The move to self-service business intelligence (BI) is being driven by users wanting direct access to their data, enabling them to proactively address real-time business issues.
This is according to Kamil Kara, BI presales specialist at SAP SA. "We know that information delivery and information access is constantly evolving. Software users are now realising that having direct access to their own data is giving them more power to make better decisions. This is where the whole idea of self-service BI comes in. SAP makes this process very easy.
"We want to enable organisations to have a single point of entry to access their data - a single version of the truth to make those important business decisions. We also want them to have the relevant data available anywhere via a mobile device. Lastly, we want to make this process seamless to the user community. The message from SAP for 2014 is the concept of simplifying everything, so we can do anything."
Kara adds that data discovery, data analysis, and data visualisation are all crucial when it comes to understanding data and making the right decisions.
"A picture is always worth a thousand words. People tend to perceive trends and opportunities better in a visual format rather than a table of hundreds of lines of data. In many cases, a visual can provide an answer or clarity in seconds. Combining visual representations with predictive capabilities enhances the ability of BI offerings to create proactive awareness around threats and opportunities faced by companies, which reduces the time between decisions and actions."
Kara will discuss how best to utilise BI to enable proactive decision-making during his presentation at the ninth annual ITWeb BI Summit, in Johannesburg, in March. He will be joined by mentalist Gilan Gork.
The international keynotes at the event will be delivered by Mark Madsen and Lawrence Corr. Madsen is the founder and president of Third Nature, a US-based research and consulting company specialising in BI, information delivery, and the IT to support these. Corr, a director at UK-based DecisionOne Consulting, is a data warehousing and BI designer and modelstormer.
The ITWeb Business Intelligence 2014 Summit will be held at The Forum, in Bryanston, from 25-27 March. Click here to access the programme for the event and take advantage of the early-bird offer.
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