Readying Your Information for the Economic Revival

The days of rationing budgets and manpower are passing, and it is time for businesses to regroup, realign, restrategize and redesign that which defines their basic underpinnings. Technology and business processes are so intertwined that top IT leadership teams must redefine their strategies around investments in new technologies, processes and models that not only enable but also propel growth.

Business intelligence (BI) should be among the top priorities for forward-thinking IT executives. Successful businesses have strongly aligned their information management strategies and processes with the requirements of their businesses. Amid the unrelenting economic pressures of the last few quarters, investments in BI were curtailed in much the same fashion as other business-critical expenditures. To understand how BI needs to manifest itself in the post-downturn revival, we need to take a closer look at how customers responded to the meltdown in global financial markets and business demand.

In light of financial constraints, there was an imminent need to shape up the BI environment, squeezing efficiencies out of every nook possible. At the same time, many senior managers came to appreciate the role of BI in providing insights that preserved top- and bottom-line performance. Over the last year, our clients have exhibited one or more of the following approaches toward BI:

Focus on cost, infrastructure and process optimization: Reducing the costs of multiple tools and inefficient processes, choosing smaller targets in the face of limited budgets, and embracing the managed services approach to improve ROI of BI investments.

Emphasis on revenue channel optimization: Employing the power of small BI/analytics solutions for top-line cost analyses and improving the availability of cash with financial process improvements.

Eye on long-term business strategy: Ensuring alignment of BI with long-term strategy, tying enterprise metrics to synchronize the entire organization on execution, and improving the way strategy is tracked and managed.

It is tempting to think organizations following the third approach would fare best. Without getting into the “think-long-term” vs. “save-now-spend-later” debate, we need to inspect the key issues that successful organizations must identify and resolve as they emerge from the economic downturn.

Improve the focus on, visibility of and sensitivity toward the customer.
Improve the availability and movement of cash through business processes.
Innovate for a differentiated product/service value proposition.
Strengthen the brand, even reworking and repositioning it, if needed.
Have the right team in place to grow faster than the competition.
Achieve significant benefits from efficiencies in operations.
Spread to new geographies, markets and target segments.
Insulate business and operations from any future risks.

All of these business priorities need significant support from a quality-of-information perspective. As a result, each has a bearing on the types of data warehousing and BI services the organization must invest in.

It can be argued that even a strategic initiative such as improving brand strength might have an impact on the BI architecture. Four clear areas of importance arise, including information strategy, DW&BI Architecture, data governance and the analytical environment. But what is it in these service areas that clients need to particularly achieve to build a competitive position in the post-revival scenario?

Revamping Information Strategy for Changed Times

In the post-revival scenario, the agility of the organization’s DW&BI strategy will test the anvil of fast-moving business changes. The economic downturn has left most companies in a weakened state. Many of your competitors could already be taking steps to improve competitive positioning to avail themselves of new opportunities. Strategic soul-searching and reorganization across all industries will result in a considerable change in business priorities. As a result, a BI investment plan for the next three to five years needs to be reinspected, with the aim of developing a clear project roadmap predicated on new market realities.

As part of an organization’s renewed BI strategy, the BI team will need to look at its own structure, ability to support future development and support needs; high-level architecture and infrastructure needs; governance organization and policies; user adoption; and ROI issues.