Investing on Business Intelligence

Credits to: http://www.blog.sqlauthority.com

Since the very beginning of the operation of an organization, it have been accumulating data in related to the business. Just imagine how big is the data when the business has been operating for a long time already. A simple software is not enough to store all the data that your business have. Also, managers might think that these accumulated data have no strategic or tactical benefits brought for the business. But, these “useless data” can be an asset for the organization also. Digging in to the data, analyze it, and discover facts, trends, and observations that unknown to us. By making us aware with the information we got from these data, managers will be able to create good decisions and strategy in order to attain the goals of the organization and this is where Business Intelligence (BI) comes in.

As defined by Olap.com, Business Intelligence refers to technologies, applications and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of business information. Its purpose is to support better business decision-making. Not only the big organizations are capable to use BI, even the small and medium-sized businesses can benefit from it. BI has many advantages it may bring, and here are the several reasons why an organization must adopt it (Maximizer.com):

Boost Productivity.
To gain sales and market intelligence.
Results closer to established goals.
Return on Investment (ROI).
Gain insights to consumer behavior.
To improve visibility.
To turn into actionable information.

As mentioned above, BI is very helpful for the data processing and analysis which can be transformed into an essential information for the business. In order to apply effectively the benefits of BI, there are certain tools commonly used in organizations. These the Spreadsheets, Reporting and Querying Tools, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), Drill-Down Analysis, Data Mining and Reality Mining.

However, there are instances that an organization may consider adopting these BI tools as challenging for them. Organizations spend time, effort and money just to get the best BI tools or system to derive of having effective decisions. Anyhow, the challenge is not on the introduced system but the acceptance and willingness of the employees to learn the about this new system. Some, especially employees who are nearing to their retirement, are resistant with the changes on the system. If employees are not using the tools or system to its full capacity, the business may not be deriving the best benefit.

Organizations facing this kind of challenge must consider ways on how to develop employees’ enthusiasm and acceptance towards Business Intelligence. Here are the several solutions to encourage the employees to us Business Intelligence tools:

Choosing a System Employees Want to Use. As mentioned above, BI has a great importance on the manager’s decision-making as it processes and analyzes all of the business data into useful information. These information are stored for the future use of the business.

When choosing a BI system for the business, one of the considerations is the employees. The best way for the employees to respond positively is through building a system according to the employees’ want to use. This means members of each team will participate on the planning, selection and meetings so that the chosen BI system will be able to attain the organization’s goals.

Undergo Employees on Proper Training. Providing adequate training to the employees on Business Intelligence will allow them to acquire the needed knowledge and skills in order to use the BI tools wisely. It will be a waste if they are unaware on the usage of these tools. Managers cannot expect the employees to use these tools effectively if they did not undergo a training since this kind of system is critical and complicated on their case.

Address Information Gaps. You may have adopted great BI tools but without the right data inputs, you will not be able to analyze the problems existed or may exist during the operation of your business. Hence, it is the manager’s responsibility to review the data being fed from the BI tool and employees’ outputs to avoid misunderstanding and miscommunication. Such existence of these problems will cause information gaps.