Why IT's BI or Die

Geez, another week of talking with a few execs who don't get it. Their eyes glaze when I mention Business Intelligence and say it doesn't apply to them. They are like the walking dead people in "Dawn of the Dead". And their companies will pay the price. Conversely, the real smart execs I've met ask a lot of IT questions. And the real upstart companies, (the ones the "walking dead" are so scared of), they're past asking questions, they're asking to get more of intelligent systems in place, yesterday!.

Because it's really simple: companies that are automating and using intelligent systems are growing, those that aren't are dying.

Wal-Mart has a super sophisticated IT approach. They optimize their sales per floor space down to the square inch. Their predictive systems have the right products being restocked on a just in time basis. They know when to discount.

On the other hand, GM still sells cars with "Joe the Sales Guy" pushing overstocked cars off the lot. And they thought it was cheaper to have expensive union labor put on hub caps than robots because they couldn't get the robots to work. I guess Rick Waggoner never visited Blue Bunny's ice cream factory where automation does work.

Well, here we are, this blog went off topic from what I originally wanted to write about - yet, the lack of technical understanding of the power of business intelligence in key executives is so prevalent, it needs to be broadcasted. If you are sitting on a Board, you need to raise this question. For if the firm or organization is not adopting BI, it will surely die.