Business Intelligence Success Factors: Tools for Aligning Your Business in the Global Economy

CHAPTER 1

The Evolving Business Landscape

To say that we are living in uncertain times is an understatement. Never before has the rate of change been so swift and unrelenting. Business Intelligence, a term that encompasses all the capabilities required to turn data into intelligence, has emboldened companies to strive for the ultimate goal: getting the right information to the right people at the right time through the right channel. The result is an information explosion. New sources, channels, and applications are being created, automated, and accessed every day. This abundance of information and the new opportunities it creates places unprecedented pressure on companies to reexamine their organizational models. Traditional models of operation and styles of management often lack the agility and flexibility to fully leverage these new opportunities. This dilemma is not isolated to any one industry or geographic area. It affects companies in every industry around the globe.¹

Most large companies have the desire to change. The typical approach is to start the process by reorganizing. The scenario is: Call a meeting; analyze the problem; assign responsibilities and accountabilities; and allocate resources to make the necessary changes. It was the old function-follows-form approach. When the need for change was occasional, this approach worked. In today’s business environment, however, there are several obstacles to this approach.

The difficulty arises from the enormous complexity ...