Qlarion Has Eye on Public Sector BI

Jake Bittner

Within the public sector, Business Intelligence has, historically, been narrowly defined as a way for agency decision makers – both technical and non-technical staff – to analyze massive amounts of data using reports.

But the value BI is delivering today to public sector agencies is extending well beyond reports and data warehouses. Civilian and Defense agencies are looking to BI and Data Management solutions to help them improve mission performance through deeper insight while at the same time providing transparency and accountability for decisions

We spoke with new Qlarion President Jake Bittner about his firm, government BI trends and challenges agencies are facing when it comes to managing and leveraging their data.

ExecutiveBiz: So in April of this year you became an independent company. What was behind that?

Jake Bittner: The public sector unit had always focused on BI and Data Management solutions for public sector customers and government-sponsored enterprises (GSE), but by forming an independent company we are even better positioned to devote full resources to the public sector mission. For our existing customers there really was no change as we retained our full staff and customers during the transition.

We also added a couple of Federal IT and BI veterans to our Board – Dendy Young and Sid Banerjee – both of whom will lend a wealth of leadership experience and expertise to our team and customers.

ExecutiveBiz: Where does Qlarion fit in relative to other providers?

Jake Bittner: Qlarion seeks to carve a niche between the large IT contractors that move slowly and don’t tend to specialize in various aspects of BI and the smaller players that typically only have the capacity to provide general BI support rather than delivering new and innovative solutions. We have witnessed the most traction in healthcare-focused Agencies, DHS, and financial Agencies – all of whom can leverage BI and Data Management to improve mission performance.

ExecutiveBiz: What challenges are agencies facing when it comes to data management?

Jake Bittner: The challenge we find the public sector facing – and one we are helping to address – is that agencies have many applications up and running operationally but often lack visibility into the effectiveness of their operations. With visibility agencies can match to key performance indicators and better drive efficiency.

Also, as you can probably imagine, tremendous pressure is being placed on government budgets, and one of the only ways to achieve scale of efficiencies required is through investment in technology that provides operational efficiencies. Business Intelligence solutions have shown a tremendous capability in this area. Throw in a more urgent mandate for transparency and visibility, as well as changes occurring with regards to healthcare, financial reform and other regulations, and the need for proven BI and Data Management is stronger than ever.

ExecutiveBiz: What are some emerging aspects of BI that agencies are excited about?

Jake Bittner:  Predictive Analytics is one area that mission-focused agencies are paying great attention to for its ability to provide incredibly valuable insight into an agency’s future operations and the powerful what-if analysis. For example, a healthcare agency might tap predictive analytics to determine cost and outcome implications of shifting one percent of call center volume to the Web, or in Defense predictive analytics is demonstrating value in logistics of supply chain management and overall mission readiness.

ExecutiveBiz: Going forward, where is BI headed as far as public sector adoption?

JB: The capabilities and usability of BI continue to improve, which means that the user community for BI is expanding. With wider adoption of netbooks, iPads and smartphones, more and more people are tapping BI platforms and consuming data – often without even realizing it because the interface is so intuitive. This is an exciting development and one that will lead to wider adoption and understanding of the benefits of BI.

Posted by Staff Writer on Friday, July 23rd, 2010. Filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry