Coordinating millions of data points should be as seamless and as simple to the viewer (or user) as the experience of watching the outcome of 15,000 people in mass synchronization, with perfect execution. I’m not suggesting the process behind the scenes needs to be simple per se, but to the end benefactor, the user, it must be. After all, who cares about the preperation, what business users need is the action.

But instead, BI products require the user to be writer, producer and director of the entire event, rather than the person who ultimately is supposed to benefit from the experience of interacting with the technology.

I think the industry has had the process upside down and backwards. Maybe we can learn something from the spectacle of the opening ceremonies to try to find better ways to transform data into breakthrough innovation rather than trying to mold business users into mathematicians.

Dashboards conceal the queries and technology enabling a business manager to quickly understand the current state of the organization. The user can drill down into details and calculations that were fabricated and assembled by a more technical user. However, if the user has a question about the data beyond what’s present in the dashboard, BI promptly falls back into the world of a technical person constructing a picture of the truth at the request of a business user.

There may be another way. Rather than seeing dashboards as an end, they must be re-established as a means. The very nature of a dashboard is retrospective or real-time at best; a car does not predict the speed of your vehicle five miles down the road, but rather informs the driver of his/her current velocity. Dashboards capture the decisions that were already made and fail to provide any recommendations to the user as to what decisions to make in the future. Dashboards are “easy to use” simply because they provide little functionality, not because they have clearly articulated a specific business intelligence need.

Dashboards are a stepping stone to the future of business intelligence. A necessary step, but a costly one. Companies who see dashboards as the end game will spend exorbitant amounts of money creating or implementing a “solution” only to find out in the months and years to come that dashboards provide the illusion of intelligence. Information delivered more quickly and in a graphical format is not intelligence. Dashboards still require the human user to interpret, build consensus and make decisions.

What if a truly intelligent business system could provide recommendations around decisions? We’re not talking about notifications, but actually recommending specific actions around a business condition. Instead of generating a dashboard of sales trends, a smart system could provide the recommendation for how to act on the trend. If this is the case, viewing the dashboard is only necessary to understand why the recommendation was made. The user no longer needs to interpret the data, but simply build consensus around the recommendation (do we act or not?) and take action. The idea of digging through dashboard after dashboard seeking the truth will seem arduous and unfulfilling.

Dashboards will continue to be an integral aspect of BI software as a means of quickly conveying complex information in a simple format. Why a user will need to view a dashboard is an evolving question.

“Businesses today are inundated with more data than they can handle. And, the volume of that data grows exponentially every second. Turning this data into strategic competitive action is what we do best. Our smart software to help our clients quickly identify patterns locked inside of data that hold the keys to competitive advantage”, said Ryan Caplan, CEO of ColdLight. ‘We are very pleased to have been one of only a handful of companies to receive funding from the BFTP group. They clearly recognize that this need is growing and ColdLight is in position to serve a ready and eager market.’

About ColdLight

ColdLight Solutions, LLC recognizes that today’s businesses are data rich, but information poor. The team’s experiences as data analysts, software integrators, military-grade analytics technologists, and user experience experts revealed that existing technologies fail to empower decision makers with the tools necessary to understand a problem, analyze the data, and act quickly and confidently.  ColdLight delivers a new generation of decision making technology where people and work collaboratively, in real time, to automate critical business decisions and investigate complex scenarios by placing the power of next-generation Business Intelligence (BI) and competitive analytics capabilities in the hands of the business user.

About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

BFTP/SEP is Pennsylvania’s catalyst for stimulating entrepreneurial potential. Ben Franklin invests in innovative enterprises and creates commercialization pathways that generate wealth through science and technology. Part of a statewide network in Pennsylvania, BFTP/SEP provides entrepreneurs and established businesses with the Capital, Knowledge and Networks to compete in the global marketplace. BFTP/SEP has provided more than $130 million to grow more than 1,600 regional enterprises.

Copyright © 2008, ColdLight Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.

PHILADELPHIA, May 1 /PRNewswire/ — In the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, administrators are re-evaluating their ability to predict, prevent and respond to disasters on campus. How can campus security make an accurate decision about a threat and instantly communicate the information to the right early responders and potentially even predict and prevent an attack?

From issuing “run for cover” alerts, to class-rescheduling, to “campus lockdowns” that may have saved lives at Virginia Tech, campus administrators (both collegiate and corporate) are searching for better and more cost-effective tools that serve as prevention and early warning response systems to campus crimes.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims of the tragedy at Virginia Tech. We want to get Neuron on college and business campuses across the country,” said Ryan Caplan, CEO of ColdLight Solutions, LLC. “It is time to use technology to predict, respond to, and ultimately prevent these disasters. Neuron is built to anticipate potentially dangerous events and respond in an instant.”

“We built Neuron to make intelligence data instantly actionable. We are turning our military grade application that empowers security to make real-time decisions about terrorist threats towards campus security issues,” Caplan said. “Neuron assembles disparate data sources and anticipates a flashpoint. It’s smart enough to push instant alerts in any form to those in danger,” continued Dragotta, “and then, it prescribes the most appropriate course of action for law enforcement, even alerting early responders, faculty and students.”

