CUTTER CONSORTIUM

Business Intelligence
and Networks of
Things and People
by Paola Di Maio
Business Intelligence Executive Summary Vol. 10, No. 3

Science fiction has been preparing us for what the

future of artificial intelligence may bring: doors that
open without keys, lights that switch on and off as
people enter or leave rooms, ambient temperatures
that automatically regulate themselves, watches that
monitor our healthcare and call the ambulance if something is wrong, coffee that makes itself, fridges that
order food directly when fresh supplies are needed,
components that self-assemble, and trucks that drive
themselves and automatically park in the garage when
they require maintenance.
Automation embedded into every nook and cranny
should be really cool, and markets have been waiting
to spring into action since we first heard of the endless possibilities. According to some expectations,
the intelligent future everywhere should be here
already. In reality, however, technologists and business
strategists have been quietly and silently preparing
for a future that, while technically already possible,
in practice is still far from reality.
While much has been said about the Internet of Things
(IoT) and RFID, few plans have been made to seize
the corresponding commercial opportunities; presumably the recession has kept everyone too busy to think
long term.
The accompanying Executive Report serves as a
reminder that now may be a good time to start
planning in this direction.

THE INTERNET OF THINGS

While issues surrounding sensor networks require
careful consideration, as in any new technology, for
example, the usual dilemma of which standard to follow as well as security, privacy, and so on, in principle
a lot of this sensor technology is already available.
In forthcoming years, there will be very little on the
innovation horizon not related to the sensor grid, so
one way or another, you are going to have to face
whats ahead. Future operational scenarios for companies and businesses in all sectors will depend on their
ability to interpret and manage the combination of
multiple layers of embedded intelligence that will
enable us to control, locate, and monitor the flow of
goods and services by gathering information directly
from pervasive networks of highly distributed data
sources dispersed in the environment. This opens up
many possibilities. In the report, we consider how IoT
scenarios, that here we rename Networks of Things
and People (NoTaP), will impact business intelligence
(BI) and to some extent enterprise architectures. Early
signs of this shift are already visible: the recently
launched stickybits Web site, for example, is a new
application that lets users scan any bar code and attach
a geotagged message to that physical object. This
creates an easy way to attach digital information
(text or multimedia) to any object with a bar code.
For example, a digital tag attached to a card could
be programmed to trigger a musical soundtrack.
The challenge for BI in modern information-intensive
environments is to model, drill, query, and interpret
massive amounts of real-time terabytes of data, which
come from very disparate and heterogeneous data
sources. In the future, when data and information
will come from sensor networks, capturing what really
matters and managing process operations and improvements accordingly is going to be even more difficult.
In order for BI to contribute to supporting innovation,
and therefore to be of strategic importance for organizations, it is necessary to incorporate the people perspective and to integrate BI in the open innovation

process. The report focuses on the role that new pervasive technologies are going to play in establishing
a knowledge and intelligence continuum between
people and things and their environments. Readers
are reminded that although BI is often associated with
overall applied analytics functions and tools, here it
is to be understood in the broader sense of operational
or strategic intelligence.

NOTAP STACK
The report proposes a simplified view of the complex
sensor architecture in the NoTaP stack:

Sensemaking/intelligence

Real-time querying

Communication

Tracking/positioning

Sensors/interfaces/networks

Things/people/the world

At the bottom of the stack is the natural world of

things and people. Both can be equipped with sensors
capable of gathering and transmitting data that when
related to other data becomes information, which in a

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Verna Allee, David Coleman, Ken Collier, Michael Dressler,

Lance Dublin, Clive Finkelstein, Bob Furniss, Curt Hall,
David C. Hay, Dave Higgins, Vince Kellen, Larissa T. Moss,
Ciaran Murphy, Ken Orr, Gabriele Piccoli, Thomas C. Redman,
Ricardo Rendn, Karl M. Wiig
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CUTTER CONSORTIUM

structured form can be knowledge and eventually

intelligence. Data collected by sensing devices can be
tracked with location and positioning technologies;
when gathered, processed, and analyzed in a proper
operational context, this data can become critical
BI material.

CONCLUSION
The report ends by providing some overall insights to
get you and your team thinking in terms of future scenarios and hopefully will encourage readers to take the
first steps toward incorporating, at least in simulated
environments, such technologies in their operational
and business models.
We have become accustomed to reading about new
technologies everyday and, over the years, weve
been bombarded with news and information about
RFID but have you ever stopped a moment to
ponder what it all means for you and your business?
The report aims to equip readers with enough knowledge about the vast, emerging field of sensor networks
to help them understand the new developments and
assist them in forming new ideas and making plans in
relation to their jobs and businesses.

Cutter Consortium Business Intelligence

Advisory Service
The Executive Summary is a supplement to the Business
Intelligence Advisory Services Executive Report. 2010 Cutter
Consortium. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction in
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For information about reprints and/or back issues of Cutter
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service@cutter.com. Print ISSN: 1540-7403 (Executive Report,
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