Business Intelligence Tool : Micro Strategy

As we discuss the possibility of emerging into business intelligence software we must keep in mind the overall purpose of using any type of software is to reach strategic goals in order to increase market shares. I will discuss how business intelligence software will allow us to meet those strategic goals. We will establish what type of information and analysis capabilities will be available once this business intelligence software is implemented. We will discuss hardware and system software that will be required to run specific business intelligence software. Lastly, I will give a brief synopsis on three vendors (IBM, Microsoft Microsoft and Oracle) that are dominating the business information software

Information – business intelligence – is no longer the exclusive domain of IT or research departments. From marketing and finance to management and operations, intelligence is applied strategically throughout the enterprise. And professionals who know how to gather and leverage it are the ones who will lead organizations, control decisions, and be relied upon to steer their companies.

Business Intelligence: Business intelligence is a program that coordinates the best combinations of data in sales to achieve maximum profits.

Business Intelligence (BI) is the consolidation and analysis of internal data and / or external data for the purpose of effective decision-making. At the core of all BI initiatives is a data warehouse to hold the data and analytics software. The data warehouse stores data from operational systems in the organization and restructures it to enable queries and models to extract decision support reports.

MSD NAV affords an extensive enterprise management solution that presents dynamic flexibility for business growth opportunities, especially in financial management (Microsoft Dynamics NAV, 2011).

The executive dashboard is a snapshot view to the strength of key business strategies and is presented in a way that might trigger a response. In order for an executive dashboard to be effective, there are characteristics and best practices that should be considered. First, dashboard designs should begin with a specific audience in mind as well as contain meaningful information. For example, some executives specialize in operations that would benefit from metrics related to hardware and software functionality; while other executives focus on financial strategies that deal with cost, revenue and sales (Ravikumar, 2016). Additionally, the data being aggregated and presented should be updated as quickly as possible, in order to prevent any lag in mission critical actions (Kaushik, 2007). Ultimately, an effective dashboard should provide information that connects to executive management in a way that moves them to action. This is the basis behind the “Trinity Mindset” model; which can help refine information into meaningful intelligence (Kaushik, 2007, p.

As we discuss the possibility of emerging into business intelligence software we must keep in mind the overall purpose of using any type of software is to reach strategic goals in order to increase market shares. I will discuss how business intelligence software will allow us to meet those strategic goals. We will establish what type of information and analysis capabilities will be available once this business intelligence software is implemented. We will discuss hardware and system software that will be required to run specific business intelligence software. Lastly, I will give a brief synopsis on three vendors (IBM, Microsoft Microsoft and Oracle) that are dominating the business information software industry today.

We cannot all help but notice the steady decline in our market share for the past consecutive 11 quarters. Annual revenue has shrunk by 40% since we last saw a sales growth. Despite all the cost cutting measures that we have implemented we still continue to see a steep decline in sales. To make matters worse we do not know why, we do not know how and do not have any insight on what the competition is doing and how they are doing it. I’m proposing that we adopt a business intelligence system. This will allow us to see the state of our overall processes, and pinpoint areas of improvement or elimination. In short, business intelligence will allow us to better analyze the organization’s plans and results. I will provide us with insight into what is working correctly at the same time identifying potential problem areas

Twila Day left the meeting excited, but also a little nervous. Her Technology and Applications Group had just been given approval by the Director’s Council of SYSCO to proceed with a company- wide deployment of business intelligence (BI) software. The effort was intended to help SYSCO, the largest food distributor in North America, make better use of the information generated by its operations and serve its customers better. The Director’s Council, a group of senior managers with substantial power and influence, had been impressed enough by the results of a

Companies are adopting business intelligence system within their organizations because by using the system reports they can gain the advantages of understanding their internal strength and weaknesses to face external competitors and challenges to increase profits and reduce cost on their everyday operations and processes.

When thinking about Business Intelligence tools for visual interfaces (dashboards) to assist in monitoring business performance, Tableau is currently all the rage and the top of many companies’ wish lists for software to incorporate into their business and skills for those in which they employ. However, for many companies the investment in both the software and the people with the skills to use Tableau may be just out of reach… especially for companies who are cautious to “jump on the bandwagon” for what is the current hot trend in the market.

SAP Crystal Solutions is a Business Intelligence (BI) and Knowledge Management (KM) series of software applications created, marketed and supported by SAP AG, a leading provider of enterprise software for companies of all sizes. These specific applications are more attuned to the leads of larger enterprises who have terabytes of data that need to be analyzed. The focus on this analysis is on an assessment of their website, tools, applicability to business needs, implications on careers, and an overall evaluation of the applications.

The tool being studied is SAP Crystal Reports. The function of this tool is to provide reports for managers based on information in the company's data set. What the tool does is that it takes "operational and industry" data and uses that to produce reports that make information easy to access, read and understand.

R.L Fielding (2008) reiterates that Business Intelligence is a thorough and holistic analysis of the company records, data, information, and software application for effective decision making. All decision making processes need an organized, readily-accessible, and human readable compilations of data. With the use of an effective tool the firm can easily figure out their own business processes, the behavior of their customers, and the economic trend of the industry. With these facts, the firm can arrive at a better strategy to achieve their specified goals with confidence.

The first use of the term “business intelligence” was found in Richard Millar Devens’ 1865 work, Cyclopaedia of Commercial and Business Anecdotes. He used it to describe the understanding banker Sir Henry Furnese had of political issues, instabilities, and the market before his competitors. It was not until 1958 that IBM computer scientist Hans Peter Luhn recognized the potential of business intelligence. Since then, Business Intelligence has continuously evolved from when it started as an automated system to disseminate information to the various sections of any industrial, scientific, or government organization (BetterBuys).