Neuron(TM) Backs Campus Security with Prescriptive Intelligence(TM) Neuron is a formidable tool in protecting business and university campuses. Neuron is the next generation of intelligent criminal prevention, detection and alerting tools; it gives intelligence analysts, police, rescue, and first responder teams new tools for recognizing danger and responding more quickly than ever before.

Security officials are manually surveying massive amounts of information to understand an unfolding event. Neuron automates that work for them in real-time at incredible speed, identifying critical information and prescribing the most appropriate course of action instantly. It is even capable of detecting a flashpoint event before it transpires.

Neuron delivers:

• Real-time Cross-Campus Threat Detection and Monitoring.
• Plug-and-play integration with other security devices and campus alerting systems. Connect instantly with video surveillance feeds, locate suspects and victims with GPS/GIS campus mapping, leverage mobile messaging to students and faculty, and other relevant live data.
• Real-time, instant threat analysis and action prioritization.
• The power to push critical messages and analysis to law enforcement, campus officials, and students instantly through mobile messaging, alarm systems, 911, and other instant distribution channels.

About ColdLight Solutions, LLC

ColdLight Solutions, LLC was founded in 2005, to help businesses unlock the true value buried deep within complex data. ColdLight Solutions delivers advanced prescriptive analytics solutions to businesses looking to uncover a competitive advantage from data. ColdLight Solutions’ products enhance the detection of terrorist and criminal activities, optimize supply chain forecasting, enable highly targeted marketing efforts, and conduct comprehensive, cost effective market research efforts.

We will get more insight when we reach into our data and spot the patterns and conditions that have direct meaning on the health of our enterprise. When the dashboard tracks the ebb and flow of data (like vital signs) then we move from the “report” into the “condition-spotting” world of real time. Metaphorically speaking, I want to know that I am heading for rain. I already know if it has rained.

When we empower that dashboard with artificial intelligence driven tools (like Neuron) we begin to get interactivity between the enterprise and the decision maker we will someday be able to steer the enterprise around obstacles. After all, that dashboard metaphor comes from cars, and neither cars nor companies stay still.

Dan brings more than 15 years of design and architecture experience to ColdLight’s team of innovators. “His deep knowledge of the web and the backend technologies will enable us to lift the next generation of Neuron tools into the waiting hands of subscribers to our on-demand analytics tools”, says Ryan Caplan, CEO.

“Chisarick on board is good news to Coldlight’s growing list of subscribers – our customers will take the controls of our prescriptive intelligence and analytics tools and drive out answers to their business analysis challenges in real time.”

Prior to joining ColdLight, Chisarick served as Lead Architect for Fidelity National Information Services and Sanchez Computer Associates.

About ColdLight Solutions, LLC

ColdLight Solutions, LLC was founded in 2005, to help businesses unlock the true value buried deep within complex data. With headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ColdLight Solutions provides advanced prescriptive analytics solutions to businesses challenged with uncovering a competitive advantage from their data. ColdLight Solutions products enhance the detection of terrorist and criminal activities, optimize supply chain forecasting, enable highly targeted marketing efforts, and conduct comprehensive, cost effective market research efforts.

PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 2007. IEEE is spot lighting young, innovative companies at their conference on Advanced Technology (April 30th - May 4th) in Waltham, MA. Here, small brilliant companies interconnect their products to help our military detect intelligence information quickly and in turn, act on that information effectively.

The spotlight is on ColdLight Solutions, LLC from Philadelphia, whose automated intelligence framework, Neuron, promises to be a force in the arsenal against enemy activities. “Neuron is the next generation of intelligent machines. We are giving analysts new tools for direct interaction with data. Today, analysts face the daunting task of surveying massive data points. Now, Neuron does that work for them - and then goes further; prioritizing the most appropriate areas of focus and prescribing the most appropriate course of action. We’re making huge masses of information instantly actionable,” says Ryan Caplan, CEO of ColdLight Solutions.

With Neuron:

• What once took many analysts months to do, Neuron can do instantly
• Terrorist information can be intercepted before it turns into criminal action
• Airport Systems, Port Systems, Campus Security and Communication System; all are made exponentially more powerful with Neuron’s instant recognition and cross-referencing of behavioral patterns
• Integrates world-class military-grade mapping tools, automated object detection systems, and advanced data visualization technologies The Prescriptive Intelligence(TM) capabilities orchestrates all points of information into speedy action
• Neuron delivers a virtual command center that enables human and machine intelligence to interact, and leverage each others’ expertise.

About Neuron Technology

NEURON will be unveiled for public debut at the conference. Its prescriptive intelligence functions are made possible by deep pattern recognition capabilities that mimic the human brain’s capacity to think and learn.

Neuron promises to be a formidable tool in the war against terrorism; however, the application has huge implications on the future of marketing analytics, supply chain optimization, fraud detection, and more.

About ColdLight Solutions, LLC

ColdLight Solutions, LLC was founded in 2005, to help businesses unlock the true value buried deep within complex data. With headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ColdLight Solutions provides advanced prescriptive analytics solutions to businesses challenged with uncovering a competitive advantage from their massive data systems. ColdLight Solutions products enhance the detection of terrorist and criminal activities, optimize supply chain forecasting, enable highly targeted marketing efforts, and conduct comprehensive, cost effective market research efforts.

About IEEE Kimas ‘07 Conference

http://www.ieeeboston.org/kimas07/kimas07_exhibits.htm