Strategic Business Intelligence
There is a notoriously hackneyed saying that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Leaving aside the obvious snigger from those who have heard it all before, it is quite true that good planning is the key to running a viable business. In order to plan the entrepreneur will need information and that is why business intelligence will underpin and ultimately determine the success of corporate planning.
This is more so the case when that planning has to integrate strategic objectives with operational objectives as well as paid due attention financial frameworks. In this article the practical ramifications of business intelligence are shown to impact greatly on the final plans of an organization.
A well thought-out integrated business plan will need to account for the true impact of business decisions as well as making predictions about future outcomes based on the availability of reasonably accurate information. The idea of integration will necessary mean that the various drivers of business growth will have to be individually quantified and then joined together to form a business story which in turn becomes the business plan. Good business intelligence will make this process relatively fast, consistent and effective. Some might go further and argue that without business intelligence, business planning is virtually meaningless.
The technological advancements in business intelligence systems have enabled business planners to construct complex mathematical scenario and quantify previously unquantifiable variants. This has led to an almost symbiotic relationship whereby the development of one element ultimately leads to the re-development of another equivalent element. It therefore goes without saying that the better the business intelligence, the better the planning outcomes.
Integrated business planning also presents some further challenges for business intelligence. For example the modules will need to cater for speculative questions, simulation of probable scenarios, and the demand to bespoke ratio quotients, sensitivity capabilities, infeasibility models and the complex issues of opportunity costs. This means that the business intelligence system has to constantly evolve in reflection of the complexity of modern planning systems. In some of these areas human participation is mandatory if any meaningful results are to be achieved.
Notwithstanding these challenges, business intelligence has continued to provide a useful conduit for the ambitions of business planners throughout the business world. In particular it has been the underlying business information system in terms of providing forums of interdepartmental working, generating performance management systems, opening up relational analysis and improving the effectiveness of line managers.
Is there a tension between fast business planning and detailed business intelligence ? There could be a tension if key planners do not understand the utmost importance of having accurate data in order to facilitate planning. In any case it can be argued that the process of multi dimensional planning requires similar, if not identical, networks of research to deliver results. Without the ability to gather information from some of the remotest sectors of the business, any planning has only superficial meaning and will not go to the root issues that are affecting the company. This is as true for the for-profit sector as it is for the non-profit organization.
business growth strategies, Business Intelligence, Complex Mathematical, Financial Frameworks, implement business intelligence, Integrated Business Planning, Multi Dimensional, Operational Objectives, Opportunity Costs, Planning Systems, Relational Analysis, Sensitivity Capabilities, Strategic Planning, Technological Advancement
