What does your business intelligence system mean for your organization? Have you been able to leverage all of the key benefits that were promised by the vendor? Was your deployment successful? Traditionally, business intelligence systems were deployed by organizations more as a means to be able to say they were in place than to actually leverage their capabilities for value. If you want your business users to be able to extract value from your business intelligence system, you have to keep them in mind during the purchase and implementation processes.
In the Past: The Business Intelligence System
The business intelligence system has truly evolved over time. When it first emerged on the business scene, the business intelligence system would gather historical data, present it in reports, scorecards and even dashboards, and allowed people to analyze it. Analytical staff was then given the software, as well as senior executives, so they could access information they required to determine the right strategy for the business. The business intelligence system then became an optimal location to capture information from data warehousing, and use visualization and analytical capabilities so that business leaders could make tactical decisions. As this evolution of the business intelligence system continued, it became clear that the old approach to BI would not satisfy the BI needs of today.
The Business Intelligence Systems has New Business Needs
The business intelligence system in place today has different business needs than the platforms of yesterday. Today, these platforms focus on the day-to-day operations of your business and are used by individuals in a wide variety of departments with a long list of responsibilities. The business intelligence system today captures so much more information today as that information is necessary for the highly detailed decisions and strategies that are being implemented by company leaders. Today, the business intelligence system assembles data as it happens, reports on it and then analyzes it. Current transactional data is key in this process and as a result, many a business intelligence system will require real-time access to data so it can update its data stores several times per day.
Challenges in the Business Intelligence System
While both the old and new business intelligence system relied on collaboration, the decision latency in old BI environments delay real-time and proactive action. Delays in decision making today will certainly put you behind the curve and allow your closest competitor to take a stronghold you cannot afford to give up. Daily transactional data is imperatives to key decision making and your business intelligence system must assemble huge volumes of data, analyze it and present it in a way that is accessible to a number of users. This can be a challenge if you have not customized your solution or designed it in such a way that it delivers valuable and actionable information to users on a daily basis. As important as this real-time access is, latency challenges still exist in the business intelligence system today.
Business Intelligence System Updates Critical to Success
One of the ways your company can eliminate the latency problem in your business intelligence system is to make it a priority to update data on a consist or even a continual basis. Of course, you have to establish a system that works well within your environment, but one that is focused on real-time value extracted from your business intelligence system will only help to lead to success.