Organizations need to build BI systems that can handle technology and product changes. This research paper sponsored by Oracle and written by Colin White presents a flexible enterprise BI framework that can evolve with changing requirements.

The paper describes in detail the three modes of BI processing that exist in enterprises today: strategic, tactical and operational; discusses the roles of information consumers and producers; and lays out the various organizational needs to create a decision workflow.

Download the research paper today!</a>

If you have expanded your business intelligence solution to include operations, please take a few minutes to complete a survey BeyeNETWORK is conducting about the current state of operational BI. This information will be the basis of a research report on the topic, and your input is critical. Take the survey now.

Download the latest research report from industry luminary Colin White entitled, Using Business Intelligence to Improve Business Performance and Reduce Costs.This study examines ways for companies to use business intelligence to improve efficiency, reduce costs, gain competitive advantage and maximize return on investment based on a survey of 185 BeyeNETWORK site visitors.

Published: April 13, 2009

Headline Findings from the Research

While organizations are moderately well-placed for each area (with the exception of stakeholder engagement) fewer than a quarter (22 per cent) feel that an integrated approach to the processes is necessary and more than a quarter (27 per cent) think that each process can be regarded in isolation.

Of the six areas researched, the stakeholder environment scores were the lowest. This indicates that the involvement of stakeholders in the performance of the organization is not being optimized. A high number of "don't know" responses in this section indicates that many organizations were not even considering the needs of the stakeholders in their planning processes or value chains.

There is a high inverse correlation between a country's Index score and its regulatory environment: on the whole, the higher the Index, the lighter the regulatory touch. 

The public sector and healthcare sectors, as the most highly regulated verticals, have the lowest overall EPM Index scores. 

This inverse correlation demonstrates that businesses in countries and industries with demanding requirements for governance, transparency and accuracy of information are more aware of the challenges in linking disparate systems and processes to provide an accurate picture of performance.

Most organizations are slow to respond to changes in market and business environments with just 13 per cent of respondents believing themselves to be well placed in this regard. The UK is markedly the most responsive in using processes to deal with critical events.

Use of business intelligence (BI) has a significant bearing on EPM achievement.  Respondents who see BI as being an "important" or "major" tool for their organization have index scores of 5.3, whereas those who see it as being an expensive means of visualising data scored 5, and those who see it as a tool for historical reporting only scored 4.9.

A pervasive common data model is rare in business. While over half of respondents have a model or repository for some sets of data, only 1 per cent of organizations had a common data model across all sets.

      Further findings from the research cover the following areas and can be accessed from these hyperlinks:

To read the full study, please click here.

David Loshin examines the processes that result in a set of metrics that can be combined into different scorecard schemes to effectively address various management responsibilities to support organizational data governance. Read the entire report today.

How, where and why is your organization is using or planning to use open source technologies? Let us know by taking this 5-minute survey. Begin now.

Richard Hackathorn conducted extensive research on the data warehouse appliance marketplace. This report serves as an educational piece for organizations that want to achieve business value from the adoption of a data warehouse appliance. Download it now.

Claudia Imhoff and Colin White establish a solid baseline of understanding for master data management (MDM) initiatives in this report. It also describes the technological environment needed to fully implement a global store of master data and the reasonable benefits that can be expected. The report also provides advice for moving toward a fully integrated and functioning MDM environment. Download the report now.

Information is the currency that companies have used for competitive advantage in business since the earliest beginnings of barter negotiations and commercial commerce. Success in barter commerce often depended on knowledge of sources of food, labor or materials that could be exchanged. In today's highly competitive global economy, knowledge of consumer and business behavior, socio-economic, lifestyle and/or demographic information, can be transformed through information analysis (known as decision science, marketing science or customer analysis) into actionable insight. It is this insight that provides key decision-making support to companies that seek to enhance profitability and/or gain a competitive business advantage.

To read the Decision Science and Customer Analysis report entitled,"Competitve Advantage or Necessary to Succeed?," please click here.