INTRODUCTION
Business Intelligence refers to the way in which companies collect and organise raw data, and then transform this raw data into something meaningful. The transformation and analysation of this data is generally achieved throughout the use of software with systems such as SAP or Cognos (Howson, 2010). BI is important as it’s helpful in streamlining and making certain tasks easier within a business setting, overall achieving smoother operations. Whilst this is the general process of BI, it is also important to consider who influences this process and how it is influenced and the way in which this affects the overall BI model within an organisation. Howson states that “everyone from executives to casual users [has] an opinion about the company’s BI Strategy” (Howson, 2010), further reinforcing her point of view on the importance of stakeholders and their contribution to determining a BI strategy.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND STAKEHOLDERS
Stakeholders are people that are either directly or indirectly influenced by the decisions made inside a given business. For example, an internal stakeholder might be an employee or manager, and an external stakeholder could be society, shareholders, customers or the government. Stakeholders undoubtedly play a large role in the way BI strategies are conducted and the way in which decisions are made. The primary goal of a business is to offer a service and or product to sell to a customer. Hence it is in a business’s best interest to make decisions which have the best impact on stakeholders and it is also in their interest to prime their BI strategy to their stakeholders. As stated in the “Sustainability Matters” article from Oracle – “management teams must consider the needs of all stakeho...
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...ity Matters. Retrieved April 16, 2014, from Oracle: http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/business-intelligence/057079.pdf
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Shollo, A., & Kautz, K. (2010). Towards an Understanding of Business Intelligence. Association for Information Systems.
Stakeholder is anyone with an interest in a business; stakeholders are individual, groups or businesses. They are affected by the activity of the business. There are two types on stakeholders who are internal and external. Internal stakeholder involves employees, managers/directors and shareholders/owners. External stakeholder involves suppliers, customers, government, trade unions, pressure groups and local and national communities.
Shiller (2003) believes that stakeholder theory suggests that corporate stakeholders are divided into external stakeholders and internal stakeholders. External stakeholders include investors, creditors, customers and the government. Internal stakeholders include managers and employees and so on. Woolworths Company's stakeholders in the process of canned processed foods are as followed:
Stakeholder analysis is important for successful implementation of projects and/or strategic activities within any organisation. It is used to analyse the stakeholders in order to understand them and classify them according to their power, influence and interest. Stakeholders are people who have an interest in a commercial entity including those within the organisation and outside. These include the boss, senior executives, customers, suppliers, government, your co-workers, the team and others. All these people are important in the implementation and success of strategy.
University of Idaho. (2014). Information Technology Services: Appendix 1: ITS Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Retrieved from http://www.uidaho.edu/its/strategic-plan/appendix-i.
Stakeholders and stockholders are a group of individuals that can affect the company and also are affected by the company. In order to be a successful company needs to maintain their investor’s confidence. Stockholders are also able to develop value for the customer because they invest on ideas that will produce success for the company. Stakeholders are all the individuals that have an interest in the company such as employees, customers, and the surrounding community.
Hence, the stakeholders which are described as those who are affected by the organisation performance ,actions and duties and those actions includes employees, clients, local community and investors as well. The theory of stakeholders also suggests that it is the responsibility of firm to make sure no rights of stakeholders are dishonoured and make decisions in the interest of stakeholders which is also the purpose of stakeholder theory to make more profit and balancing it while considering its stakeholders (Freeman 2008 pp. 162-165). In the other words organisation must also operates in a more socially accountable approach by carrying out corporate social responsibility as (CSR) activities.
Keri E. Pearlson and Carol S. Saunders (2010). Strategic Management of Information Systems, 4th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York
Regarding to organizational stakeholders, there are three main groups of stakeholders: customers, employees and investors. The company attempts to link stakeholders’ needs and expectations to the company’s goals. For customers, the company must treat them fairly and honestly. For employees, the company needs to treat them fairly, make them a part of the company and respect their needs. For investor, managers should comply with the accounting procedure, do not manip...
Companies have transformed technology from a supporting tool into a strategic weapon.”(Davenport, 2006) In business research, technology has become an essential means that many organizations use in their daily operations. According to the article, Analytics is a major technological tool used. It is described as “the extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions."(Davenport, 2006) Data is compiled to enhance business practices. When samples are taken, they are used to examine research and understand how to solve problems or why situations are as they are. Furthermore, in this article, Thomas Davenport discusses analytics from a business standpoint. He refers to organizations that have been successful in their usage of data and statistical analysis. In addition, he also discusses how data and statistics can be vital in the efforts to improve the operations of businesses.
Stakeholders’ analysis is the analysis which tells that how the company is dealing with the people which are directly or indirectly related with the company’s operations. These are called stakeholder and they include the employee, society, suppliers, buyers, shareholders, got and other tax related companies.
First of all, business intelligence analysis requires the capturing of information and storing in a single location for effective data analysis. Currently, data analysis is supported by transactional systems, business specific data marts, and other ad-hoc processes. Information is distributed making it difficult and time-consuming to access. Business teams have adapted to this environment by creating user maintained databases and manual “work-arounds” to support new types of reporting and analysis. This has resulted in inconsistent data, redundant data storage, significant resource use for maintenance, and inefficient response to changing business needs.
Stakeholders are interest of an individual or groups that directly or indirectly affected by the organisation’s activities, policies and objectives (Henry Frechette, 2010). Stakeholders can be divided as internal (managers and employees) and external (shareholders, customers, and suppliers) (BPP F9). Different stakeholders may have common interests or conflict interests with company. Company board members or management must take care about stakeholders’ interest. They can’t make the decision based on their own interest or their relation with others organisation. Conflict of interest will arise when interests of organisation act in concert with managers’ personal interests or interests of another person or organisations, (Anon, no date).
Business intelligence, or BI, is an umbrella term that refers to a variety of software applications used to analyze an organization’s raw data. BI as a discipline is made up of several related activities, including data mining, online analytical processing, querying and reporting. Data mining is the process of sorting through large amounts of data and picking out relevant information. It is usually used by business intelligence organizations, and financial analysts, but is increasingly being used in the sciences to extract information from the enormous data sets generated by modern experimental and observational methods.
Examples of Stakeholder’s could be: managers, directors, employees etc. It is based upon a conceptual framework approach in which it provides moral and ethical values to a business organisation. When in practice, majority of organisations are mainly going to focus on corporate social responsibility. The reason for this is because CSR is seen to have a big impact on the firm as many people are recognising that there is a increasing number of businesses that are both socially and environmentally friendly. On the other hand, if the government doesn’t intervene with companies in terms of both regulation and legislation, this means that firms will only be concentrating on the accounting figures. If companies are primarily focusing on the accounting figures, this indicates that businesses are not taking in the social and environmental impact of the activities within the organisation. In (Liu, Fellows and Tuuli, 2011), it refers to corporate citizenship values in which it considers and identifies the different demands of the stakeholder groups to see where the overall value of the company comes from taking into thought the environment and
Stakeholders refer to individuals or groups of people that have an interest in a business. Management argues that as long as there is wealth for shareholders, then anything is done in a responsible manner and things should be done to promote the interest of other stakeholders.