Elad Israeli

OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) technology is the most prevalent technology used in corporate BI solutions today. And while it does what it’s supposed to do very well, it has a bad (and accurate) reputation for being very expensive and difficult to implement, as well as extremely challenging to maintain. This fact has prevented OLAP technology from gaining wide popularity outside of Fortune 500-scale companies, which are the only ones who have the budgets for company-wide, OLAP-based BI implementations. Since the inception of BI and consequent entrance of OLAP technology into the space, the need for BI has been rapidly growing. Recognizing that OLAP-based solutions were (and still are) hard to introduce into a wider market, thought leaders and visionaries in the space have been since then trying to bring BI down to the masses through technological and conceptual ... (more)

Google Says: Americans More Patriotic Since 9/11

America is a patriotic nation. Notwithstanding the definite upsurge in the period following 9/11/2001 ten years ago, overall the level of American patriotism tends to remain remarkably consistent. Polls support this statement, as reported in a Forbes article last year: Patriotic attitudes are generally very stable. In a question Gallup asked in January 2001, 87% said they were "extremely" or "very" proud to be American. When Pew repeated the identical question last year, 86% gave that response. In 2001 and 2009, only 1% said they were "not at all proud." The 9/11 tragedy produce... (more)

The Google AdWords Broad Match Modifier

A couple of months ago, Google added a modifier option for the Broad Match type. This option basically allows you to control which words must appear in exact or synonymous form within the search phrase. For the record, I have always disliked the Broad matching option. Especially since Google introduced Expanded Broad matching where Google show you ad for every word they deem close enough to the actual word you bid on, not just the exact word. Ever since they did that, it's become very difficult to control your Adwords campaigns because the search phrases you bid on become much less... (more)

Business Intelligence? Yes Minister!

I recently watched an episode of the classic BBC series ‘Yes, Minister’. In this episode, the minister asked his assistant, Bernard, to inquire about a new hospital where there are supposedly no patients and a ridiculous amount of administrative staff. Bernard conducts some research and returns to the minister with his results. Here’s a short transcript: Bernard- You asked me to find out about an alleged empty hospital in north London. Minister- Oh, yes. Bernard- Well, in fact there are *only* 342 administrative staff in the new St. Edwards hospital. The other 170 are porters, clean... (more)

Chatting with Albert Einstein About Business Intelligence

Albert Einstein is arguably one of the most intelligent people who have ever lived.  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to chat with him about business intelligence?  I have.   Mr. Einstein, thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. I work for a business intelligence vendor called SiSense and I would love to hear your thoughts on a subject you know more about than anyone else – intelligence. "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” Modest as always! However, instead of talking about pe... (more)