Organisations need to embrace the digital revolution in order to remain relevant and get the opportunities that come with digital transformation. An effective Business Intelligence systems help place the organisation’s processes in perspective while enhancing efficiency within the organisation.
“Business Intelligence plays a very strategic role in the digital era, one that should be explored far more for the future success of any organisation,” says Yolanda Smit, Strategic Business Intelligence Manager at PBT Group.
PBT group has been in BI for over 19 years, the organisation has seen the evolution of the trend and its perceptions and realities. Smit says industry trends about Big Data, Data Science and analytics creates the perception that BI is old and it is dead. Whereas the reality is that the new terms are actually new versions of BI.
“Businesses who are not considering the new label for BI are losing out on the ability to remain competitive. The sole purpose of having information and having to make sense of that information is to give users the availability to understand client needs and demands and what competitors are doing, also clients can understand how well they are doing and know the available opportunities to conduct business,” Smit explains.
Smit believes that for companies to avoid losing ground when it comes to competitors, they should invest in data management and BI solutions.
She says, “Companies who run their businesses based on gut feel and say they have been doing so for years are going to start closing their doors because innovative companies are taking over because of the unique insight that they gain from information and data.”
“Companies that survived the economic crisis in 2008 were companies that were already very strong in analysing their information and using that as part their strategy to remain competitive. The companies that survived invested more in analytics,” Smit explains
Looking at the immediate future of South Africa, and the implications of the junk status on huge corporates, Smit says if big corporates do not start to look at their data and start getting insight to engage with customers they might not survive the junk status.
Fundisiwe Maseko
