A business intelligence survey run by online IT news provider ITWeb shows that there is an urgent need to raise awareness and implement training programmes regarding the methods available for BI analysis purposes.
This is according to Marius Ackerman, the owner of Abic - a Pretoria-based independent data warehousing and BI consultancy. Ackerman compiled the questionnaire for the BI survey and analysed the results received.
The BI survey was run on ITWeb`s site for just over a month earlier this year and attracted 210 respondents from within ITWeb`s readership base. Sagent South Africa sponsored a free BI assessment worth R20 000 for one lucky reader to encourage the respondents to complete the questionnaire. It will be discussing its integrated yet modular data warehousing and BI solution with the winner of the free assessment, Network Recruitment.
Sagent also hosted a business breakfast for these respondents at the Hilton in Sandton yesterday, where the results of the survey were presented by ITWeb Editor-in-Chief Ranka Jovanovic.
"It is evident from the results of the survey that there is a considerable lack of knowledge around fairly commonly-used methodologies. This suggests that although some SA companies are able to slice and dice information, developing business intelligence from this business information may just be the exception rather than the rule," says Ackerman.
"Companies can go ahead and implement the infrastructure they require, develop a business intelligence strategy and install tools. But even after all this, if they don`t analyse the information they collect, they still just have information."
Ackerman adds that local BI initiatives are still "immature", focussing as they do on implementing the required IT components rather than on developing and executing enterprise-wide BI strategies.
He says that the survey results show that although executive management teams in SA are beginning to recognise the importance of BI, it is still not regarded as important by operational managers - such as account, sales and marketing managers. In fact, 41% of the respondents indicated that their companies had not yet appointed specific people or teams to ensure BI initiatives ran smoothly and correctly. Also of concern was that in those companies that had assigned someone to drive their BI projects, just under 40% had chosen their chief information officers to do so.
"This sends a warning sign to those committed to developing BI into a strategic enabler. An integrated and effective BI system requires a focussed approach from both IT and business representatives," says Ackerman.
"Maybe the time is right for the emergence of a chief intelligence officer in those organisations are that really serious about making BI work."
In addition, although over half the respondents said their companies had BI projects in place, 50% said no formal process existed for the collection, analysis and dissemination of the information collected.
"These findings are alarming," says Ackerman. "An ad hoc approach to BI can lead to inaccurate and misleading intelligence output with dire consequences if this is used to make important business decisions."
Click here to pick up the full results of ITWeb`s first-ever Business Intelligence Survey. The survey, done in conjunction with Abic and Sagent South Africa, ran on ITWeb for a month earlier this year.
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