Business Intelligence Tutorial, Data Warehouse guide

SAP Executives have said little about their plans for Sybase products once the enterprise software vendor's $5.8 billion deal to buy the Dublin, Calif., database maker closes, leaving Sybase users and partners wondering about the fate of technology that many of them depend on.

Customers were looking for hints of Sybase's future during the Sapphire user conference in Orlando last week but heard little other than SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott's pledge that the company will one day offer a full suite of ERP applications and business intelligence tools that can run on "any device, at any place, at any time."

Business analysts are a key resource for creating an agile organization. These MBA- or Ph.D.-accredited number-crunchers can quickly unearth insights and correlations so executives can make critical decisions. Yet, one decision executives haven't analyzed thoroughly is the best way to organize business analysts to enhance their productivity and value.

Distributed Versus Centralized
Traditionally, executives either manage business analysts as a centralized, shared service or allow each business unit or department to hire and manage their own business analysts. Ultimately, neither a centralized or distributed approach is optimal.