Newswise — With tight budgets and economic uncertainty, departments in corporations nationwide are becoming more accountable for measurement. Human resource departments are being asked to measure workforce productivity; finance departments are expected to find ways to lower costs while increasing productivity; marketing and sales departments must project a detailed picture of customer preferences and accurate sales forecasts; facilities departments are held responsible for security and fraud analysis and reviewing analytics techniques to identify suspicious patterns.
To meet these measurement expectations, successful businesses employ software and personnel with the acumen to translate the information in a way that speaks to the organization's strategic goals. The business that aren't obtaining this kind of business intelligence, according to an expert at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, are operating below the curve.
"Obtaining business intelligence is critical for a business in this economy," says Richard Herschel, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of business intelligence at Saint Joseph's. "Firms need to realize that the data collection and analysis activities inherent in business intelligence can be used to counter bad economic news by employing analytics to monitor and assess critical performance indicators." That is, smart companies employ business intelligence to gain a better understanding of their operations, so that they can identify opportunities to gain more market share or cut costs during a recession.
"Just as the U.S. military uses intelligence to make tactical decisions, so should your business," espouses Hershel.
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