From Business Intelligence to Intelligent Business
Summary
TLDRIn this presentation, the speaker reflects on their transition from VP of Innovation to an independent consultant. They discuss the evolution of business intelligence, from decision support systems to intelligent businesses that integrate data and analytics for smarter decision-making. The future of business intelligence is framed as a shift towards businesses becoming self-sustaining entities that use advanced tools and data-driven processes. Human wisdom will still play a key role in strategic oversight, while automation will drive day-to-day operations. Governance, adaptability, and the right balance of people, tools, and data are crucial to this transformation.
Takeaways
- 🤖 The future of business intelligence is moving toward creating intelligent businesses, where decision-making is built into the processes, allowing businesses to function more autonomously.
- 💡 Business intelligence has evolved from 'decision support' systems to 'business discovery,' but the core goal remains helping businesses make better decisions.
- 📊 Every company is now a data company, regardless of industry, as data generation is integral to their processes and decision-making.
- 🧠 True intelligence is not just about having information, but also understanding, insight, and adaptability, enabling better predictions and decisions for the future.
- 👨💼 Human wisdom, gained from experience, remains essential in guiding businesses' strategic decisions, complementing the automated insights of intelligent systems.
- 🚀 Companies are transitioning from being 'data-driven' to 'analytics-driven' and ultimately toward becoming 'intelligent businesses' by applying advanced analytics and automation.
- ⚙️ Modern tools like in-memory computing and self-service analytics allow businesses to quickly set up data infrastructures, enabling rapid deployment and analysis.
- 📈 New developers should have knowledge of data analytics, as it is becoming a core competency for future-proof businesses.
- 🛠 Agile data storage and analysis solutions, like data discovery tools, provide flexibility for handling different business needs and allow for quick experimentation.
- 👥 Governance in data systems is shifting from gatekeeping to fostering collaboration, ensuring data is accessible to the right people while maintaining security and control.
Q & A
What was the speaker's previous role before becoming an independent analyst and consultant?
-The speaker was the Vice President of Innovation at a company until last week.
What significant impact did the speaker believe they made during their six years at Click?
-The speaker believes they made a tremendous difference in the world of business intelligence and analytics.
What does the speaker see as the future of business intelligence?
-The speaker sees the future of business intelligence as moving towards 'intelligent business', where businesses themselves become intelligent entities with built-in intelligent processes.
What is the main difference between traditional business intelligence and the speaker's vision of 'intelligent business'?
-Traditional business intelligence focuses on supporting human decision-making, while 'intelligent business' envisions businesses making decisions autonomously through intelligent processes.
According to the speaker, what are the key components of an intelligent process?
-The key components of an intelligent process, according to the speaker, are insight, foresight, adaptability, and wisdom.
Why is wisdom considered a crucial component in the speaker's definition of intelligence?
-Wisdom is considered crucial because it involves learned experiences, including from mistakes, which is a uniquely human element that cannot be replicated by machines.
What does the speaker suggest every company is today, regardless of its industry?
-The speaker suggests that every company today is a data company because data is generated in every aspect of business operations.
What is the role of human beings in an intelligent business according to the speaker?
-In an intelligent business, human beings provide wisdom and oversee the strategy and direction, while the business itself takes on insight, foresight, and adaptability through data and analytics.
What is the speaker's view on the current state of data infrastructure and its transformation?
-The speaker views the current data infrastructure as having transformed significantly with advancements in in-memory computing, fast networks, and agile storage solutions, making it more accessible and efficient for business users.
Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of governance in the context of self-service analytics?
-The speaker emphasizes the importance of governance to ensure that while data is made accessible and user-friendly, there is still control and oversight to maintain data integrity and security.
What is the speaker's advice for companies looking to transform into intelligent businesses?
-The speaker advises companies to focus on strategies, people, and tools, and to embrace data and analytics to transform from data companies to analytics companies and eventually to intelligent businesses.
Outlines
🚀 Transition from VP of Innovation to Independent Consultant
The speaker reflects on their recent career transition from Vice President of Innovation at Click to becoming an independent consultant focused on business strategy. They express gratitude for their six years at Click, highlighting the success and influence the company had in the business intelligence field. The speaker introduces the concept of the future of business intelligence (BI), explaining that while BI has evolved from decision support to modern analytics, it remains rooted in helping businesses make better decisions. They believe the next step is for businesses themselves to become intelligent entities, with processes and systems that operate autonomously.
🧠 Defining Intelligence in Business
The speaker discusses their definition of intelligence in the context of business. They highlight that true intelligence goes beyond just knowledge or information; it requires understanding and insight. Intelligence allows individuals and businesses to predict the future and make better decisions based on this understanding. Adaptability is also crucial, as intelligence must be able to adjust to changing circumstances. Finally, wisdom, often derived from experience, plays a key role in guiding intelligent decisions, particularly in complex business scenarios. The speaker emphasizes that while AI can handle data and processes, human wisdom remains essential for higher-level decision-making.
