We all know how fast the world is changing, and that it will continue to evolve at this lightning-fast speed. So,to say we live in a risky, turbulent and sometimes dangerous world is an understatement. But as Peter Schwartz, in the book inevitable surprises, suggests:
“Three things must be kept in mind in any turbulent environment: first: expect more surprises; second: be ready to deal with them; third: anticipate many of them.”
He goes on to outline various predictions for the future of the world, refusing to correlate the surprises with the unpredictability of the future.
When you think about this, well what holds true for the world, also holds true for the enterprise or business organization. After all, the corporate environment is merely the packaging or architecture for the human effort; microcosms for the larger macro-environment we call life. This means business organizations, just as people will face surprises. However with the right technology, education and planning, we can anticipate many of these, and even deal with them before they happen. Or, at least, that’s what modern day enterprises should be able to do.
Enterprise analytics is an inevitable surprise
For those of us that are reporting consultants, and close to the analytics world, the solution to these surprises is easy. It lies in the skills of educated reporting consultants who can scale data into concise reports, which management teams can use to create winning strategies.
Business Architecture: Analytical Reporting Services Is Inevitable
Imagine if you will, that a large corporate environment is a giant value generating machine with many moving parts. As surprises appear in any given moment, this machine will need to transform itself immediately, embracing new trends, capabilities and addressing new challenges –- a situation it is currently unable to do through the use of mere human experience decisions. Today, large enterprises are this complex and diversified machine with many different simultaneous processes, operations, technology, people and information. This represents a challenge to business decision-making skills, especially those that have no data foundation. Consequently, it can be difficult to grasp the full future implications of current decisions. Worse these decisions are often based on a particular existence or form of the enterprise – – but, if as we mention, the enterprise can take on different forms and shapes in the future then these actions or decisions may be based on unrealistic situations. On the other hand, decisions that are data driven can progress along with the changes of the enterprise.
Analytics Needs A Structured Architecture
Unfortunately, when innovation appears, the old ways don’t often make way for the new. In some cases the old embraces the new, and the innovation extends the knowledge to the old. So it is within an organization. Most leaders realize that enterprise analytics, reporting consultants and custom configured database reporting is a relatively new member of the corporate world. They realize that there is significant business value to be had through the adoption of custom reporting and the integration of analytical decision-making. However, it’s also important to realize that the corporate environment is an old, rigid and complex environment, and the induction of data driven decision making systems must be a step-by-step process, one where , reporting consultants slowly facilitate the adoption into the hearts and souls of leading decision-making members. Once integrated into the enterprise architecture the data-driven decision making system will make itself indispensable to the entire enterprise.