Ever-increasing competition levels and globalisation means companies need to make decisions quickly. Products and even marketing strategies are rapidly copied, so the ability to respond quickly to a changing market becomes the crucial determinant of both profitability and survival.
"The true competitiveness of a company is determined by the ability of its knowledge workers - or decision-makers - to make accurate, timely decisions that improve profitability and long-term prospects," says at Andre Zitzke, chief technology officer at SAS Institute.
These decisions are based on the information held internally, relating to customers, suppliers and products. But while most organisations have built up operational systems that collect data, the information these workers require is still not available. For this reason, many IT departments are focusing on subject-oriented information and the software tools needed to empower knowledge workers.
A data warehouse is designed specifically to meet the needs of an organisation's knowledge workers. It offers fast, powerful access to the information needed for strategic decision-making, delivering and presenting it in a form that best serves these needs.
"To achieve this, the data warehouse automates the collection of operational data, and the data is massaged and merged into a format which is oriented around the needs of the users," explains Zitzke. "As a result, it provides a much higher and faster return on investment than operational systems. This is due to constant evolution in small, fast iterative steps, each of which delivers an instant payback in information to knowledge workers."
Building on legacy systems, a data warehouse will also optimise a company's existing investment in both data and hardware. Says Zitzke: "Most importantly, the data warehouse also provides a framework for IT to reinvigorate its relationship with business units by meeting their needs directly. It is a key development of businesses seeking to increase profitability by recognising and utilising new opportunities.
"There are some issues surrounding the implementation of a data warehouse - it is likely to involve integration a number of existing application systems. However, many organisations are typically sitting on years of detailed transactional data, rich in potential for guiding the organisation to future success."
providing decision makers with faster, more direct and convenient access to the necessary data, data warehouse application are already making organisation more flexible, supporting new product developments, marketing strategies and changes in business structure to support improved customer services and more rapid turnaround. "These are benefits that the organisation's customers will appreciate and remember," says Zitzke.
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