Business Information asked attendees at the BI Leadership Summit, \u00a0a conference in New York co-hosted by SearchBusinessAnalytics and \u00a0consultancy Eckerson Group, about the biggest challenges they face \u00a0in increasing the use of business intelligence, or BI, and analytics \u00a0applications inside their organizations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
IT User-oriented technology trends like self-service BI and cloud-based content management are better for IT departments than people think.
\nAS NEW TECHNOLOGIES infiltrate companies\u2019 walls and transfer greater control to mainstream business users, a question keeps surfacing: Just how relevant is IT? Technology and business writer Nicholas Carr asked that question more than a decade ago. But in the wake of technologies like cloud computing, mobile devices and social media, the relevance of IT departments continues to be an important issue. New tools\u2014from self-service business analytics to cloud-based content management\u2014have enabled users to take the steering wheel from IT and drive the bus themselves. Self-service business intelligence, or BI, enables executives and marketing departments to crunch the numbers without the help of data analysts. Likewise, online file sharing and cloud enterprise content management, or ECM, tools allow workers to collaborate with
\none another even when they\u2019re out of the office. But the reality is that even when applications are business-user-friendly, IT is still a key part of the equation. Despite Carr\u2019s assertion that \u201cIT doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d one can argue that current technology trends actually make IT departments more, not less, relevant. Let\u2019s further consider self-service BI and cloud ECM software, two applications that should be managed by traditional IT instead of \u201cshadow IT\u201d groups in business units. Self-service analytics is about providing direct access to data so that managers and business analysts in sales, marketing and operations\u2014in other words, departments other than IT\u2014can gain insight into their businesses. For accurate results, though, that data must be kept clean and consistent. ECM software enables users to make changes without support from programmers and without being subject to strict controls. Although technical in nature, these tools are typically \u201cowned\u201d by marketing, but IT still needs to provision them, deal with data silos, ensure security and keep application performance humming along. The proliferation of diverse technologies reinforces job security for IT professionals. As companies embrace analytics, digital business and social media, IT departments are best positioned to ensure that these technologies function properly and work together seamlessly and securely, even across data silos.<\/p>\n
Companies may seek help from outsourcers and consultancies, which do certain things well but fall short when it comes to integrating the various technologies within a company. To handle this complex undertaking of seamless integration on a daily basis, companies are best served by an internal IT department that\u2019s knowledgeable about the business and committed to supporting it long term.
\nData that endlessly multiplies must also be secured. Corporate executives are taking a keen interest in security because it can directly impact their companies\u2019 brand value. Users can sometimes stealthily introduce lightweight cloud-based ECM technologies into their companies without official IT sanction or awareness. IT departments need to get in front of these back-door efforts, not to block them but rather to ensure that the software applications are compliant with company and industry policies and don\u2019t cause data breaches. Again, IT is perfectly\u00a0positioned to make sure workers keep their data and content protected and accurate. A strategic part of the IT mandate is to help a company determine the risks and rewards of investing in technology. That expertise is even more relevant in today\u2019s environment, where technology is diverse, accessible and constantly changing. From their unbiased perspective, \u00a0IT leaders can best determine applicability and establish the cost savings, competitive advantages and time to market of different technologies. But they also need to explain their findings in terms that executives can understand. In other words, IT departments should paint a very pragmatic picture of their company\u2019s technology landscape. Selling a vision internally is not a traditional role for IT leaders\u2014it doesn\u2019t come naturally to them. They\u2019re more accustomed to implementing projects and keeping things running\u2014that\u2019s their DNA. But given the rapid speed of technology advancements, IT professionals don\u2019t have the luxury of waiting for their DNA to evolve. They must add the \u201cstrategic-vision gene\u201d themselves\u2014and fast. As technology and business continue to merge, IT professionals willing to change their DNA, develop their ability to communicate with business stakeholders in simpler terms and sell their vision will go far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Business Information asked attendees at the BI Leadership Summit, \u00a0a conference in New York co-hosted by SearchBusinessAnalytics and \u00a0consultancy Eckerson Group, about the biggest challenges they face \u00a0in increasing the use of business intelligence, or BI, and analytics \u00a0applications inside their organizations. IT User-oriented technology trends like self-service BI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knowledgebase"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.virtono.com\/community\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Business-Intelligence-Buzzwords-panda.jpg?fit=901%2C533&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7ISfL-cx","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93,"url":"https:\/\/www.virtono.com\/community\/knowledgebase\/business-intelligence-and-data-challenges\/","url_meta":{"origin":777,"position":0},"title":"Business Intelligence And Data Challenges","author":"Virtono","date":"July 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"One growing demand in the business and analytics world is that of something called Business Intelligence (BI). 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Cloud-based technologies,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Knowledgebase"","block_context":{"text":"Knowledgebase","link":"https:\/\/www.virtono.com\/community\/category\/knowledgebase\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.virtono.com\/community\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Cloud-security.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.virtono.com\/community\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Cloud-security.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.virtono.com\/community\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Cloud-security.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.virtono.com\/community\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Cloud-security.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.virtono.com\/community\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Cloud-security.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":134,"url":"https:\/\/www.virtono.com\/community\/internet-and-technology-news\/how-to-get-into-the-game-of-business-intelligence\/","url_meta":{"origin":777,"position":2},"title":"How to Get into the Game of Business Intelligence","author":"Daniel Draga","date":"July 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In the last article we talked about Business Intelligence and how it is changing the world around us, how it is shaping the new businesses, and about the struggles of the current industry. 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This paper analyses the basic problem of cloud computing data security. . \u0097Cloud Computing provides the way to share distributed resources and services that belong to different organizations or sites. 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