Showing posts with label business technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business technology. Show all posts
The painful truth about the difference between business
analytics and business intelligence is that if you ask two people to tell you
the difference, you're going to get two conflicting sets of differences
explained to you. A lot of business analysis terms get misused, reinterpreted
and misappropriated until their original meaning is a murky memory from the
distant past.
It's not so much that there is no
difference, it's just that you need to be prepared to acknowledge
that people are going to fight you on it, and that you can't assume that you're
speaking the same language as everyone else in the room until you break it down
into plain English. Everyone has their own idea of what every business term
means, so until we get down to talking about the actual points of data and the
strategies being used, there's going to be a lot of confusion.
In other words, a lot of the difference between business
analytics and business intelligence comes down to semantics, and who showed up
for what meeting. Go to two different offices and you'll find that they've both
developed their own vernacular. Some will use "analytics" and
"intelligence" almost interchangeably while others have a strict
definition for each.
A Look at the Data and Trends
You
need only take a look at Google Trends to see how these terms are used: since
2004, the term "business analytics" has been slowly, gradually
decreasing, while the term "business intelligence" took a sharp
increase in 2009 and has been gradually increasing since, following a spike
here and there over the years.
In
other words, one phrase seems to be replacing the other.
A
common understanding is that business intelligence is
the whole field of business analysis and IT, while business analytics is just
the math part itself, not the strategizing, not the planning and marketing,
just the math. Of course, another common understanding has it the other way
around.
Most
frequently, the difference in semantics seems to come down to one person or the
other insisting that what they do is more dynamic and forward-thinking than the
IT-only, rear-view perspective offered by the other guys. The truth is that by
far the easiest way to communicate with your staff and your partners and your
clients is to just call it "reporting." If you know that a prospect
loves calling it "business intelligence," go ahead and call it
business intelligence when he's in the room, otherwise, you might as well
acknowledge that the terms are used interchangeably in the modern meeting room.
Some people cling to one term or another, but at the end of the day we're all
pretty much talking about the same thing.
The traditional role of IT
pros is one of task-based troubleshooting: front-line employees, department
heads and executives come to admins with problems they needed solved, and get
placed in the queue. Issues are prioritized, scheduled, balanced, and dealt
with on an as-needed basis, leaving little time for innovation and in many
cases leaving “smaller” problems unsolved. But thanks to the rise of cloud
computing and mobile devices, non-IT areas of companies are starting to solve
their own problems, and this means a shift in the role of information
technology professionals.
A Changing Landscape
According
to a February 1st PC
Advisor article, reporting on
the 4th annual Deloitte Tech Trends Report, five key trends now affect
businesses: the cloud, mobile beyond smartphones and tablets, cyber defense,
social media, and analytics. None of these trends fall neatly into established
IT categories and reside almost entirely off-premise, meaning the “create a
ticket and wait for service” method won’t work. Big data analysis, real time
social media interaction, the need to balance mobile access demands against
security – all are time sensitive, and are forcing IT to adapt their
methodology.
The
result is an IT pro that looks more like the cloud than the server stack:
agile, flexible, and fast. But while technology trends are helping to inform
this change, what’s truly driving adaptation is the increasing rise of
front-line employee efficacy.
The New Paradigm
A
recent Cloud
Tech article points out the
simple truth “the biggest thing standing in the way of enterprise IT cloud
adoption is IT’s unwillingness to accept that business units are already
adopting the cloud.”
In a
shift away from the traditional, these business units now drive tech adoption,
in large part by using technology and cloud-based applications, whether IT pros
want them to or not. Frustrated by problems that don’t get solved, and what
they perceive as antiquated access restrictions, employees circumventing
security measures – and aren’t shy about letting IT know it. Admins may be
called in at the tag end of a project, but more for information than
consultation; more for dictation than permission.
IT
professionals, in turn, have two choices: adapt or fossilize. Those stuck in
the rut of ordering instead of asking will find their departments shrinking,
while those willing to evolve their role can find great success as advocates
for new technology. In addition to technical skills, the next generation of IT
pros must also possess an atypical tech quality: people skills. Again – just
like the cloud – admins must consumerize, adapting the way they deliver
service, considering other departments as customers instead of as items on a
list.
The
result is an IT admin willing to advise rather than admonish – and with the
demise of problem queues, able to focus on forward-facing business issues like
big data mining and application performance instead of simply troubleshooting
technology.
By integrated
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In addition, the cost of making phone calls using the internet via VoIP is
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The use of hosted
VoIP provides a business flexibility it needs in its operations. This is
especially true for businesses that have several branches and sales team that
mostly operate outside of the office. By using hosted VoIP, the head office can
easily communicate with them and even route calls coming into the main office
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the main office can easily get in touch with those in the field.
Hosted VoIP
provides businesses with more features that are not available with traditional
phone systems. In addition to the standard features such as caller ID, call
transfer and forwarding and voice mail, VoIP provides other advanced functions
like call conferencing, virtual receptionist, call queue management and
voicemail transcription. With such features, businesses can boost their image
by appearing more professional.
Using hosted VoIP systems is paramount if you plan to
expand your business and at the same time reduce communication costs.
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