BI Challenge: Bringing Together Disparate Data Sources

The power of Business Intelligence comes from getting the right data to the right people at the right time. When an organization can successfully do this, data is presented to those people in a way that just makes sense. It’s as if the data was created and presented just for them. The results? Key stakeholders have the ability to make quick and informed decisions that guide a business toward greater success. Everyone can benefit from effective BI initiatives, but getting there can be difficult.

At the heart of any BI initiative is the data that drives business decisions. But that data is being collected from disparate sources. That is, the data is not necessarily being generated with BI in mind, but rather within separate verticals as part the daily operations of an organization. For example, Sales is focused on using its CRM to close deals without considering how valuable all that information can be when it is combined with data from other activities in the organization. Effective BI can take that CRM data along with data from other sources, for example ERP Financials, to provide powerful predictive models. Without overcoming the challenges of bringing these disparate data silos together, you’ve got traditional business reports that fall short of the promises of BI.

There are two components of bringing together data from separate sources that must work together to make BI a reality. Organizations must have data visionaries who can see which information should be brought together in BI models. But these business savvy modelers cannot achieve their goals without the help of their technical counterparts. The business side can see the power of combining X data from the CRM with Y & Z data from ERP Financials, but actually mapping that data together can require a huge amount of SQL code. Ultimately, a BI initiative cannot exceed without top-notch technical experts who can wrangle data from a variety of sources and present them in a cohesive format. Organizations must be willing to do what it takes to add such professionals to their BI team to ensure a successful effort to bring intelligent data to employees when they need it most.