Things to catch at Dreamforce '09 before you go

The Birst Team has been having a blast showing off Birst 4 and Birst for Salesforce at Dreamforce '09.  Thanks to all of the folks who have stopped by our booth, #1210.  We've been having some great conversations and signing up lots of free trials!

If you come by this morning, you can meet David Taber, author of Salesforce.com Secrets of Success.

Since today's the last day of the Expo Floor, here are a few of my Dreamforce favorite things and people that you should make sure that you catch:

In the BI/Analytics Category:

• Cloud9 Analytics comic book.  Kudos to Cloud9 for having a great integrated marketing outreach plan for Dreamforce.  I half expected their booth staff to be dressed as superheroes. Special shout out to Don Tyler, their communications person, who put together the "Sales Ops Hero" comic book.  You should pick one up.  Just be aware that the Birst team doesn't actually wear pocket protectors and look like they stepped out of a 1950's Nasa rocket launch meeting.  :-)

 

• Say hi to Jerome Pineau in the GoodData booth and take a chance on winning a solar backpack.  Jerome is a blogger/Twitter fanatic that I've been following for a while now.  Charming guy, very knowledgeable, and it's nice to know that he actually does exist.  He also has good taste in wine and food, so ask him for a good restaurant for lunch.  You can also enter to win a GoodData solar backpack, which is one of the most nifty giveaway gifts I've seen at the show, and learn more about the benefits of SaaS BI.  Jerome is on Twitter @JeromePineau

 

• Say hi to Darren Cunningham in the Informatica booth and learn more about Informatica Cloud Services. Darren is knowledgeable about Salesforces, SaaS BI, and the new Informatica 9 data integration in the cloud.  Yet another person who's got some good perspective.  Like Jerome, you can also follow him on Twitter: @dcunni  Informatica is also giving away a snazzy Tag Heuer watch.

 

Vendors with fun stuff:

• Stop by the Astadia booth and pick up your pair of free Crocs.  After cruising Dreamforce for the past few days, your feet may thank you for it.


• Which reminds me - the Deloitte booth has the most Purell I've ever seen in one place.  So if you've been shaking hands all day, stop by to sanitize them, talk to Deloitte, and get some candy.  They also have some nice couches for sitting on while you talk to them.


• What can I say? I want a Smart car.  Xactly has one on raffle. Go sign up. (Yes, they're small.  Great for people who live in SF, though. Easy parking!)


• Plush toys for the kids: Birst has flying pigs.  Another vendor down our row has flying monkeys.  Collect the set!


• Photo opportunity: you probably got your picture with the Salesforce characters (which allows you to participate in the conversation - Is Chatty scary or fun?).  Dun & Bradstreet also has a talking robot in their booth that's good for a fun photo.  Catch it before it goes!

 

Have a great time in these last hours of Dreamforce!

Birst at Dreamforce - come by for a demo and free gift!

Dreamforce is finally upon us!  We are looking forward to showing off how easy it is to get started doing the sales reporting that you need in Birst.  And we're looking forward to meeting you and giving you one of the fun, free gifts we have available.  We have heard that registrations are now at 14,000, and we don't have *that* many gifts, so stop by booth #1210 as soon as you can to make sure that you get one.

Here's what's going on with Birst at Dreamforce:

• Tuesday, November 17th - Grab a cocktail and come by booth #1210, 6-8pm
  
  
  
  • Kick off Dreamforce in style by coming to the Welcome Reception and cruising the Expo floor.  Tonight's your best odds of getting a gift.
  
  
  
  

 

• Wednesday, November 18th - Demos all day long until 8pm.  And pick up a gift.
  
  
  
  • The Birst Team will be delighted to show you a demo of our Birst solutions.
  
  
  • Birst for Salesforce
    
    
    
    • Learn how you can get up and running quickly with dashboards and reports, including pipeline, forecasting, and snapshots of your Salesforce CRM data.
    
    
    • See why we're 5 Star Rated on AppExchange!
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Birst for Force.com
    
    
    
    • Learn how Birst can easily connect to the data kept in any Force.com-based solution, as well, and how you can analyze data across Salesforce CRM and Force.com Apps
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Live Access - new in Birst 4!
    
    
    
    • Come learn about the hottest new feature from Birst - the ability to analyze data in the cloud, while leaving it safe and secure in your on-premise data warehouse.  This was the killer feature at the latest TDWI World Conference in early November.  Now it's at Dreamforce!
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

 

• Thursday, November 19th - Come to the Cloud Crawl Party at the Temple Nightclub with Birst.
  
  
  
  • Stop by the Birst booth to get your stamp to attend the Cloud Crawl Party on Thursday night!  Join the fun at the Temple Nightclub with Birst.
  
  
  • Missed the demos on Wednesday?  We'll be showing off Birst all day Thursday, as well.  Come learn why companies like Rackspace Hosting chose Birst over all other on-demand BI solutions for their Salesforce CRM analysis.
  
  
  
  

 

• Friday, November 20th - Meet "Salesforce Secrets of Success" author David Taber at the Birst booth, #1210
  
  
  
  • David Taber will be signing copies of his book and discussing how analytics can help you become more successful with Salesforce.
  
  
  • Also, find out how you can sign up for David's webinar on Dec.3rd and how you can download a free chapter of his book.
  
