Use Information to Empower and Satisfy

Software-enabled business processes can become too rigid and restrict a company's ability to do the right thing for customers. Here's interesting use of software analytics and business logic to empower the workforce to increase customers satisfaction levels. ...

... "Many calls are not resolved first time because the person who answers the phone is not authorized to do something – refund something or expedite it. Yet, all too often the data required to make the decision is available at that point. The status of the order, the customer and pricing rules are all known. " ...

Via B-EYE: Customer Decisions

Information On-Demand, a Long Term Perspective

IBM's executive, Ambuj Goyal, provides insights into IBM's long-term plan for the concept of information on-demand. IBM is assembling the pieces of its strategy, including its acquisition of Cognos, to enable the use of information to optimize the enterprise. ...

... "But the journey of optimization has just begun. It will take us in ways we don't understand, even today. We are going after information on demand in real time. " ...

Via InfoWorld: Information on Demand

Organizing for Business Intelligence

Nice reference matrix on segmenting business intelligence needs to enable creation of targeted solutions. ...

... "Table 1 illustrates the characteristics and differences between strategic, tactical and operational BI. The business focus, users involved, currency of the data, and even the types of data used differ significantly, depending on the type of business intelligence. " ...

Via B-Eye: Operational Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence Business Case

A business intelligence project proposal can be challenging. Can't calculate a positive NPV or ROI? Don't despair. However, you can link the investment to reducing the cycle time of your current management reporting process ... or, you can identify the incremental value of making certain decisions that you cannot make today. Often, though, BI investments are seen as strategic. ...

... "The survey found that measuring the ROI for BI investment is more challenging that for other IT projects. The overall objective of BI is to improve company performance by putting the right information into the right hands at the right time. " ...

Via TMCnet: BI ROI

Data Speaks, Not Necessarily

The truth is out there. Where? Who knows? Surely the project manager's earned value spreadsheet. ...

... "The most politically savvy employee with the most persuasive arguments - and not necessarily the employee with the most accurate information or most insightful analysis - is deemed the holder of the spreadsheet of truth. " ...

Via DM Review: BI Barriers

Justify Business Intelligence Project

Struggling to justify that next business intelligence project? Try pilots and phased implementations to garner support and build investment momentum. ...

... "Traditional project planning and ROI measurements are ineffective in calculating the value of BI because calculating the potential value of unknown information is similar to a prospector digging for gold. " ...

Via CIO: Project Justification

Business Intelligence Projects: Pick Sponsor Wisely

Business intelligence projects are popular and fairly straightforward to get approved at governance. However, survey data shows that being selective about sponsorship is critical to BI success. Choose your sponsor and steering team wisely, should you receive the nod for investment. ...

... "What raised the red flag for Burton, however, was that 40% of those polled said their business intelligence projects were owned by lower-level business executives. That isn't ideal, Burton said, because that group tends to have tactical rather than strategic roles ... " ...

Business intelligence projects fail without C-level ownership