The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence

Book excerpt: The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence presents an A-to-Z approach for getting the most business intelligence (BI) from a company's data assets or data warehouse. BI is not just a technology or methodology, it is a powerful new management approach that – when done right – can deliver knowledge, efficiency, better decisions, and profit to almost any organization that uses it. When BI first came on the scene, it promised a lot but often failed to deliver. The missing element was the business-centric focus explained in this book. It shows how you can achieve the promise of BI by connecting it to your organization's strategic goals, culture, and strengths while correcting your BI weaknesses. It provides a practical, process-oriented guide to achieve the full promise of BI; shows how world-class companies used BI to become leaders in their industries; helps senior business and IT executives understand the strategic impact of BI and how they can ensure a strong payoff from their BI investments; and identifies the most common mistakes organizations make in implementing BI. The book also includes a helpful glossary of BI terms; a BI readiness assessment for your organization; and Web links and extensive references for more information. - A practical, process-oriented book that will help organizations realize the promise of BI - Written by Nancy and Steve Williams, veteran consultants and instructors with hands-on, "in the trenches" experience in government and corporate business intelligence applications - Will help senior business and IT executives understand the strategic impact of BI and how they can help ensure a strong payoff on BI investments