Business intelligence systems fail companies

Business intelligence systems are failing to improve decision making or operations at businesses in the US and UK, a study by Dynamic Markets has said.

Based on 218 interviews with executives across the US and UK, the survey showed that three-quarters have to make business decisions before the information they need is available, while two-thirds of respondents said the data they do get is out of date.

Indeed, 63 per cent of surveyed execs said that BI reports are only ever consulted to justify previously-made decisions.

Charles Nicholls, chief executive of SeeWhy Software, which commissioned the survey, said: "What is clear from this research is that all is not well in the world of BI. BI tools are perceived as hard to use, reports are out of date and largely irrelevant to daily operational decision-making, and BI is seen as inherently retrospective."

Alerting technologies were one major area of failure, with 55 per cent of those surveyed saying operational alerts arrived after the event or were too vague.

Despite such failings, 90 per cent of the executives surveyed said business systems could help their daily operations, through creating more efficient processes, improving customer service, and increasing levels of compliance.

The survey also found that UK managers were more likely to use BI reports, with 68 per cent using snapshot reports, compared to 44 per cent in the US. As well, some 62 per cent of UK executives use operational alerts, compared to 44 per cent in the US.

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