Are you running an intelligent organisation?

The vast amount of data held by modern companies is one of their biggest assets. But an alarming number of businesses fail to make best use of that data and turn it into meaningful information.

Some of the most useful and least accessible data held within an enterprise resides on legacy financial systems. The information held there is a goldmine of insight into trends, performance, potential growth areas and danger spots – greater knowledge of which can help grow a company’s bottom line. By delving into this vast swathe of data, business intelligence software can unearth hidden gems of information.

To introduce this supplement Dr Mark Whitehorn gets to the bottom of what BI actually is and the ‘alphabet soup’ of acronyms that marketers throw at us every day, on page 2. And, if you prefer a graphical view, take a look at his enterprise software map on page 16.

On page 4 Peter Bartram investigates the mess that M&A activity can cause and looks into how companies can best avoid it. Our trusted friend the spreadsheet is actually not very trustworthy at all, as if you hadn’t noticed.

Gary Flood looks into the problem and how business intelligence can help, on page 8; while Robert Jaques takes a detailed look at the technology in an enterprise situation on page 10. Anthony Harrington, meanwhile, reports on how standardisation in the technology world is even more of a pipedream than it is in the accounting world, page 14. We are making headway, however.

If natural selection is more your bag, however, read how business intelligence has helped spread the credit for Darwin’s theory of evolution to his previously unsung tutor Professor John Henslow, on page 13.

To read the full briefing in pdf format, click here