  
  
  

 

We're looking forward to seeing you there!

Announcing Birst 4: The first and only Comprehensive Cloud BI Suite

Birst is pleased to announce Birst 4, The Comprehensive Cloud BI Suite. Birst 4 is the first and only full-featured, fully integrated business intelligence solution, including advanced ETL services, data warehouses created on the fly, and integrated reporting services, such as Smart Dashboards, pixel perfect reporting, and alerts.   Birst 4 is the only cloud BI solution that is comprehensive, enterprise class, and yet affordable and easy to use, so that even small businesses and departments of enterprises can get up and running quickly.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="354" caption="An operational analytics dashboard in Birst 4"][/caption]

 

Like enterprises, even small and midsize organizations can have complex BI needs. Birst 4 meets the needs of the most demanding business intelligence environments by expanding upon Birst’s automated, integrated business intelligence to help companies along three main areas:

Any Data Anywhere

• Birst Live Access


• Birst Unified Metadata Model


• Birst Cloud Connectors

Greater Control and Capability

• Advanced ETL Services


• Enhanced Administration and Catalog Management


• Birst Reporting Services


• Birst Alerts and Exception Reports


• Birst Application Templates, including Birst for Salesforce.com

Empowering the Business User

• Smart Dashboards


• Drag and Drop Pivot Tables

The key features from each of these areas are:

• Birst Live Access
  The newest addition to Birst Data Services, Birst Live Access allows organizations to make direct use of pre-existing data warehouses, datamarts, or local databases, leveraging Birst’s advanced analytical capabilities without having to upload data. Data stays securely behind the firewall, but can be analyzed “in the cloud” with Birst, as well as analyzed in combination with data from other uploaded sources, such as spreadsheets or uploaded databases. Birst Live Access allows sophisticated organizations to make the most of existing data resources without having to upload information to the cloud.  Learn more about Live Access.

 

• Birst Advanced ETL Services
  Extending Birst’s automated analytical data store functionality, Birst Advanced ETL Services allows organizations to create very sophisticated and layered data transformations that traditionally have required complex and expensive on-premise ETL tools. Fully integrated into Birst’s Unified Metadata Model, complex transformations are far easier to create and faster to deploy, and it’s far easier to ensure metadata consistency.  Learn more about Birst Advanced ETL Services.

 

• Birst Reporting Services
  Birst provides a fully integrated reporting environment that includes pixel perfect reporting, operational reporting, banded reporting, alerts, and operational, real-time and exception reports. In traditional BI solutions, each of these elements is often provided separately and requires integration. Birst is the only SaaS vendor to provide fully functional report authoring and distribution services.  Learn more about Birst Reporting Services.

 

• Smart Dashboards
  The upgraded Flex dashboards now offer business users even greater capability to explore data trends and discover answers to critical business questions entirely on their own, without any reliance on IT or specialized business analysts. Advanced filtering, drill-down capability, and "drag and drop" controls put answers at business users' fingertips, without coding. Learn more about Smart Dashboards.   
  
  

Customers are already excited about Birst 4.

Existing Birst customers have already thoroughly evaluated the new Birst 4 solution and are giving it strong reviews.  “Children’s Choice is dedicated to providing high quality childcare, and our existing Birst deployment has already given us tremendous insight into performance improvement opportunities that uphold our tradition of excellence,” said Dan Lawler, CFO of Children’s Choice, a provider of early care and education programs to children and families.  “After getting a sneak preview of Birst 4, we’re excited about the advanced functionality and improvements for business user self-service reporting. We’re looking forward to deploying it broadly throughout our organization.”

 

 

 

For the Birst 4 press release, click here.

For an overview of Birst 4, click here.

Where to find Birst at TDWI Orlando

TDWI Orlando is already upon us!  I hope that everyone is enjoying the warm Florida weather.

Here's where you can find Birst at TDWI Orlando this year.

Find Birst on the Exhibit Floor in Booth #207.  Catch a demo and a flying gift!

• Find out how Birst enables Pervasive BI at your organization with fast, easy, affordable, and complete BI solutions.


• Get a free gift - it flys and it makes noise!  It's a proven winner with kids.   


• Enter to win a Wii to take home to show off to family and friends.


• Exhibit hours are Tuesday, 11:15 AM- 2:15 PM, as well as 5 to 7 PM


• Exhibit hours on Wednesday are 11:15 AM to 2 PM

 

See Brad Peters, Birst CEO, and see a sneak peek of our latest release at Cindi Howson's "Cool BI" Session on Tuesday, Nov. 3rd.

Cindi Howson, the keynote speaker at TDWI Orlando and a leading analyst, is teaching a session on the latest innovations in business intelligence.  The session starts at 2:15 PM.  Learn more about the Cool BI Session.

Brad Peters joins a panel discussionon at Steve Dine's "BI In the Cloud" session on Thursday, Nov. 5th. 

Stephen Dine, the President of Datasource Consulting, is leading a new session called "BI In the Cloud" on Thursday.  This is a full day session, starting at 9 am.  Brad Peters will be participating in a vendor panel during the afternoon portion. Learn more about the BI In the Cloud session.

And be sure to check online for our big announcement on Tuesday, November 3rd!