Developing strong business intelligence

To increase your awareness of the changing business environment, needs and demands of clients, you have to develop strong business intelligence, IFE ADEDAPO writes

One of the realities that businesspeople must understand and embrace is that change is constant and they must adapt to it. In business today, employees and entrepreneurs should expect a continuous and series of changes rather than discrete and controlled events.

As technology advancement occurs day-by-day, consumers’ demand in response to these changes are also altered. The preferences, quality and standard of goods and services expected vary. As such, an organisation must have a clear understanding of this and improve on services it renders.

A business owner, who is observant and conscious enough, will notice the effect of consumer change in taste in the market place. Globalisation and increased competition have altered the business landscape for many organisations.

According to a business management expert, Sarah Cook, business intelligence is the good judgment that leaders need to understand the rapidly changing environment where they operate. It is the intelligence needed to make decisions that will shape the future direction of the organisation.

Moreover, Cook says leaders with BI anticipate changing customer demands; translate this knowledge into services, offers and operational processes that deliver successfully to the customer. Such leaders are proactive in managing customer expectations and they ensure that their businesses are customer-friendly.

Business intelligence opens up new ways of doing business because organisations are now structuring themselves along new lines. In response to increased competition, many businesses have developed strategic alliances and partnerships to gain a competitive advantage.

A learning design and management consultant, Mr. Femi Luther-Abegunde, says business intelligence is the top priority of most chief executive officers and business owners because it has a direct working impact on the business performance. It is an important quality that tells the true ability to accomplish the mission of a business because there is a strong possibility that the mission of the business will not be achieved without it.

To promote and gain acceptance for change, Abegunde says BI can be utilised to make appropriate decisions in businesses. You do not make a decision at a time you are not meant to make it; it is an error. You need business intelligence to move your enterprise forward, he says.

Experts have highlighted various means of developing strong business intelligence. Some of them are stated below:

Determine the information needed

Before you diversify into other businesses, experts say you should first ask yourself questions on the type of information you will need to understand the business idea you have adequately.

Be sure you have a good idea about the answers to each of the questions before you begin your research. Carry out background investigation from stakeholders who are professionals in your area of interest. Information gathered can be used in making proactive decisions and taking actions before someone else comes and takes that market from you.

The more up-to-date, accurate and complete the information is, the more valuable it will be.

According to Abegunde, BI is a critical thinking process that should not be carried out spontaneously but strategically by getting information from the appropriate sources.

Organise your information

Increasingly, there are pieces of information on market research that companies within a particular industry can have access to through payment plans on websites.

Other data can be obtained externally from government policies, market situation, the plans of competitors, from customers’ taste and other stakeholders, or internally from production performance, sales performance, standard operating procedures and manufacturing systems.

Abegunde explains that in a situation where the business owner is into the making and selling of shirts, the information he/she needs should start from the current fashion trends in shirts; the types of raw materials required to make the shirts; then determine the target customers and how much they can afford to pay for the shirts.

Arrange information for analysis and reporting

Information can then be analysed by using software or manual methods. Databases and spreadsheets make it very easy to analyse information. For example, information about the market such as market growth and market share can be entered using a spreadsheet package. This information can then be presented in line graphs, histograms, bar charts, pie charts, so that it is easy to quickly make sense of.

Experts explain information processing as the collection, storage, manipulation, distribution and presentation of data, usually by electronic means. Computers are used widely in business for information processing.

Utilise the information in decision making

Abegunde says a business owner should be aware that any decision reached must align with the initial research objectives and business goals in general.

Review all the data analysed and ensure that there is no missing information.

Examine the major trends or problems within your industry; analyse any strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In the end, use your research to make decisions concerning your ideas for expansion. Organise the data or information obtained into action plans or strategies.

Using his own personal example of how he started his business, Abegunde says he knew his business would impact peoples’ lives and he was also aware that others might not be interested in it. Therefore, the first set of people he targeted for training were 100 youth corpers who became evangelists of what he was doing and gradually his network expanded.

“Therefore, try to understand your market; know where the demand is and make your supply,” he says.

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