Technology Decisions Jun/Jul 2013 | Page 8

ALL DATA HAS A CAUSE AND AN EFFECT . IT ’ S NOT JUST ABOUT REPORTING THE DATA , IT ’ S ABOUT TRYING TO LINK TRADITIONAL METRICS TO CORPORATE PERFORMANCE . to delivering BI . What we absolutely are seeing is that organisations are recognising that there ’ s a capability that their businesses require them to take a much more agile app , or even take a throwaway approach to allow users to self-serve . As we move forward that ’ s only going to accelerate .”
data and its quality , making sure it is
ganisations , there is an obvious business
In addition , he noted that there are still
correct on input or , when it is derived
opportunity for software vendors . As a
many organisations that haven ’ t invested
from other information , that the quality
result , there have been many new entrants
in business intelligence or that many
is inherent with the transactional process ,
in the market leading to what Christian
business users still haven ’ t got access
that all information comes from the
describes as the risk that “ these are not
to these tools . “ If you look at numbers
same source . Then we need to ensure
yet enterprise class and [ that businesses
from IDC , only 27 % of the people in a
all users have access to the information ,
end up ] with many disparate solutions
typical organisation are served in some
and how it is presented will depend on
to manage and maintain ”.
way by that organisation ’ s business in-
the level of detail required at the time .”
telligence investments . Really , we see a
Many BI projects that we ’ ve seen have
lot of the evolution in reaching out to
The question then becomes about
been very IT-centric ; much of the focus
those 73 % of users . Growth is going to
whether business users are able to ask
has been on the technology . However ,
be a fundamental element of business
the right questions of the data . Busi-
successful BI projects put the business
intelligence .”
ness users are becoming increasingly
analysis with the business user and the
sophisticated in the types of insights
data management , which is a very techni-
As more users get access to the tools ,
they want and in using that informa-
cal discipline , with the IT department .
there will be changes in how the tools
tion more wisely . While the role of the
are used and deployed . Dell expects a
data scientist is becoming well known ,
“ We ’ re enabling the technology side of
broadening of the user base as staff with
he ’ s seeing the marketing scientist , who
the house to focus on the things that
lower level technical skills access data .
understands the intersection between
they ’ re better at . It isn ’ t producing re-
This will drive further innovation in
data , algorithms and business issues , as
ports . It ’ s managing data . It ’ s security .
the tools so that user interfaces make it
a new role that ’ s developing .
The tools enable business users go to
easier to gain meaning from data and
places they haven ’ t be able to get to
present information that can be used
IT delivery teams have , when they ’ ve
before ,” said Sands .
for intelligent decision making .
worked effectively in delivering solutions , worked with end users to deter-
Looking ahead
The reality is that the next few years
mine requirements that were used to
So , what ’ s next ? Are the next few years
will see a perfect storm of business
develop and deploy systems . With BI ,
going to be simply incremental changes
needs and evolving technology . Grant
Sands prefers the term “ business user ”
on what we are seeing today ? Now that
Christian from Information Builders
rather than “ end user ”. This is because
big data is just data and business intel-
said , “ Big data , cloud , social media ,
end user suggests the end of a process .
ligence and analytics tools are quite
predictive analytics and mobile . More
But business is ongoing activities , so
mature , it ’ s easy to imagine a period
than buzzwords , these technologies are
by shifting the focus away from what
of consolidation .
allowing organisations to leverage data
users want to what the business needs ,
to accelerate business . Used together ,
BI projects have a greater chance of
Mark Sands from QlikView sees a future
these five business intelligence trends
delivering business value .
with even more diversity . “ If we look at
are converging to transform the way
how the market has evolved over the
critical business decisions are made , and
As business intelligence and analytic
last few years , we have recognised that
opening opportunities for new services
8
tools become more prevalent within or-
there isn ’ t a one-size-fits-all solution
and new revenue .”
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