Business Intelligence Review

Section 1. eBusiness

A review of any new concept must begin with the basics; Business Intelligence (BI) is no different. The basic building block of BI is eBusiness. eBusiness has been one of the hot “buzz” words of the late 1990’s and early 21^st century. While it sounds good and progressive, what exactly is eBusiness? Simply the ability to bring real time information to decision makers within an organization. eBusiness involves the breaking down of formerly departmentalized and independent information, compiling this information into an integrated format that is available to all decision-makers across the organization. The ability to integrate information across all departments is due to advances in Information Technology through Web based applications. When properly managed, eBusiness can provide seamless real-time information about every facet of a company’s business, from supplier management through customer relationship management. A good look at all aspects of eBusiness is available at MIT’s site dedicated to the subject MIT.

The below diagram illustrates a basic eBusiness application:

Supply Chain Management (SCM)-focuses on managing and integrating a company’s suppliers. Materials used in production, its transport and timeliness are addressed in this area. A vendor of SCM is Accenture Consulting accenture

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)-one of the most used “buzz words” in eBusiness. This is the foundation for most eBiz applications. As IT applications became more robust in the 1990’s companies saw the need to bring all computer systems under one package. By doing this, organizations saw reduced redundancy, more efficiency and greater data quality. ERP is the backbone to most eBiz solutions and basically seeks to standardize all computer systems within an organization. To learn more about ERP, check out a major vendor, NEC.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)-could be the most important aspect of eBusiness. The segment is designed so that businesses can better understand their customers. By better understanding, more customer loyalty can be generated, hence improving sales and conversely revenue. For a complete overview of CRM, please see the following forum CRM Guru.

Section 2. Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence (BI) can be defined as combining all information and analytical tools in one interface. It can be defined as providing all pertinent information to decision makers in real-time. BI can be thought of as combining each of the following components: Decision Support Systems (DSS); Data Analysis; Data Mining and Knowledge Management.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) includes the application of information technology to link data bases and data model bases into a user friendly interface that can provide decision making basis for ad-hoc situations.

Data Analysis is best described as utilizing analytical methods (statistical) to convert data into actionable information.

Data Mining utilizes data bases to predict future events/outcomes. Patterns can be discovered and can be the basis for decision-making.

Knowledge Management is the area of automating, standardizing and utilizing knowledge throughout the organization through shared experiences. A good resource to learn more is KM.

Section 3. Success Stories

1. Hewlett-Packard Company – Oracle

Hewlett-Packard is one of the largest technology companies in the world; employing 88,500 world-wide and having over $49 billion in annual sales. It utilizes Oracle to “create a consistent customer experience across the enterprise.” Oracle CRM “provides HP with a seamless Web access experience that promises to ensure customer loyalty.” Field representatives can view up-to-the-minute customer and order information, get accurate pictures of service issues and determine which HP marketing events the customer has attended. HP representatives can then take this information and sell specific solutions bases on a single view of the customer.

HP and Oracle

2. WingspanBank.com – IBM

WingspanBank is an Internet-only bank that offers all the products of a typical bricks and mortar financial institution; with the added convenience of “innovative, consumer-driven offerings available 24 hours a day; all supported by a customer care center. The challenge was the ability to deliver on the above mission statement. IBM partnered with the bank to combine technology and the Internet with a “convenient, seamless and secure delivery system. According to a bank VP, “IBM helped us deliver Web hosting services, develop back-office processes, procure and deliver hardware platforms” allowing the bank to manage cost and provide enhanced value to our customers.

WingspanBank and IBM

3. FAW-Volkswagen – SAP

FAW-Volkswagen pioneered modern car manufacturing in China; it is the only manufacturer to produce medium and luxury cars in the country. The major business challenges the company faced were unresponsive customer service and slow reaction times. “The IT challenges in support of these business issues were lack of real-time information, incomplete integration of data and a shortage of IT personnel”. SAP dramatically strengthened the “relationship with our customers and integrated all customer service function on a single platform”; says a senior manager. SAP enterprise solution has enabled communication and information sharing between customers, service representatives and the entire enterprise.

FAW-SAP

4. Carreker Corporation – PeopleSoft

Carreker Corporation is a fast growing provider of consulting and software solutions for the financial industry. The company had experienced rapid expansion in the last three years, which led to the decision to turn to PeopleSoft as an enterprise solution to its internal business system needs. Carreker’s mission is to assist financial institutions in turning their payment systems, processing centers and customer relationships into revenue producing units. The company choose PeopleSoft as their systems provider because PS could provide an “integrated solution that encompassed the entire life cycle of our business—including customer relationship management, human resources, financials and performance management.”

Carreker-PeopleSoft

5. Applied Roller Technology – Great Plains

Applied Roller Technology is a customer-driven manufacturer of customized bowed rollers. Their goal is to deliver exactly what their customers want as quickly and efficiently as possible. Great Plains has enabled the company to manage their business critical information in one system. The company was looking for a Windows based system that allowed customization. An accountant at Applied states, “Great Plains has improved my life at work, mainly for the time savings, but it also has brought us closer together as a team. With Great Plains, we are closer, knowing what everyone else is doing and how it ties in to getting our products out the door.

Applied Roller - Great Plains