Posted by Mike Rollings
Today I am working on my presentations for Burton Group's Catalyst conference "Forging Ahead: Navigating the New Normal" in Prague April 19-22. Joe Bugajski and I will be doing the keynote for the business intelligence (BI) track -- What Can IT Do to Deliver Business Insight – Not Just Intelligence?
BI is 25 years old, yet its promise of important insight eludes most organisations. CEOs list BI as a top initiative and simultaneously lament poor results from large BI investments. One reason for this incongruence is the detrimental effects of the automation mindset and the pursuit of efficiency. BI is aimed at the wrong thing.
For the last 239 years organizations have been applying automation as their primary tool of choice to improve production and efficiency. An automation mindset erupted with the dawn of the steam engine in 1771 and was honed to razor sharpness by the management revolution started by Frederick Winslow Taylor. This mindset has shaped how many have applied BI. For most organizations, BI is nothing more than a glorified reporting tool to examine efficiency. They use BI to look in the rear-view mirror and learn about the past, but most are unable to predict upcoming events or learn lessons that will help them make decisions to navigate uncertainty.
The need for insight is not the tail (of technology) wagging the dog (business). Management innovation is reshaping organizations perspectives about the devotion to efficiency where the goal is to reduce human involvement. Profitable innovators are not driven solely by efficiency; they look for ways to magnify human involvement. They realize that the reshaping of organizations and management called for by the new normal thrives on how well they can foster the development of insight by humans.
Joe and I believe that BI must trend toward a new definition – Business Insight. Insight represents the opposite goal of automation, and it should reshape the primary purpose of most information technology organizations. We hope you can attend Catalyst to discuss this significant shift in thinking.
If you would like information about presenting at our Catalyst conference or to submit a proposal see our presenters page.
To get a discounted price of €995 use the promo code “INSIDER” during registration.
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