Benefits |
enterprise collaboration- in relation to BI |
ogy can support the ingrained processes |
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Has anyone actually proved that collaborative |
at least anyway. |
humans naturally undertake when making |
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BI works? Aside from the strong customer results I’ ve seen, analyst firm Aberdeen Group has conducted early research into this emerging area. The results of its study |
What components are essential for a successful CDM module? |
important cooperative decisions.
Or, as Imhoff and White put it:“ Organizations can implement collaborative interac-
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-‘ Collaborative BI: Harnessing the Extended |
How should you support enterprise collabo- |
tion and information enhancement features |
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Enterprise to Boost Productivity’- are |
ration in a BI context? Firstly, you need to |
using the capabilities currently offered by, or |
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profound. Organisations that embraced |
ensure that the process of collective decision- |
being added to, many BI tools. Supporting |
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and implemented best practice collabora- |
making is able to take place in full view of |
collaborative decision-making, however, |
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tive BI enjoyed a 42 % improvement in |
your up-to-date and interactive data. Inside |
requires the use of a collaborative platform |
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employee productivity, a 30 % increase in |
or outside your BI environment- wherever |
or a separate system designed specifically |
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business process efficiency and a 40 % rise |
it makes sense. |
to meet the need for collaboration in the |
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in BI adoption. |
decision-making process.” |
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Why do current attempts at collaborative |
Most analytics-based group decision-making
does not occur in full view of live reports
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Enabling collaborative BI |
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BI fail? |
and dashboards. Shared decisions are most |
To achieve real collaborative BI, organisations |
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often made via emails or in meetings, open- |
also need to adopt a collaborative mindset |
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Given these astounding results, it’ s per- |
ing a gap between human insight and the |
and support a culture of organisation-wide |
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plexing that Gartner recently revealed |
business data. Decision-making remains |
information sharing and data access. This |
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that some 80 % of BI projects fail, citing |
isolated from the data that should drive |
breaks down departmental silos, enabling |
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poor communication and collaboration |
and underpin it. |
faster, better and more effective decision- |
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as the primary reasons. And, according to |
making. It’ s also a non-negotiable prereq- |
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Accenture’ s‘ Competing Through Analyt- |
BI vendors should be adjusting the technol- |
uisite for success, as cautioned by Gartner’ s |
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ics’ survey of 250 IT executives, 40 % of |
ogy to seamlessly integrate into your natural |
Carol Rozwell:“ If you have a culture where |
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major business decisions are not based |
decision-making processes, rather than |
people are rewarded for hoarding informa- |
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on information generated from reporting |
making users adjust to the technology- it |
tion and being experts without sharing, |
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and analytics, due to limited capacity for |
must be intuitive. |
you’ re not ready. Technology will not make |
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business decision-makers to share and |
an organisation collaborative if it does not |
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discuss BI content. Eckerson’ s study backs |
Eckerson’ s landmark study into collaborative |
already support the notion of teams from |
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those results, finding that of those using BI |
BI found that meetings are the overwhelm- |
different business units working in concert |
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solutions that already contain collaborative |
ingly preferred collaborative mechanism |
on common projects.” |
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features, only 16 % use them. Consequently, |
employed by people looking to make a |
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“ we still see a real gap between the level |
collective decision based on the insights |
The birth of collaborative BI has highlighted |
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of information in BI and the quality and |
gleaned from data analysis- people like |
two BI truths. The technology must assist the |
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transparency of decision-making”, accord- |
to make crucial decisions together; face to |
right people to make decisions in an intuitive, |
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ing Gartner’ s Rita Sallam. |
face. Why would it be any different when |
natural way; and, the right technology alone |
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acting on the information produced by BI? |
isn’ t enough to ensure great reporting and |
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How is this possible, you ask, given the |
analytics. The environment must be right |
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proven benefits of collaborative BI? Why |
Best practice collaborative BI is about un- |
too. It’ s not just the technology but what |
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are users snubbing many of the collaborative |
derstanding and enabling people to share BI |
you do with it that drives performance and |
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elements currently available when there’ s |
content; discuss overlaying knowledge and |
return on investment. |
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such an obviously strong demand for features |
contextual information on that data; and |
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that can assist collaborative decision-making |
collectively decide the best course of action |
Adopting technology conducive to innate hu- |
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within a BI environment? |
whenever and wherever needed- inside a |
man decision-making processes, and estab- |
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BI environment, embedded within your |
lishing a corporate environment conducive |
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Well, it seems that many technology ven- |
company wiki or during a presentation. |
to collaboration, is the only way to achieve |
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28 |
dors haven’ t understood how to support |
It’ s about understanding how BI technol- |
the best from your BI implementation. |