Yellowfin’s Mobile BI application named in ‘SMART 100’ Index

International Business Intelligence (BI) software vendor, Yellowfin, has had its Mobile BI application for iPhone and iPad named as one of Australia’s 100 most innovative products in Anthill Magazine’s ‘SMART 100’ Index.

The SMART 100, one of largest awards of its kind in Australia, is a list of Australia’s 100 most pioneering business technologies and potentially disruptive commercial innovations.

“Yellowfin’s inclusion in Anthill Magazine’s SMART 100 Index is testament to our ability to deliver a new breed of consumer-oriented BI,” said Yellowfin CEO, Glen Rabie. “This fantastic result renews Yellowfin’s mandate to keep making Business Intelligence easy and deliver outstanding ROI for reporting and analytics initiatives by enabling widespread user adoption via highly intuitive end-user applications.”

Nominate Yellowfin’s Mobile BI application for the iPhone and iPad for the SMART 100 Peoples’ Choice award here: http://anthillonline.com/yellowfin-for-the-iphone-and-ipad-smart-100/

The Peoples’ Choice Index provides an opportunity for Anthill readers to vote on SMART 100 applications. Site visitors can take one or more of the following actions to vote:

• Tweet it: Top left of each page (3 points)
• Trigger a Reaction: Facebook ‘Like’ or Google+ share, etc (2 points)
• Leave a comment: Anonymous comments excluded (1 point)

Peoples’ Choice judging is open from 25 May to 1 June 2012. Peoples’ Choice winners are announced 5 June 2012.

Yellowfin for the iPad was released in November 2011. Yellowfin for the iPhone was released in April 2012.

About Yellowfin’s Mobile BI applications for the iPhone and iPad

Yellowfin for the iPhone and iPad integrates Yellowfin’s renowned ease-of-use and collaborative capabilities to deliver a Mobile BI application based on the intuitive, interactive and collaborative principles underpinning the world’s foremost social media platforms and applications.

Rabie said that Yellowfin’s consumer-oriented approach to Mobile BI challenged the industry’s perception of mobile analytics, and that the well-documented trend towards user-friendly enterprise products for analytics – the consumerization of BI and enterprise IT at large – proved a major driving force behind Yellowfin’s application development. He also claimed that many enterprise applications and software products lack appeal, and have an enormous amount to learn from their leisure-time equivalents.

“We’ve designed this application with consumers, rather than data analysts in mind – we’ve thought about how people like to use applications for popular social platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter, browse the Web and consume content,” said Rabie. “Rather than concentrating on building a Business Intelligence application; first and foremost, we’ve built a fantastic user experience. Why shouldn’t people find mobile analytics as intuitive and gratifying as StumblingUpon great insight, or Digging their favorite blog?”

Rabie said that Yellowfin had come a long way since its first iPhone application, which “didn’t provide users with a particularly engaging experience”, but suggested that many vendors hadn’t learnt the same lessons.

“I can’t understand why so many BI vendors still seem intent on condemning their users to such an underwhelming experience,” said Rabie. “People like sharing ideas and information via Google+ or Pinterest because it’s easy, fun and social. So naturally we’ve combined those same collaborative capabilities and user-oriented navigability to deliver a product that people will genuinely enjoy using.”

The new iPhone and iPad application reaffirms Yellowfin’s position as a preeminent provider of Mobile BI, rounding out an impressive 18 months for the vendor, in which Dresner Advisory Services (DAS) identified it as a leading solution in two separate studies analyzing and comparing the world’s foremost Mobile BI providers. Yellowfin was also recognized in Gartner’s latest annual Who’s Who of Mobile BI report.

Rabie said that Yellowfin was responding to the consumerization of BI and the need for greater Return On Investment (ROI) for BI projects. The consumerization of BI – the introduction of user-friendly functionality and capabilities to support widespread BI adoption – has been noted by many analysts as the answer to improved BI ROI.

“Widespread user adoption – empowering as many relevant decision-makers as possible with reporting and analytics – is the best method for turning the insight generated by BI into action,” said Rabie. “That’s exactly what Yellowfin’s new iPhone and iPad apps deliver.”

About Anthill’s SMART 100

The SMART 100 Index was developed by Anthill Magazine in 2008 to identify and rank Australia’s 100 most innovative products.

“In true Anthillian style, the SMART 100 is an ever-evolving, ever-improving experiment,” said Anthill founder and Editor-In-Chief James Tuckerman. “The SMART 100 identifies and ranks new Australian innovations by applying a combination of crowdsourcing, collaboration and common-sense.”

Fifty ‘maven’ judges are then chosen to evaluate SMART 100 submissions. A maven is a trusted expert in a particular field. Each maven judge is invited to review 20 profile pages and rank each according to a predefined set of criteria. Each submission is evaluated 20 or more times.

Maven winners are announced 29 May 2012.

“Unlike your average awards program, we don’t lock a panel of expert adjudicators in a small room – we employ the judgement of ‘mavens’ and readers,” said Tuckerman. “Neither do we demand a thorough analysis of each applicant’s P&L statement. We don’t even request an historical snapshot of ‘runs on the board’ or commercial achievements.

“This is because innovation is future focussed. It is about identifying and solving problems in ways that will change the way we live, do business and think.”

What is Business Intelligence software?

Business Intelligence (BI) refers to a broad range of computer software applications and tools used to report, analyze and present data in a range of formats, to help businesses identify trends and opportunities, and support fundamental decision-making.

About Yellowfin

Yellowfin is a global Business Intelligence (BI) software vendor passionate about making BI easy. Yellowfin is headquartered and developed in Melbourne, Australia, offering a highly intuitive 100 percent Web-based reporting and analytics solution. Founded in 2003 in response to the complexity and costs associated with implementing and using traditional BI tools, Yellowfin is a leader in mobile, collaborative and embeddable BI as well as Location Intelligence and data visualization.

For further media information, interviews, images or product demonstration, please contact:

Lachlan James, Communications Manager on +61 03 9090 0454, 0431 835 658 or lachlan.james@yellowfin.bi

For regular updates and news, follow Yellowfin on Twitter (@YellowfinBI), LinkedIn (Yellowfin Business Intelligence) or email pr@yellowfin.bi to subscribe to Yellowfin’s free e-newsletter. www.yellowfinbi.com

About Anthill Magazine

Anthill was initially launched as a print magazine, in September 2003, by its current Editor-In-Chief James Tuckerman, who at the age of 26 quit his day job, departing a promising career in corporate PR, to pursue his own entrepreneurial journey.

Since then, it has evolved into one of Australia’s leading online communities for Australian business owners, ranked among the Top 50 Business & Finance websites in Australia by Nielsen Online Ratings. It is dedicated to innovation, entrepreneurship and the commercial development of Australian ideas.

For further information on the SMART 100, please contact:

James Tuckerman, Anthill founder and Editor-In-Chief, on 0422 009 230