The statement ‘’Knowledge is power’’ sounds like a cliché, but when viewing the economic development of the past fifteen years its more accurate than ever. Today’s business environment is much more complex and dynamic due to globalisation and the shift to the information age. To be successful in today’s dynamic business environment, leaders must leverage opportunities to adapt, innovate, and learn.
With the rise in competition, businesses are forced to develop as much knowledge as possible to meet the needs of today’s demanding customer and adapt to the changing market. Being flooded with data, more often companies fail to filter through the vast amount of information and create meaningful relationships between data to gain valuable insights.
However, effectively analysing the companies generated data, to be able to react to changes in consumer behavior and trends is essential for organisations to stay relevant and competitive. Furthermore, having the right information available allows businesses to build efficient supply chains, decrease risk and improve internal processes.
Information technology is the only technology which provides you the opportunity to analyse specific data and plan your business journey accordingly. A popular solution to the growing problem is to invest and utilize technologies like business intelligence (BI) tools in your business. For business owners, CEO’s and managers it is vital to understand that information is not equal to intelligence. Intelligence is developed through integrating data from different departments of the company and relating it with each other, the result creates a single source of truth an organisation can work with.
Technology analyst Gartner describes Business Intelligence as including “the applications, infrastructure and tools, and best practices that enable access to and analysis of information to improve and optimize decisions and performance.”
Being exposed to the fast paste business environment, decision making is often equally fast-paced, with little time to gather evidence and to consult with colleagues. A BI tool provides meaningful data readily available to key figures of the business, which enables fact-based decision making for simple and complex decisions. Furthermore, a BI tool provides you with a 360-degree view into your business, allowing you to spot inefficient business process, spikes in performance and outdated procedure.
Eventually, being able to back decision with facts installs confidence in a company and its leaders. Uncertainty in decision making can be decreased and risk can be measured based on powerful knowledge. This ability is from great value to any organisation regardless of what industry in.
Even though there are still some executives who are waiting for things to return to “normal.” It’s not going to happen. Change is the new norm and digital is the key driver of this change. By using business intelligence systems, organisations can use their own data to forecast future revenue and progress. It provides the opportunity to grow and use resources where they are needed. Embrace change today to realise growth opportunities tomorrow.
“Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future” — John F. Kennedy.