South African organisations are increasingly looking at business intelligence (BI) to help solve their information management needs and are using it to build on established technology, such as customer relationship management (CRM), a Gartner analyst says.
Debra Logan, an analyst with the international research firm, says the human/computer interface needs to be examined closely, especially how people start using various types of information to make decisions.
"There is an increasing need to look across information sources, both structured and unstructured. Tools, such as BI, must be used to help us figure out what is information and what is just data," she says.
"In terms of information management there are a number of myths that need to be exploded. For instance the notions of 'more is better`, 'faster is better` do not necessarily apply. We have to examine how the new information age fits in with key performance indicators within an enterprise," she says.
IT expo
South African organisations have requested more information and input from Gartner about BI uses and trends ahead of this year`s ITxpo than was seen in the past, says Logan.
"There has definitely been a resurgence of interest into BI. In fact, our CRM analyst pointed out that there was very little interest from SA organisations on the topic that he specialises in," she says.
Logan says this resurgent interest in BI is because of the "slice and dice" capabilities of data management that it offers.
Gartner`s annual ITxpo will be held in Cape Town, from 31 July to 2 August. About 1 100 IT executives from SA and neighbouring countries attend. The theme this year will be: "IT maturity: Balancing stability and change".
Logan will be presenting on getting value from information assets and the myths, realities and business value of knowledge worker management. Other analysts presenting include Nick Jones, a Gartner VP, who will talk about the mobile scenario for enterprises and emerging technology for mobile and wireless. There will also be a strong focus on IT in government with analyst Andrea DiMaio taking about the role of open source software in government and government IT portfolio management.
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