Abstract

The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence presents an A-to-Z approach for getting the most business intelligence (BI) from a company's data assets or data warehouse.

BI is not just a technology or methodology, it is a powerful new management approach that – when done right – can deliver knowledge, efficiency, better decisions, and profit to almost any organization that uses it. When BI first came on the scene, it promised a lot but often failed to deliver.

The missing element was the business-centric focus explained in this book. It shows how you can achieve the promise of BI by connecting it to your organization’s strategic goals, culture, and strengths while correcting your BI weaknesses. It provides a practical, process-oriented guide to achieve the full promise of BI; shows how world-class companies used BI to become leaders in their industries; helps senior business and IT executives understand the strategic impact of BI and how they can ensure a strong payoff from their BI investments; and identifies the most common mistakes organizations make in implementing BI.

The book also includes a helpful glossary of BI terms; a BI readiness assessment for your organization; and Web links and extensive references for more information.

• A practical, process-oriented book that will help organizations realize the promise of BI
• Written by Nancy and Steve Williams, veteran consultants and instructors with hands-on, "in the trenches" experience in government and corporate business intelligence applications
• Will help senior business and IT executives understand the strategic impact of BI and how they can help ensure a strong payoff on BI investments

'The ideas in The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence were central to our deployment of business intelligence applications that allowed us to manage revenue delivery and reduce costs.
--Kevin McCaughey, Vice President – Strategic Planning, McCormick & Company Global Industrial Group
One performance management approach we are taking is to leverage business intelligence to better serve our customers and to optimize our cost structure in relation to the services our customers value most. We have used the strategies described in The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence to align our BI program with our critical success factors and to drive our BI development efforts.
--Terry Lillis, Chief Financial Officer – Retirement and Investor Services, The Principal Financial Group
This is a "must read" book for anyone who wants to achieve real business intelligence. It advances the discipline of BI by focusing on business value built upon a strong foundation of technology best practices.
--David L. Wells, Director of Education, TDWI: The Data Warehousing Institute
Nancy and Steve Williams understand the “business” in business intelligence. This book is a must for business leaders who require that their BI programs drive real business value.
--Barbara Wixom, PhD, Associate Professor, Director MS-MIT, University of Virginia - McIntire School of Commerce'