Business Intelligence Should Include Humans: Tech Expert

Collection firms and other companies planning to use business intelligence must remember that the discipline includes people as well as technology, consultant David Wells said in his keynote address at The Data Warehousing Institute World Conference in Chicago on Monday.

Large collection firms use business intelligence and analytics to help determine the delinquent accounts that will be the most profitable – looking at a combination of propensity to pay and balances (“Collectors Could Find Uses for Business Intelligence,” Nov. 16, 2007).

The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) provides education, training, certification, news, and research for executives and information technology professionals worldwide. The 13-year-old organization is based in Renton, Wash.

Wells said that too many of the accepted definitions of business intelligence ignore the human element. Even “intelligence” is ignored in these definitions, which tend to focus on the technologies, said Wells, a 35-year veteran of the business technology industry.

Therefore, a better definition of business intelligence, Wells said, is “the ability of an organization or business to reason, plan, predict, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend, innovate and learn in ways that increase organizational knowledge, inform decision processes, enable effective actions and help establish business goals.”

Many of the elements of that definition – reasoning, thinking abstractly­­ – require people, Wells explained. To help those people be the most effective, Wells recommends shaping a business intelligence culture that includes friendly and trusting relationships; measured effectiveness; clear accountability; and defined values.

“We can’t create a BI culture,” Wells said. “But we can and should shape the BI culture that exists. We are people and BI depends on us.”