📊 The Data-Driven Company: Becoming Analytics and Intelligence-Enabled
The speaker explores the idea that every company today is a data company, generating valuable data through processes, customers, suppliers, and even competitors. The next step for businesses is to become analytics companies, which involves analyzing this data to gain insights and foresight. The ultimate goal is for businesses to evolve into intelligent companies, capable of applying advanced analytics and adaptive processes. This transition can be achieved by focusing on people, tools, and data, empowering businesses to make better, faster decisions and gain a competitive advantage.
⚙️ Tools and Technologies for the Future of Analytics
The speaker describes the rapid advancements in technology that enable businesses to become more data-driven. They recount their own experience setting up multiple analytic tools in just a few hours, highlighting how far technology has come compared to past complex and lengthy processes. Tools like Click allow for quick and easy deployment of data analysis systems, making it accessible for business users. The speaker also explains how modern data infrastructures, such as in-memory computing and cloud storage, have transformed data handling, making it easier for businesses to access and analyze large volumes of data without relying heavily on IT departments.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Business Intelligence
💡Intelligent Business
💡Adaptability
💡Insight
💡Foresight
💡Wisdom
💡Data Company
💡Analytics
💡Self-Service Systems
💡Governance
Highlights
Transition from Vice President of Innovation to independent analyst and consultant, advising companies on business strategy.
Reflection on six successful years at Click, making a significant difference in business intelligence and analytics.
Introduction of the concept of 'intelligent business,' where businesses will become intelligent entities with automated processes.
Shift from traditional decision support systems to business intelligence.
Transcripts
so I'm I was introduced as the vice
president of innovation decided quick
but in fact I was until last week and
now I have a doodle and I moved in as an
independent analyst and consultant and
advising companies with business behind
strategy and I had six fantastic years
of click where I think we've made a
tremendous difference in the world of
business intelligence and analytics and
it's very appropriate for me but my
first presentation as a if it ended
should actually be to an audience in
India where I have had so much time and
so much success is so much appreciation
all the work that's done here so today I
want to talk about the future of
business intelligence of what that what
that actually means it's quite a big
subject as you can imagine but I think
you can sum up the future of fitness the
challenge is very simple this think a
little bit about the past past of his
intelligence was that we used to call it
decision support many years ago we
thought that position support long
before we call it business intelligence
we talked about decision support systems
and then we added data warehouses and
the marketing people started to talk
about business intelligence and then
they started talking about discovery and
business discovery but you know what we
still do decision support the paths of
business intelligence is still about
supporting business users to make better
decisions even though we talk about all
the new technologies big data and so on
when you apply business intelligence to
that you're essentially so
people taking decisions but I think we
can go beyond that I think the future of
business intelligence can be summed up
very simply as intelligent business
we're going to move businesses from the
organizations which are human beings
made all the decisions and drove the
business in a very structured way to
businesses which are themselves
intelligence which had intelligent
processes built into the business and
work human beings have instead the
insight to the oversight of the strategy
and direction to tactics of the business
but the business is selling they
actually become almost like an
intelligent entity of its own with their
own rules and its own functions and it's
all instructors and we can already see
this in many of the fancy services
business that many intelligent
manufacture and increasingly in online
businesses of all sorts do marketing and
crisis a group of offers in an
intelligent way so I'm very excited by
the future of business intelligence as
we move into this new model of business
now what we actually mean by intelligent
business what a bunch of intelligence I
think it's important to break this down
and of course there's many definitions
of intelligence I have my own son a
little pattern that I use to describe an
intelligent process and it simply this
intelligence involves in something if
you don't understand something they do
not really good intelligence you can
have a lot of knowledge a lot of
information then you're not really
intelligent but I was a kid very small I
used to
I love like a lot of children I like
dinosaurs and I knew the names of all
these dinosaurs I could I was six years
old I can tell you what the throat the
source was whatever attacked Bella Terra
Heineken or whatever a bankable star
restore and tyrannosaurs and I have
spent all these words truth was I didn't
the way that they kept her dinosaurs
I just do the names of all these things
I do inside perspective of course I was
kind of probably a pretty smart kid but
that's not really tells don't say so
it's elegance for me is don't just facts
and information it's understanding and
insight from that other an understanding
an insight we then get for something the
ability to predict what's going to have
to understand what the future Michael
and therefore to make better decisions
for the future and if you can understand
what we are today what's happened in
subtle and if you can understand what
may happen in the future for stuff and
you need a third quality to be
intelligent
and that third quality is adaptability
you have to be able to adjust you might
see the car racing towards you but if
you don't get under the weight you have
to be able to acquire there's a fourth
part which in some ways I don't think
office Bachmann challenges I actually
take you with offices be something else
but it's wisdom human wisdom the wisdom
that we learned from our parents
