Six Sigma as a Strategic Tool
As mentioned in the earlier articles, Six Sigma helps the organization develop at various levels viz. operational, tactical and strategic. While the operational and tactical goals of cost reduction and increased customer satisfaction are well understood and appreciated, the strategic intent behind Six Sigma is not well recognized. It is the pivotal factor, however in […]
How Algorithms Rule our Lives and What Businesses, Consumers, and Citizens can Do
How Algorithms Rule Our Lives and Whether That is Necessarily a Good Thing We live in the Age of the Machine and the Era of the Algorithm. Right from our news feeds on which we depend on to know what’s happening in the world around us that are curated by Algorithms, to the Social Media […]
The Quantitative Approach for e-Strategy – Seven Dimensions of e-Commerce
Introduction The way business or commerce gets conducted has undergone a great deal of change due to the advent of information and communication revolution. In the last two decades or so there has been a phenomenal growth in e-commerce. Electronic commerce or e-commerce consists of buying selling and auction of various products and services through […]
Looking beyond BRICS for the Next Economic Hotspots
Looking Beyond BRICS: The MINT Grouping The BRICS or the acronym given to the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in so far as promising economic growth is concerned, has now reached a stage where global investors are on the lookout for the next emerging economic hotspots. Indeed, for much of the […]
A Brief on Customs Brokerage
International trade is regulated through tariffs and trade laws established by the Country’s Federal Governments to control the imports and exports of the country. The Government invests executive powers to the Customs Departments, headed by Custom’s Commissioners to administer the policies and tariffs on all imports and exports into and out of the country. Customs […]
Business Intelligence which refers to the slicing and dicing of data to mine it for clues on everything from consumer behaviour to the business strategies of rivals and competitors has come a long way since the earliest days when it was used for market intelligence to the times Data Warehousing and Data Mining were used as aids and props for marketing strategies to the present times when it has far exceeded its initial capabilities to become truly predictive and indicative of market trends and that too in a real time manner.
Indeed, it can be said that while Business Intelligence was always used for predictive purposes, its transformation from a relatively minor function or process in firms to a more strong and predictive indicator of the future means that the arrival and emergence of Big Data have indeed transformed the practice and purpose of Business Intelligence.
For instance, in the 1990s, Business Intelligence was mostly used in conjunction with Data warehousing and Data mining where two and Three-Dimensional views of Databases was done to enable the firms to understand consumer behaviour and clues to future market trends.
In this context, it would be useful to consider how Business Intelligence was used in a typical bank as far as data pertaining to credit card transactions was concerned. Typically, firms used to slice and dice purchasing patterns and payment data to understand how consumers behaved in terms of different products.
Apart from this, by analyzing payment patterns, banks were able to determine which customer and which credit card user was likely to pay on time and which consumer would default or have to be placed on a credit watch. Indeed, this was the most common form of analysis that was done using customer data through Business Intelligence enabled by Data Warehousing and Data Mining.
Fast forward to the present when Business Intelligence is now a predictive and real-time enabler of consumer behaviour and market trends wherein it is now being used to look ahead in Crystal Ball fashion leading to Banks and other Retailers as well as firms acquiring God Like Capabilities in predicting the future.
Indeed, this transformation or revolution in the way in which Business Intelligence works has been achieved mainly through the use of Big Data Techniques that enable firms and other users to not only understand how consumers behave but also to predict how they would act in the future.
Consider, for instance, the example of Amazon which uses Big Data and Business Intelligence extensively. This eCommerce giant mines consumer purchasing data and browsing data to build a database of information that can be used to predict what they are likely to purchase next and thus, provide them with the recommendations and suggestions for products and brands.
Not only this, Business Intelligence enabled by Big Data also allows Amazon and other retailers to build Real Time Maps of consumer behaviour wherein they can offer brands and products across categories instead of linear suggestions restricted to particular categories.
This means that firms that use BI techniques no longer have to be content with Data Analytics that is linear or two or three dimensional and instead have Five Dimensional Capabilities that can predict and extrapolate as well as build an All Seeing Database that is truly revolutionary and transformative in nature.
Indeed, if not anything, BI is no longer restricted to a particular function or a subset or even a superset of data and instead, it is cross-functional and all encompassing as well as holistic and comprehensive.
Consider for instance how the CDC or the Centre for Disease Control in the United States which is a Federal Agency tasked with preventing outbreaks of diseases uses BI in conjunction with Big Data.
The CDC has now the capabilities to build a real-time map of diseases and their occurrences along geographical, demographic, racial, and class lines that allows it to predict future outbreaks of disease across these parameters. This means that the CDC is no longer reactive meaning that it steps in after the eruption of a disease and instead, is predictive meaning that it has moved from its initial capabilities to a point where it uses real-time data and information to map the outbreaks of diseases.
The reason why BI has undergone such transformative capabilities is that in the present Information Age where Data is the New Currency of Power, marketers and any firm for that matter are now collecting data about virtually anything and everything and which in jargon terms means Big Data.
Thus, using these Big Data techniques in conjunction with Advanced Artificial Intelligence capabilities has resulted in firms having the capabilities to use BI for accurately measuring the present as well as predicting the future in addition to using the past to understand both.
While there might be some who complain about the takeover of machines or point to ethical concerns of having these capabilities, one cannot say that BI with Big Data can be used for creating a better society as the example of the CDC reveals. Indeed, while ethical concerns over any business strategy or innovation have always been the case, the point remains that responsible use of BI with Big Data can indeed transform and revolutionize the way we work and live.
To conclude, the emergence of Big Data Techniques has indeed revolutionized the way in which BI is used and hence, one must welcome the same.
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Communication Systems and Groupware – Information System Concepts that Apply in All Functional Areas of Business
February 12, 2025
