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Thought of the week: Are you Running a Department of Redundancy Department?

"Doing the Same Thing Will Only Bring the Same Result"

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and

expecting different results. In Business Intelligence, it could be defined as doing the same thing over and over to get the same results. How many departmental systems do you have running to produce reports that provide essentially the same information? Procurement releases the monthly purchasing report that describes purchasing activities for each department, while each department releases purchasing reports that describes their purchasing activity. Two different executives take these reports, which are usually not correlated to each other and may contain different types or amounts of information, and use them to produce divisional reports, which are then forwarded up the chain, at which point someone says, "What are these discrepancies?"

If Business Intelligence is about being more intelligent about the way you do business, then the first step is asking yourself and your company what do I need to know and why? Many companies fail to do the critical analysis upfront that would allow them to identify redundancies, discrepancies and lost opportunities in their reporting processes. Instead, they simply lay a business intelligence architecture over existing data and reports, and then complain that this new system hasn't provided any new insights or better data.

These types of implementations, often undertaken in response to the recognition that current data collection and reporting processes are inaccurate or incomplete, result only in a significant additional cost of ownership in terms of the infrastructure and support staff required. They overlook best practice opportunities, rather than focusing on strategic initiatives that could drive competitive advantage and saving money in the long run.

Business intelligence implementations must add value to an organization by way of providing new or better information. If a thorough analysis can also identify and reduce the fixed costs associated with supporting different and disparate applications, so much the better, both for the business units and the IT department.

Consider, hiring a CWG consultant to streamline your current ERP system and make the most of your current system. Consultants are no longer a curse word in this economy, but have now become a savy business choice. Contact CWG and find out about how we can pull your company out of the valley of redundancy.

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