Business Intelligence Computer Software Web Tips Guide
Business Intelligence Software Assisting Your Business
By Dirk C Wallace
Business Intelligence (BI) is a blanket term referring to software
applications that analyze an enterprise’s raw data to aid in decision
making processes, such as identifying inefficient business processes,
cost cutting directives, identifying new business opportunities
and forecasting the future.
One great thing about BI tools is that they’re automated and
easy to use, so business leaders don’t have to wait for IT professionals
to run complicated reports and decipher them. Today a number of
companies use BI to run business tests, including restaurants
like Wendy’s and T.G.I. Friday’s, as well as sports teams like
the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots.
Running Business Tests And Perform Everyday Functions
A number of business executives rely on Business Intelligence
systems to run business tests and perform everyday functions.
For instance, Wendy’s and T.G.I. Friday’s use BI software to decide
which new products to add to their menus, which poor performing
items to remove and which poor performing stores to close.
They can also renegotiate food supplier contracts and identify
inefficient processes through their software. In sports, the New
England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox both use team data and
analytics to help coaches select players, stay below the salary
cap, develop new plays tailored to their competitors and predict
their chances of making the playoffs using statistics.
Improve Customer Satisfaction
Retailers like Wal-mart uses data mining to improve customer
satisfaction and order inventory. Capital One runs BI software
and performs over 30,000 business tests each year to identify
the best customers and which credit card offers to send. In fact,
most of the most successful enterprises under each category use
BI solutions to keep ahead of the competition.
A recent CIO survey found that executives are facing five common
pitfalls in their Business Intelligence systems. First, 67% of
respondents said "spreadsheets" were their most used
BI tools, although many admitted that they had trouble verifying
the data on thousands of individual sheets. Secondly, 64% found
that they had trouble linking their BI with existing ERP and CRM
systems.
Do Not Know How To Read Or Interpret The Data
The third problem is that 61% of companies said they don’t have
anyone to champion the data and make regular presentations based
on results. More than half (57%) of business leaders say they
don’t fully trust the data and another 58% admit they don’t really
know how to read or interpret the data! Clearly, business leaders
must be 100% committed to using, integrating and learning the
system for it to work efficiently.
A recent SeeWhy survey identified three major issues with Business
Intelligence today. First, 63% of those surveyed thought that
BI reports are reference documents used to report official numbers,
rather than reports used to influence decision making.
Not Time-Sensitive Or Relevant
Secondly, 80% of operations managers said that employees alerted
them to problems in the workplace, rather than the BI business
tests or data alerts. Lastly, 58% of those polled said the information
was not time-sensitive or relevant enough, thus causing them to
miss business opportunities or problem solving opportunities.
To stay relevant, BI software manufacturers and consultants must
be able to transform their product into a more up-to-speed application
and business executives must be fully committed to understanding
how to make BI work for them.
About the Author:
Dirk C Wallace has written a number of articles on computers and
software including
Anti-Virus Protection,
Basic Computer Training,
Computer Virus,
Computer Help,
Internet And Security,
Spyware Uninstall,
Adware Spyware Removal,
Computer Security Handbook,
Antispyware Software,
Computer Instruction,
Removal Software Spyware,
Adware Spyware Removal Program,
Spyware Removal Download.
Keep a lookout for more of his articles on this website.
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