Diablogue: a thousand different answers…
Writing by Jorgen on Monday, 29 of October , 2007 at 7:37 pm
Ask anyone in this industry for his or hers definition of Business Intelligence and you get a thousand different answers. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but it does imply that we still have not agreed upon some of the basics. It is an interesting paradox that although we are apparently not 100% sure about what Business Intelligence is we do have an opinion on how it should be or where it is going.
- We need one version of the truth.
- BI projects require a business driven approach.
- BI development should be done incrementally.
- BI projects needs high level sponsorship.
- BI = decision making process.
- BI is going to be real time (BI 2.0).
- Information democracy: BI for everyone.
- BI cannot be outsourced.
- Merging : BI, CI, EI, EPM, CPM, BIM…
- BI is the answer to everything.
I will start with the bottom five (saving the top 5 for a future blog). Frank will react to this on his own blog. This way we hope to create a dialogue or diablogue (dialogue + blog). Please feel free to join the discussion and share your opinions with us and all other readers.10. BI is the answer to everything. No, almost every answer creates a new question. Data is often limited, not captured or of low quality. Therefore one can say that BI is NOT the answer to everything. In the best case scenario it is helpful. 9. Merging: BI, CI, EI, EPM, CPM, BIM. There are so many acronyms and abbreviations that I am not even sure that we can agree on all the two- or three letter words at the beginning. And even if we agree that BI stands for Business Intelligence - I doubt that we can agree on a common definition - let alone talk about merging. To my opinion it is not a merger but a different manifestation where the core or main point may differ per area (focus on strategy, or client, or process…). In each case: it should be information centric.8. BI cannot be outsourced. A lot of BI professionals tell me that BI cannot be outsourced because of its specific nature (mutual development with end users, incremental approach, and so on). One of our clients has already outsourced its BI environment as long as 8 years ago. The proof of the eating is in the pudding. 7. Information democracy: BI for everyone. Information is critical for almost each person, process or technology. We in the western world produce more data than products. But in order to transform the data into information, knowledge and action you need to add your personal experience, time and effort to the mix. Some people will and will benefit from this. Some people will not and can live without it. BI is not for everyone but at least for the smart people.6. BI is going to be real time (BI 2.0). If you view BI as strategic there is no need for real time data. But if you view BI as more operational than it will come in handy. In my view BI supports better decisions by making a strategy, process or objective - accountable, adjustable or adaptive. For accountability you do not need real time, for the other two you do. Therefore my answer would be: it depends. 5.BI = decision making process. Ouch, tough one. As mentioned previously I think that BI supports better decisions. It is up to the end user if they make use of it. They can make a decision that is in full conflict with the number crunching. Therefore BI is not the same as the decision making process it is just a supporting tool.
Category: BI Thoughts, BI Tools, Business Intelligence consulting, Business Intelligence datawarehousing, Business Intelligence solution, Business Intelligence strategy, Business Intelligence system, Business Intelligence tools
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Comment by Ron Dimon
Made Wednesday, 5 of December , 2007 at 5:55 am
Hoi Jorgen, I hope you are well!
I can picture you and Frank coming up with your contrarian views while sitting in a hotel lobby somewhere (even Chicago!) sipping your single-malt scotch.
Let me take issue with one of your comments on #9. You say, “in each case: it should be information centric.” I would say that the blending or merging of intelligence (business, customer, operations, etc.) and performance management (enterprise, corporate, business, etc.) really should be performance-centric. So not only do I want to transform data into information, but I also want to take action on that information. And I want that action to lead to better performance. So I would put performance at the center: faster revenue growth, improved margins, additional market-share, more cash flow, etc. Maybe that point will be addressed in #2 in your list.
All the best!
Tot ziens,
-Ron
Comment by Ronald Damhof
Made Wednesday, 5 of December , 2007 at 11:50 pm
Let’s take on the first one (I btw responded on Frank’s blog on number 8):We need one version of the truth
We dont
We - being professionals in data warehousing - need to offer ONE STATEMENT OF THE FACTS..not ONE VERSION OF THE TRUTH. Sorry for caps.
With the facts we can fabricate any thruth the business desires. If they want ‘green’..they get ‘green’. If they want ‘blue’ the next year..no problemos…we give them ‘blue’. But we can be claer that one year ‘green’ was reported and next year ‘blue’ was reported. We can even give them ‘green’ in both years and ‘blue’ in both years..
We need to offer a sound audit trail from ‘their’ truth, to the actual facts. Thats data compliance…that’s being professional about your job. Truth lies within the enduser…that’s not our job, we just deliver the facts.
My 2 cents…
Btw; great post Jorgen! and peeps, get into the discussion!!
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