Business Transformation: A Roadmap for Maximizing Organizational Insights

Foreword

When Information Revolution¹ was published in 2006, no Chinese-based companies were among the top 10 largest companies by market capitalization. Apple didn't sell phones. Facebook was something college kids used to connect with their friends. Back then, we talked a lot about the amount of data coming in and faster processing speed.

What we believed then remains true today: Data, and the decision-making process, can be moved throughout the organization to equip every decision maker (automated, line worker, analyst, executive) to make the best choices. By operationalizing analytics, organizations can identify and quantify both opportunity and risk. Information Revolution highlighted SAS' Information Evolution Model, which helps organizations understand how they interact with their information and how to extract more value from it through analytics.

SO WHAT HAS CHANGED?

Business intelligence still matters. But today's global economy requires predictive analytics and forecasting to play a more active role. Insights from unstructured data now hold great promise. New ways to store, move, and process data have made big data more accessible and affordable than ever before. Delivery has moved to mobile. Many leaders run their businesses from tablets and smartphones.

A persistent myth is that technology alone enables all this. Sure, you need technology, but it's just one component: People, information processes, and culture are equally critical. That's really what this book is about—transforming ...