With workers demanding access to analytics on the go, mobile application provider Roambi has teamed up with several Australian partners to offer its mobile BI solutions to SAP customers and others. By Kirsten Wade.
Roambi was launched in 2009 by MeLLmo as a mobile solution that enables easy access, navigation and interaction to business information and reporting across devices. MeLLmo has a global customer base, with Roambi used by Fortune 1000 companies, universities, government agencies and small to medium-sized businesses, enabling users to exceed the limitations presented by other BI systems. Roambi has established systems integrator partners around the world, including several regional SI partners in Australia:Billigence, Innogence and Intelligent Pathways. As a platform-independent solution, Roambi works with a variety of sources, including SAP BusinessObjects, IBM Cognos, Microsoft Reporting and Analysis Services, as well as Excel, Google Docs, Salesforce and more. Certified for integration with BusinssObjects, Roambi currently offers two applications: Roambi Analytics and Roambi Flow.
Roambi Analytics
Roambi Analytics transforms business intelligence into immersive mobile analytics that can be accessed from any iPhone or iPad. The “quick, agile, interactive” process enables up-to-the minute information for business professionals on the go. Roambi Analytics is offered in three versions, each catering to different businesses based on their size and needs: Lite, Pro, and ES4.
Roambi Analytics Lite is designed for individuals, as a publishing tool that enables Microsoft Excel data to be easily converted into interactive charts and graphs, which are sent instantly to any iPad or iPhone. It is available free from the iPhone App Store.
Roambi Analytics Pro is a visualisation solution and secure hosted service, which converts business data into interactive visualisations that can be accessed on the go. Important company information and updates can be accessed securely, with data and files stored in the Amazon S3 cloud, access restricted by authentication credentials, transmission using SSL (HTTPS) and the use of iPhone and iPad security model with login details stored in the encrypted key chain. Roambi Analytics ES4 is designed for enterprise and is comprised of three main parts: the Enterprise Server software, the Roambi Publisher, and the Roambi Visualiser app. It aims to enable increased employee productivity and high levels of customer service for companies utilising mobile business intelligence. With award-winning views, the need for dashboard design is eliminated, and the intuitive interface doesn’t require any end user training.
Roambi Flow
Roambi Flow is an iPad publishing platform, enabling information and multi-media content to be shared among a company, including to customers, in a unique magazine-style publication.
Publications can be created via built-in design templates or PDF import capabilities now allow the conversion of existing PDF files.
Another element of Roambi Flow is Roambi Present, which converts existing PowerPoint and Keynote presentations into interactive iPad applications. Fonts, images and formatting will migrate into Roambi Present, while Roambi Analytics Overlays and Hotspots add a further dimension to presentations, emphasising the main points. In Australia, the solution is being deployed in government departments to provide executive and senior managers with access to live data analytics embedded in board papers and meeting notes, within a magazine-style environment. Intelligent Pathways, a Brisbane-based software engineering business, became a reseller and systems integration specialist for Roambi in late 2011. Kate Pemberton, marketing coordinator at Intelligent Pathways, says the partnership came about as a result of the complementary nature of their offerings. “We leverage our systems integration and business analyst expertise to get the right data out of an organisation’s enterprise systems and into the Roambi platform,” Pemberton says, adding that the solution’s value is in making complicated enterprise data very visually appealing and available on mobile devices.
“The application ‘views’ are easily manipulated so you are able to tell the story behind the numbers to people at all levels of their organisation.
Roambi offers a visually rich UI and a more intuitive product offering compared to competitors in the mobile business intelligence space.” Roambi has a growing list of awards to its name, including winner of the 2011 Ventana Research Business Leadership Award with life technologies, finalist of the 2011 Adobe MAX Awards, winner of the iPhone Life Best App Award 2010, and winner of the Computerworld Best Practices in BI and Analytics Awards 2010. It has been also featured in over 40 ‘top business apps’ lists, including ComputerWorld UK 2012, Mashable 2011, CEOWORLD Magazine 2010, BusinessWeek 2009, and New York Times 2008.
This article was first published in Inside SAP WInter 2012.
