In a time of rapid change, success or failure depends on how quickly information becomes knowledge and knowledge fuels decisions.
This is the view of Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS, leader in business and analytical intelligence. He adds that business intelligence and business analytics help create this knowledge and intelligence for faster, more accurate decision-making.
"Companies that can effectively use BI and analytics to leverage their existing resources - people, technology, data, etc - can play a commanding role on the global business scene, regardless of their size," he says.
Goodnight points out that SAS goes beyond the traditional definition of BI. It enables organisations to easily gather data, regardless of source, transform it into high-quality information, analyse it, and then make it securely and easily available to all users.
"Like the Portuguese explorers of old, businesses today need to see beyond the horizon, to predict with accuracy where they are heading, what obstacles await them and what steps they can take to reach their goals. SAS delivers powerful technologies to meet this need," he says.
However, he adds that time is a level playing field.
"Every organisation, regardless of size, industry sector or geographical location, has just 1 440 minutes in a day. The competitive-edge goes to those who can not only get information faster, but to those who have the time to analyse a situation fully before making a decision."
Today`s manager must be able to analyse the past, predict the future and then apply both to present-day decisions. On top of that, he or she must be able to quantify these decisions and show measurable performance to stakeholders, regulators, employees and industry influencers. These requirements are why performance management is such a growth area today.
According to Goodnight, performance management involves aligning business and IT processes, linking tactical operations with strategic goals.
"And SAS has made great strides in the performance management space in the last year, with increased demand for its flagship performance management solutions," he adds.
And why are analytics and BI so hot?
Goodnight believes it is because companies can see a quick return on their investments. He cites an example of a financial services firm which cut its mutual fund customer attrition in half, while an office supply retailer cut the costs for each marketing campaign by 25%.
However, he says analytics and BI software are no longer the exclusive domain of quantitative and statistical experts. With the right enterprise intelligence platform, business people from the factory floor to the boardroom can tap the power of data mining, forecasting and other predictive analytic technologies, along with data integration, data quality and reporting technologies.
Many vendors are jumping into the market (or into the marketing) for analytics and BI, including ERP vendors and query and reporting BI tools providers. Yet too often, the "intelligence" that these vendors provide - basic reporting on what happened last year, last quarter or even last week - falls woefully short of the scope, integration and predictive analytic power companies need to remain competitive.
However, one vendor stands out from the crowd: SAS, with its 29-year history as an enterprise BI and analytics software leader. SAS`s powerful, integrated enterprise intelligence platform provides unmatched scope in predictive analytics, data management and BI software.
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