In this first issue of Business Applications Digest, find advice from industry insiders on mastering the five success factors for enterprise resource planning (ERP) upgrades, choosing the best fit between 'best of breed' business intelligence (BI) and built-in ERP tools, and how to take advantage of the latest Software as a Service (SaaS) trends. 

Dell and Intel and Microsoft have partnered to provide a high-performance, reliable, secure business intelligence platform that puts familiar applications and collaboration capabilities in the hands of business analysts while giving IT the tools it needs to efficiently manage and maintain the technology. Check out this white paper to learn more. 

BI is no longer just for large enterprises with bigger budgets. In this video, learn how the BI market has evolved to offer more affordable options to SMBs. 

This paper outlines some of the best methods for deploying social intelligence to support your CRM strategies. Read this and learn how the right social intelligence can help you win new customers, retain existing customers, reduce the cost of customer management and more. Also, discover specific use cases of social intelligence. 

This brief paper outlines how Cognos FSR automates and streamlines the financial statement reporting (FSR) production process by gathering and connecting information from a variety of sources to construct an application database of all of your data. Learn how to overcome the challenges of scalability, process accuracy, increased workloads and more. 

This e-book, penned by business intelligence expert Wayne Eckerson, will explain how big data -- the combination of Hadoop and analytical databases -- is transforming the business intelligence industry. 

In this e-book, you will gain advice on building a business case for the adoption of SharePoint and planning a SharePoint project from experienced users and industry analysts. Also learn best practices for successful SharePoint deployments, tips for managing SharePoint installations and potential pitfalls involved in SharePoint implementations. 

Data warehouse appliances have transformed the DW with a platform designed to deliver optimal price and performance with extreme simplicity. This paper outlines the IBM Netezza data warehouse appliance and how it offers extreme time to value, agility and ability to grow with new workloads, cost reduction of ongoing maintenance and more. 

<p>Are you able to effectively leverage and report on Oracle eBusiness Suite data? Read this expert e-book to find out the latest technology trends that may affect your BI and reporting strategy. Learn more about how to get the most out of included BI/reporting features, when to use OBIEE and when you may need to consider alternative tools.</p> 

Strategic HR is essential to the long-term health of your organization. Focusing on talent identification and retention, workforce planning and succession management, rather than tactical HR duties such as payroll processing, can yield significant results. This paper outlines the business benefits of investing in strategic HR capabilities. 

This paper discusses the direct relationship of self-service business intelligence (BI) and self-service data integration (DI) and explores how to build a complete self-service solution that provides enhanced visibility and flexibility for integrating, cleansing and analyzing data with ease. 

This paper explores the challenges associated with standardizing multi-country payroll programs and outlines eight essential steps for success. Read on for a deeper understanding of how to assess your current international payroll operations and learn how to design a payroll strategy that aligns with your company’s strategic objectives. 

This white paper offers up a comprehensive comparison of the Oracle Exadata and IBM Netezza data warehouse appliance, helping you decide which is the better fit for your business. Read this now and learn how they stack up in terms of online transaction processing (OLTP), query performance, simplicity of operation, value and more.