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The Pilgrim's Process
Every business runs on observable processes, which examined closely often reveal engrained inefficiencies that have been around as long as the business itself. Several factors can predict why some organizations are expert at measuring and optimizing business processes while others are simply terrible at it. It very often boils down to the serendipitous presence of an empowered individual with operational curiosity and a mandate to improve performance. Wearing multiple hats is a trademark of process managers who in our case also understand the value of data in context. When KPIs are applied within processes, real business benefits can result. In our cover story, Jonathan Rothman of Emergency Medical Associates demonstrates the real value of business intelligence applied to processes in the dynamic setting of hospital emergency rooms. It's an object lesson that can be applied to any business interested in improving performance.Unlike a hospital, Yahoo is a very big business and one that never personally meets customers, making data the virtual sixth sense of the organization. Usama Fayyad, Yahoo's chief data officer, offers some very plain talk about the value of the monolithic data warehouse model seen through the eyes of a scientist turned businessman.
Whether a business is interested in compliance or improving performance, reporting plays a central role. Shaku Atre has a list of facts and fictions enterprises should be aware of when setting policy or planning investments. For those looking for an edge, Melanie Wing of Chase Card Services provides a succinct list outlining the role and duties of the competitive intelligence professional in the organization.
Some business lessons still come the hard way as many have discovered during a BI rollout. Howard Goldberg of Merrill Lynch has been involved in many such projects and has some lessons learned for readers that might help business and IT avoid one of those 'gotcha' moments while sharing responsibility for BI initiatives. In our Working with IT section, consultant Waleed Khan digs into this a little deeper into this idea with his column about the Project Management Office, which can help put an end to frustrated business leaders who bypass IT to service their own BI needs.
Stepping back to strategy, Howard Spielman takes a look at strategic leadership and decision-making with his own time-tested model based on data and relationships, and Neil Raden has a somewhat cerebral take on performance management and measurement, wondering about its overall value and whether we should be trying to apply values to some things that are social and subjective by their nature.
We hope you enjoy these articles and more in this issue of BI Review. As always, please send your suggestions to me at james.ericson@sourcemedia.com.
Jim Ericson is editorial director of DM Review, a SourceMedia publication. You can reach him at Jim.Ericson@sourcemedia.com.
