Sheer Brilliance
In his viewpoint column in the spring 2004 edition of Information Builders Magazine, CEO Gerry Cohen talked about exciting developments in business intelligence (BI) and introduced the concept of operational
business intelligence (OBI) systems – fundamental information systems that help run the business.
In this issue we expand on OBI and offer examples of how our customers are using Information Builders' business intelligence and business integration solutions to run their business smarter and better than ever.
TELUS, a leading Canadian telecommunications provider featured on this issue's cover, is a brilliant illustration of a company that deployed business intelligence technology to drastically improve its internal operations. Their Web-based employee scorecard application
scored a boost in productivity that rang in at $1 million to $2 million dollars per month – which meant it literally paid for itself.
Another example is Food Lion, a large grocery chain with more than 1,200 retail outlets in 11 states. The ongoing need for financial and operational information put the company's financial systems group to task to develop business intelligence systems that could
collect, organize and disseminate information quickly and efficiently. Thanks to a new self-service reporting environment, the reaction time to every business decision has been cut in half. The firm's director of Operations calls the solution a "huge victory" for the organization.
I've only touched on a few isolated models of the ways organizations are utilizing today's smart BI tools to step up their day-to-day operations. OBI is soaring to new heights (see Operational BI: Getting to the Next Level). I suspect we'll be looking at sheer brilliance in the
systems we have yet to see.
 
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