_free_beer2.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/fzero/173386050
beer_free_beer3.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/henrikmoltke/142750871/
condiments_salsa.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/uberculture/2462506722/
london modern and ancient together.jpg - http://www.flickr.com/photos/cc_chapman/299509390/
firemen not noticing fire.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/oldonliner/1485881035/
jkid gives finger - http://flickr.com/photos/kevinclark/9826288/
udges - http://flickr.com/photos/spunter/2907888414
abandoned coupe - http://flickr.com/photos/33124677@N00/141807140/
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February 2009 Mark Madsen