Rich Wagner contributed an article to InformationWeek in which he raised the need for more large companies to move away from an antiquated analytical approach to business intelligence. The company he was working for in his anecdote would focus on a retrospective look, always focused on the analysis of past data. He pointed out that the future of business intelligence lies in the company unlocking the benefits of true predictive analytics.
Companies must examine the macro- and micro-economic factors in the present in combination with indicators of future demand. This includes looking inside their industry and to the greater market. Wagner called the data the "true business drivers for the company" and referred to the need for the right "combination of internal metrics."
In a large company, updating how senior leadership uses data from BI software seems like a small undertaking, that is, if you aren't in the C-suite. It makes a good topic for a retreat including experts from departments such as finance, risk management, research and development, and information technology (IT).
These are examples of people within your organization who can suggest the best internal metrics for use in predictive analytics. The problem is, with a focus on the future and maximizing business opportunities, a large company still requires assistance, especially from the outside, in order to select the best combination of internal and external indicators.
Build a Strategic Analytical Process
Your senior leadership must develop goals for the kinds of business decisions that employees will make using available business intelligence data. A strategic approach helps a company with "building an infrastructure that could sift through millions of data sets to identify leading factors related to a company’s internal performance," according to Wagner.
Consider Using an External Business Partner
We like to think that partnering with us simplifies the C-suite's responsibility for the best use of BI data. One of our core tenets is linking strategy and process controls with data management. We provide a platform that helps each client, whether government-based or private-based, to reach better business decisions.
Think Like a Process Management Organization
Every large business and government agency can make better business decisions using the mindset of a process management organization. It looks something like this: "How can we use the data from this set of indicators to realign business resources?" Asking this question could occur, for example, if senior leadership worries about meeting the year's productivity targets. With a strategic mindset, a leadership team might respond by asking: "How many people should we move from this process to another process to ensure the projected demand for a hot-selling product gets met?"
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Use Real-Time Data
Any large organization can easily tackle questions like these using the right BI suite. For example, an organization can use real-time data to monitor its own productivity on a daily basis. If managers in the production department are projecting whether they can produce enough goods to meet the demand forecasted by analysts in sales, your company can reduce the amount of inventory that sits unsold in the warehouse. Another example is that managers can accelerate production in one or more areas to meet the demand for a project that begins to sell at a rate exceeding its forecasted demand.
We have tons of ideas on how managers and other individual decision makers from every department can access the status of tasks or projects simply by consulting a customized dashboard on our BI intelligence platform.
Trending Towards a Simplified Analytics Strategy
Companies must be able to sift through thousands of business indicators to make meaningful decisions. The challenge is to develop a simplified analytics strategy so that your people don't waste time looking at data that doesn't matter or inform business strategy. Contact 5x Technology today to discuss your business intelligence strategy, or click below for IntelligentAssessment Information.
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