Business intelligence tools chunk down your business operations and functions into distinct parts so you can get a good overview of what is happening in all areas of your business. This is why we need business intelligence, when you start digging deeper under the surface you may find that the high-level dashboard showing you the ‘average’ reveals huge deviations from the overall pattern. While the top-level report or dashboard helps to give you the overall idea of the business position and performance, it should be merely seen as the ‘average’. Imagine your house, when you look at it you see the bricks, wood, windows and doors, you can make a judgement on the overall appearance, and decide that you will definitely get that window painted in the spring. Have you looked deeply into why the paint is peeling though, is the wood rotten, is the window badly fitted?
What you see is often just the surface
A business, just like a house, is made up of many rooms, cupboards, surfaces, furniture and fittings. Business Intelligence, like ‘house-intelligence’ realises what you see is often just the surface, the ‘average’ or ‘sum of sums’. In order to get truly organised, and in full control, you need to dig deeper. But again, a business, just like a house, is made up of many rooms, cupboards, surfaces, furniture and fittings. It is rare that we deal with everything at once, we work on the critical bits, and continuously improve each area to maintain the overall function and performance of the whole.
A business, just like a house, is made up of many rooms, cupboards, surfaces, furniture and fittings
Laura Landmark
