James Thomas is the Senior Director, Corporate Product Marketing at Business Objects. He talks to us about tools for better decision-making, collaborative models, scalability and doing more with less. 

 
Business Objects is a Silver sponsor of NetSquared, a donating partner to TechSoup Stock and corporate partner to TechSoup.org.

MICHELLE:  What does Business Objects do?

JAMES:  Business Objects helps organizations gain better insight into their operations – our software improves decision-making and performance.  Technically, the software category we participate in is “Business Intelligence” or BI.  Perhaps the most widely understood functionality within BI is reporting – it is one important element of what we do.  Think of a monthly bank statement, a phone bill, balance sheet or fundraising report.  Our solutions enable people to create, manage, analyze, and present the information within web portals, applications as well as within dashboards and business scorecards. We make it possible to share these kinds of statements simply and securely.  In short, we help people make sense of their information, so that they can make better decisions and then act on those decisions.   

MICHELLE:   Business Objects works to strengthen the global communities in which it operates. What role does your technology play in this strategy?

JAMES:  Business Objects shares its time, technology, and funds with global communities.  While other companies have financial and volunteer resources to share, the technology sector has unique gifts in their products.  Technology is a particularly valuable resource for nonprofits because few donors get excited about funding infrastructure – as a result, nonprofits struggle to invest in any technology at all.  It is deemed to be “overhead” and a luxury by donors, when in fact, technology is a crucial enabler that can provide wide-reaching efficiencies and improvements.  
 
From Business Objects’ perspective, nonprofits, just like all other types of organizations, benefit from having greater insight into how they are operating.  It’s all about unlocking data and bringing it to life – sharing insights and collaborating with clients, staff, Board members and other stakeholders.  The information can be shared over the web, in dynamic presentations, on dashboards or in traditional reports.  To the extent we can help bridge the need for technology and the void of resources to invest in it, we are thrilled to help out.

Crystal Reports is available to eligible organizations on TechSoup Stock.  These licenses allow people to register for a complimentary version of crystalreports.com, our new software-as-a-service offering.  With crystalreports.com, organizations can share reports instantly and securely over the web. 

Crystal Xcelsius will be available on TechSoup Stock shortly.  Crystal Xcelsius is easy-to-use data visualization software that helps create cool, flash-based, interactive charts, and dashboards from ordinary spreadsheets.  It can definitely spice up any Board presentation or website out there.  Stay tuned.   

MICHELLE:  Business Objects understands the potential of emerging technologies in our society. What trends will be most helpful for nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations?

JAMES:  Mobilization for action: A movement called Web 2.0 is radically changing the cost and scalability of running a non-profit organization. It is bringing the power of collaboration, content creation and community to organizations that didn't traditionally have the resources to do these things.

People are taking on issues, finding their “tribe” of interested peers, establishing their organizations online, collaborating with those people, sharing best practices, using instant messaging to quickly mobilize actions, and using social media (like blogs, wikis, or podcasts) to create and deliver their messages.

This has been happening right from the start of the web, but the fact that we now have over a billion users on the internet, ubiquitous broadband (in North America), ubiquitous basic internet in many other parts of the world, and that technology is getting faster and cheaper means we’re in a new era.  Leaders in the nonprofit sector can do much more for much less than even a year ago.  Any organization or person can have a greater impact if they learn to use these emerging technologies and concepts that Web 2.0 can deliver. Information Sharing: Empowering people to share information is at the heart of social networks.  New tools & services have made information sharing easier than ever.  There is a heightened focus these days on using the web to help people find local resources – retailers, social services etc.  People are regaining a sense of their local communities and supports.

Business Objects solutions help organize and communicate information, so we have an important role to play.  As an example, Community Technology Alliance in San Jose is using our Data Integrator product to integrate their comprehensive, online directory of health and human service providers in Santa Clara (www.helpscc.org) into their on-line shared client case management system. Over a hundred programs across the county are now able to refer  clients to much needed services and manage them in a holistic and integrated way.

MICHELLE:  Which tools best embody the new opportunities for social benefit from your point of view and why?

JAMES:  The key ones are blogs, wikis, podcasts, and dynamic community websites based on content management systems.  Blogs allows your organization to be heard and to connect with like-minded individuals. Podcasts and videocasts put the power of the media in the hands of citizens. And the dynamic website technologies allow your organization to scale up quickly with little central administration as well as to allow your constituents to contribute and share their own learning and content with each other.

MICHELLE:  Does Business Objects have a collaborative vision?     

JAMES:  Yes. Our vision is that people will be able to work together – REALLY work together within and externally to their organizations.  Today most enterprise software, and most desktop software for that matter, is built as though the user was completely disconnected from their team. But that is changing quickly. Business Objects already offers solutions that enable people to collaborate around critical data within their organization. We’re excited about continuing to play a role in this shift.

We are a transnational company with more than 5,000 employees and we still do a lot by email and phone – the lowest common denominator collaboration tools. But we are now using blogs, wikis and podcasts internally to collaborate more effectively.  It is a work-in-progress.

MICHELLE:  How does innovation at Business Objects benefit the npo sector?

JAMES:  Just like any business, nonprofits need robust, innovative technology.  But non-profits often have fewer IT and budgetary resources.

 
At the same time, the software industry is changing quickly and we are innovating in many ways – we look at our pricing, technology, business model and a variety of other areas.  The npo sector can benefit on all these fronts, just like any other business.  A recent ‘innovation’ is our entry into the software-as-a-service space.  Through this delivery model, there is no additional software to deploy and no dependence on internal IT resources.  Perfect for small or nonprofit organizations with limited IT budgets.

It’s an exciting time of empowerment for nonprofits.  I believe that great organizations are good at more than just one thing.  For example, great companies find a way to lead their market AND be a great employer.  Great nonprofits excel at more than one thing – they might hit all of their mission-based goals AND they manage their donors well.  The good news here is that innovation in web-based technology is enabling excellence on many fronts.  Donors, staff, clients and the public are demanding more from nonprofits, but these days, the tools to meet these multi-faceted demands are more accessible.  It’s about creating a community of stakeholders and inviting them to participate more actively in your mission.  Organizations of any size, with large or small budgets can embrace such opportunities.  It’s a case of innovation helping to level the playing field and set the stage for excellence.