More than 900 companies rely on its data-mining products. The software is sophisticated enough to navigate the ongoing explosion of virtual warehouses of information and to analyze terabytes of data. National and international retailers manage their inventories better because they know which products are selling where. Insurance companies reduce fraud because they can identify irregularities hidden deep within their own data. And dotcoms and e-business units can personalize services because they can profile shoppers.
Business intelligence is nothing new.
But what's different about this form of intelligence is its immediacy. Instead of constantly monitoring the situation, you receive only the relevant info. When a set of predefined conditions occurs, its software sends an automated alert to your pager, fax machine, or cell-phone, so you can respond instantly just pressing a button. Answers to questions like how fast products were selling used to take a team of analysts days or weeks to answer, assuming the information could be calculated. Now a store manager just clicks on a Web site and generates a robust report within seconds.