learn from our colleagues and visitor
that we learned before experienced
mentors that wisdom is not just in sight
before psychic ability it comes from
having to see that many times comes from
having learned from it comes from having
learned from many of bitter mistakes and
you can build that into a business Solis
that's a human element and so for me the
intelligent business has insight and
foresight and adaptability today but we
still need human beings of those roles
because it's only human beings I can
bring wisdom and if you think of the
language we structure data in our
businesses this is foreplay we can use
data to make decisions if you go to the
bank that amazing I suppose there's a
very good chance that that just it's run
to an algorithm and it's infinite of the
sites but you can double girls because
that's an easy decision to automate you
can plug in some rules and you get an
answer but the bank has tactical teams
which are sent from headquarters and
management's about targets that they
need to reach and incentives that we do
and that may be done by human beings but
increasingly even those systems can be
automated incentives can be managed in
an automated way or in adaptively
senior directors of the bank the people
who decide what new markets we're going
to enter all your products are we going
to create hope you services to do that
doesn't just come from information that
has come from data
it comes from wisdom
insight and also comes a human risk T
the ability to make really big tough
decisions so an intelligent business
doesn't replace newbies but he uses
human beings in a new way it uses human
beings for the qualities of wisdom but
the business itself can take on the
insight foresight maneuverability
through the verification of data and
analysis and that's very important for
us because I would tell you that every
company today is a data company don't
care what you do don't care what your
business is every one of your customers
isn't either come we all have David even
as individuals we have people I walk
around with my iPhone in my pocket and
is constantly generating data even if
it's just a number of steps that taketh
away every business to take generates
data we have data about our processes we
have data stuff data about our suppliers
we have data about customers we have
data Alabama competitors their social
media there's market information whether
information is a company and they don't
think of themselves as a theater company
then they're losing a competitive
advantage because it's companies to know
the inoculator
I know limiting advantage
better go to see some every company no
matter what you do is the data company
any in a company and therefore become an
analytics car because what's an
analytics company it's just a company
that buys insight and foresight
intelligence and that mobility to the
data they're going if you've got data
they analyze it and providing the
analytic tools that will help you to
make make better decisions now you
become an analytics every company every
one of your customers can move from
being a data company being an analytics
and then take it further if you're an
analytics company and you start to apply
advanced intelligence you start to apply
advanced analytics to this problem
started bottling now you've become
intelligent now you're building in the
rules and adaptability to do that so
this is not some pipe dream about what
happens in the future you can do
everybody easily from being a data
company being an analytic company to be
an intelligent and it requires some very
simple steps that require some very
simple tools and materials that we can
get there simply by applying I think
three things that are very important by
focusing on key strategies people and
tools and data these are the three
elements that are necessary to any
intelligent
the first problem of people is actually
solving itself because almost every new
computer science student comes out of
the college anywhere in the world is now
not only studying elements of ITV and
elements of administration and
management of programming most everyone
is coming out with some understanding of
these data and analytics and you know
advanced analytics and global in its
abilities a few years ago the number one
concern of IT managers was security
David a number-one concern of IT
managers is high commission data
parameters and so this feeds back into
universities and back into colleges they
need to supply people with those tools
so although today people with analytic
skills may be expensive and special
people in the workforce very quickly
very quickly in the next few years this
will become a beast level of experience
the customers at our company tonight
advise I have a very simple rule that I
tell the mind which is do not employ any
new developer who does not have some
data mining some predictive analytics
some big data or some analytic knowledge
if you don't have my other dates don't
have them as a developer there's plenty
older developers at your company who've
already go advanced development skills
what you need is that new level is good
just in the same way as a few years ago
you wouldn't employed somebody who
didn't have the ability to work at a
vigilant market didn't have the ability
to work in robot 11 days you would want
the developers and good experience at
work get mobile devices in a future do a
private developer because
experience of it is because analytics is
the next goldmine that will transform
our businesses so the new workforce is
coming and over the years that done more
and more agile so nowadays we have these
self-service systems lightly highly
adaptable easy to deploy easy to learn
business users can spin up their own
systems especially uncluttered with
almost no barrier to entry it just get
started I've said that last week and
just doesn't experiment I decided on my
first date I've denied your home in your
business what was I going to do in the
first day accepted and I set up five
virtual servers with five different
analytic tools somewhere just to see
what the experience was like and I was
done by lunchtime
by lunchtime I hate who stole the final
in existence and was running the boat
out as a clothes rack space now when I
worked at Microsoft at the data mining
team if I wanted a new server I had to
sign the requisition and get my manager
to approve it and then it would be two
weeks until the balsa right and it was
