Statistics and More Statistics



Statistics and data are all well and good, but unless you can understand what the data means, it is useless, for example, what good would an altimeter in a plane do you if you could not understand what it meant when the numbers on it started going down….

Understanding is the Key

Some data (like the altimeter) is of course easy to understand, the meaning of the data and the actions that you must take (increase power and pull back on the stick) being very obvious. But with business today, it is rarely as obvious as that, and of course there is that age old issue of not being able to “see the woods for the trees”…

In fact with the growth of computers and the amount of data that they can hold, businesses, especially medium to large ones, collect so much data every day that it is perhaps becoming more difficult to knowing if you are truly on track than it was 10 or 20 years ago.

Slaying the Data Dragon

However, just as technology may have caused the problem (at least in part) it can also rescue any business and slay that data dragon, with of course, more technology. But this time applied in the right way, a way that leads not to just data but Knowledge and Understanding.

What was once a confusing jumble of figures and graphs suddenly begins to make sense, at last you can see what is working and what is not, where the bottle necks in the organisation are and are thus able to make the changes before the “plane hits the ground”.

Business Intelligence is the Answer

This technological method / marvel is known as Business Intelligence, which is a broad category of applications, programs and technologies that gather, store, analyse, and provide access to data in a way that allows users make better business decisions, which to me means they understand what is happening and so can decide how to make it better.

The range of Business Applications include activities like decision support, query and reporting, online analytical processing (OLAP) as well of course statistical analysis and forecasting models. The company “Business Objects” is one of the biggest providers of such services, but as in just about every other computer field, Microsoft is flexing its muscles and will soon no doubt be a big player in this market too.

Niche Players Around Too

Besides the “big boys” of Business Intelligence, there are many smaller players in the market, who do not provide the software. No, what they provide is perhaps more valuable, it is the consultancy and knowledge about how to apply the BI software and the training in how to actually use it. Thus companies like Contemporary in the UK neatly partner the “big boys” and together provide that life saving lifebuoy that is Business Intelligence.

Life Saving Lifebuoy

So If you feel you are drowning in a sea of data and really don’t understand what it all means, are unsure of the processes in your organization or feel you cannot accurately forecast the future using the data to hand, then you need to consider getting some Intelligence (Business Intelligence that is) into your company just as soon as you possibly can, lest you drown….