SmartBiz IT Research Library

There is mounting frustration within the business community and it's focused squarely upon business intelligence (BI). CIOs and BI directors struggle to respond to increasing business demands for information delivered in a timely and consistent fashion. They struggle to keep up with the increasing pace of business change exemplified by new product launches, organizational changes and mergers and acquisitions. They struggle to cap the increasing maintenance costs of BI, and it is a struggle they are losing! It is no wonder they are frustrated.

Over the past 10 years the information landscape has become increasingly complex. This is in part due to the deluge of unstructured data but also a consequence of the fact that companies have allowed data bass and applications to proliferate with scant regard to where master copies and common definitions should be held. This is largely the result of short term fixes to deliver specific information to the business, but it makes resolving the problem now all the more intractable. The issue of the quality of the data has fallen off the radar. A key consequence is that companies have masses of information they don't have confidence in. The advent of increased regulation and the fact that CFOs in particular may end up in jail has raised the stakes considerably. This issue is getting higher on our agenda, fueled by the need to internationalize business, the growing expectations for volume and speed of business information, and increasing government regulation. Nowadays C-level business managers need to be confident they can trust the information delivered by the company BI systems. Their liberty may depend upon it.