expensive process and I need to install
the software during all those clicks to
install the software routine you know a
long time into you all day need to
install one server never take you two
weeks to Lourdes or a server my first
day of business I said on five server
before lunchtime
that's been the tools that we have and
the analytic tools that are there -
they're also changing when we sell
service you can get up and running with
a tool and click before lunch
it's a tremendously high performance -
and those are the tools that we're done
used to there are the tools of your
business users demand that's the tools
that they are expecting to use because
we made a lot of college no matter the
IT still but I learned the business
there are many you see using those tools
the next thing we need is data and the
data infrastructure has gone through a
similar transformation data used to be
the domain of IT because all the IT
under student gets so much data together
into one place i tangled up or the cops
handle the storage how to handle the
query and how to structure it in order
to get the best performance out of it
but nowadays with in-memory computing
remedies the fast networks nowadays with
agile solid-state storage or hybrid
cloud storage you can throw almost any
amount of data you can query that made a
really quick movement and the visual
content to make it very very efficient
for businesses to this one this is no
longer the domain of the IT department
is business users can do this on their
own and what that means is that we
transform the way in which we think
about business data storage the data
warehouses - the same you still need the
data warehouse for your central system
of record for your financial data for
your HR diva for maybe your course sales
systems that need to record very large
amounts of data and very importantly
need to believe it over a long period of
time in a warehouse is there at all just
to store a large amount of data but to
store an archive of data over many years
that you can go back and examine your
sales over a 10-year period local bank
but the taxman comes up as a question go
back and examine the system twelve years
ago and tell them exactly what the
status of the system
whereas deserve of history there above
structure and there about having that
that rigid system system that doesn't
change over many years precisely because
it's being designed to represent the
core function of the business but at the
front end for business users are facing
challenges that change every game they
need something for death and the
discovery of the model and time extender
we'll be talking about today it's
actually a very effective way of
presenting data in a very diverse form
to business users if you work with a
tool like click at the front vent then
you have a beta layer where you can make
some very smart decisions already using
data lots of data in there you can
analyze it's almost like a cache but the
front end the clear system but when you
have to start taking larger data
warehouse extracts but you have to start
reading data in from many different
sources and when you have to start
serving more than just one to other
words your business users aren't just
using click they're also using Excel
using perhaps they'll specialize to
between graph analysis or for doing
prediction and saying the insurance
market some specialized the garment that
you've got they need a data store which
could serve all of those users
you still need to start your core
business intelligence functions but you
may need to start other functions to
that that's where the public becomes
available and it's not the data
warehouse that solves those problems
because neither warehouse is designed to
solve the problems how do I store highly
structured data over a long period of
time in order to give business
continuity over my core systems but
they're not providing they hide my
spittin up quick data analytic to run
this quarters campaign I want to run
something for the winter campaign I want
to say it outside
suitable customer analysis I want to
track the performance of that campaign
by the way to that and then throw that
system away when the winter camping is
over that's what a technology like the
discovery opportunity
so people tools and data are the core of
that system but the first thing that we
mustn't forget is governance but ever I
talked to IT about a self-service
question I always get back is only yes
but we can't manage that it escapes if
you get a business usually language
that's again queer tools likely with
governance systems built it and an
infrastructure like the discovery hub
where data can be centralized but still
imagine it gives you control of
governments governance is not about
governance used to be about stopping
that that's happened I used to say that
the change in governance in nineteen
world is from being aged keepers to show
huge engage peepers job is to keep bad
people up and so government's was
entirely represented as a way of
building a wall around their data to
prevent people getting in so that they
needed to get out but if you think about
that if you completely talk about it I
give you I give you access to my data I
control the data and I let you live
model tweets everybody in your business
as a bankers there are systems
but the information that we need for
analytics the information that we need
to make better decisions we should be
acting instead of gatekeepers Ashok
users say come and look at our game it's
great to become a truck and even learn
things from here the job of the shop
keeper isn't the stop by people getting
in is to make sure the right people good
they welcome the people in because they
make the data available to in a way that
people want to use them and that's when
you turn a business would be just a data
business into an analytic business when
there's a dynamic that says we want you
to do this
so that's a very brief but I think a lot
of material in a sense for you to think
about but the future of business
intelligence for me let's just put it as
simply as this the future of business
intelligence is intelligent business how
about your buddy here by today I think
is a really important step towards
taking not just use every single one of
your partners and customers and all the
organizational members that turn towards
intelligent business and I hope you
enjoy the rest of the day
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