It’s the classic blame game: On one hand, executives whining about the non-availability of the right data at the right time; on the other, software firms insisting that their cutting-edge BI (Business Intelligence) tools are all you need to live happily ever after. Are we doomed to constant mismatches between users of technology and the technology itself? A divorce even before the marriage itself? Why this inordinately long gestation period for Return On Investment (ROI) in technology?
We all agree that today’s business houses cannot survive without BI tools. How then did they survive all these centuries without this heavy BI armory? (Thanks again to Microsoft, Word underlines Armoury in red, gently prompting.)
For that matter, what exactly is BI and how does it work?
Simply put, Business Intelligence refers to skills, processes, technologies, applications and practices used to support decision-making. It’s is a broad category of applications and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data to help users make better business decisions.
Take for example the Balanced Scorecard feature of Microsoft Dynamics-AX. It allows you to define concise objectives of the organization, performance categories or perspectives, measurable actions, and measurable targets. The key performance indicators (KPI) are monitored with qualitative inputs through questionnaires or third-party application links & quantitative measurable aspects. The best part is that the tool generates this exclusive data without any additional input or effort from the user.
But at the end of the day, a tool is a tool – nothing more. Yesterday’s Artificial Intelligence has given way to today’s Business Intelligence. Tomorrow it will be renamed Customer Intelligence; and the day after, Decisive Intelligence. AI, BI, CI, DI… and so on till we run out of alphabets.
Of what use is cutting-edge technology without cutting-edge people to run them? This is where firms like ExtOrg come in. The mere acquisition of software can never guarantee a healthy bottom line. Fortunately (or unfortunately – depending on your perspective,) human intelligence is the defining driver for the integration of any service or technology into a workplace.
After all is said and done, the human mind is the most extraordinary tool. It can look beyond a system, and interpret and analyze a scenario from a completely different perspective. It can think differently. That’s the key.
When state-of-the-art technology combines with innovative thinking, that’s a marriage made in heaven – a marriage that lasts.
Be innovative! Be street-smart! That’s the mantra today. Roll up your sleeves and think out-of-the-box. To prove our point again, listen to this story told by a former CEO of Aptech.
A wealthy Dubai businessman executed his will as follows: After dividing his cash equally among his three sons, came the distribution of his 17 camels. He decreed that they be shared in the proportion of 1/2, 1/3rd, and 1/9th. Difficult. How do you divide 17 by anything! The lawyers and accountants, after much head scratching and calculator jabbing, could only come up with one feasible solution: sell some camels and distribute the cash. However, the sons didn’t want to sell the camels.
They finally decided to call in a computer programmer with a reputation for problem solving. The programmer thought awhile and then said, “Here is the solution: I will loan you one camel for the purpose of your calculation, so that you now have a total of 18 camels. The first son who is allotted half of the share will get 9 camels; the second son who is allotted one-third will get 6, and the third son who is allotted one-ninth will get 2 camels. The total comes to 17. And I will take back my own camel.”
That is good BI for you.
