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Thoughts from Andy Best, Managing Director at change++

In between the more hectic moments of the holiday period, I had a chance to think a bit about what’s going to happen in business intelligence (BI) this year. Specifically, what I think organisations need to do with their BI in 2023.

Two things stood out. Doing the data basics well and being ready for change. Let me explain.

Clearing the ground, flicking the switch

I think that we’ve moved past the point where businesses can get by based on intuitions or gut feeling, and in 2023, whoever you are, whichever industry you’re in, you need to understand your business from the ground up and from a data perspective. Fundamentally, data doesn’t lie. If you collect and clean it properly, then that’s the truth.

Taking a ground up approach to your business’s data means putting your data first and making it central to what you do. So, if you’re a delivery company or a hotel chain, collecting your data shouldn’t be an afterthought, and utilising business intelligence shouldn’t be because so-and-so “wants to see a report”. The data you have must be used, so getting it in order to realise its potential should be a priority.

You might read this and think, “Isn’t this a bit obvious? Isn’t it a bit back to basics?” Well, it is, and that’s the point. Wherever you are on your business intelligence journey, take the basics seriously, get your data in order, and that will give you the foundation for efficiencies or opportunities to come.

I like to think of it like this. You’re in a dark room and someone tells you to find your way out. What do you do? You turn on the light. You flick the switch and give yourself the chance to see everything: the obstacles in your way, the layout of the room, and the path to the door. Centralising and properly managing your data is just like that – flicking the switch and turning on the light. Only after you’ve done that, can you start to make progress with your other aims for 2023. And the new year is the perfect time to review where you’re at, reset and plan how you’ll work toward those aims.

Changing external factors and predictive analysis

Something else that I think needs to be on your radar this year is the constant change of external factors impinging on your business. In a way, nothing is as certain as change. But, as those changes become more frequent or more drastic, I think it means businesses should have more “what if” analysis tools to hand. By which I mean businesses should use more predictive analysis and modelling.

This type of “what if” analysis allows you to do several things. It allows you to mitigate risks before they happen. You can see that if you continue with a certain strategy, because of several factors, you’ll eventually come up against a problem. It also allows you to identify risks you hadn’t previously considered. For example, during business as usual, you might not realise the impact that a certain data point has on your business. But, when you play out several scenarios with your modelling, you come to see that something simple can have an unduly large impact on what you’re doing.

But perhaps most importantly is that predictive analysis will give you the flexibility to deal with any change or challenge – it prepares you to roll with the punches. For example, if you’re a manufacturing company, then one of your main cost centres will be energy costs. Because of this, you need to have a business model in place that can adapt quickly to changes in price. And you can only do that if you have modelling and predictive analysis as part of your business intelligence.

Where next?

There are lots of other trends in business intelligence right now – think of the developments with natural language processing (NLP) or the democratisation of data – and I plan to talk about them in more detail soon. But, for now, organisations should be doing the basics well, and preparing for the future with predictive analysis. At change++ we can help you get the bigger picture while preparing for change – get in touch.