Consider for a moment running a large and complex organisation without any form of business intelligence, what would that look like and what would it mean?
I was recently struck by rather a powerful analogy when reflecting upon this very issue, following a client conversation that shifted towards human capital deployment and how best to gauge the respective level of assets needed to effectively deal with a range of incidents. However, before we get to Business Intelligence and the potential need for respective software platforms to crunch the numbers in this data driven age, let’s go back to basics and break this process down into a number of fundamental steps, so that we can fully understand the critical component parts as we begin this journey.
Google ‘what is business’, and top if the list appears a definition from the Oxford Dictionary, which states ‘a commercial activity’. Google ‘what underpins commercial success in business’. Top of the list comes the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), they advocate Risk Management (source) as one of the key building blocks that underpins the ability to achieve and maintain commercial success. Google ‘Risk Management key to commercial success’, top of the list comes:
‘Effective risk management is essential to the success of any business. It helps companies identify potential threats, assess their impact, and take proactive steps to minimize the risks. (source)’
When reflecting upon the above quote, it illuminates not only the role that risk management plays in business but also the need for gathering relevant data, which can be turned into usable, and highly valuable, information. The latter can then be used as a basis to deliver the level of insights that are necessary to help guide and support effective decision making, so that organisations can implement the steps and processes needed to minimise, or even mitigate, the impact of what would otherwise remain unaddressed risks and threats. Or, to sum up, a data driven decision making process defined as:
‘… collecting data based on your company's key performance indicators and transforming that data into actionable insights. You can use business intelligence reporting tools during this process, which make big data collection fast and fruitful (source).’
A standpoint also supported by McKinsey, who advocate viewing any organisation or business through the lens of a decision factory:
‘Want to reduce the staggering cost of bad decisions? Turn your organization into a “decision factory.” (source)’
As a result, we begin to see the emergence of the need for some form of business intelligence to gain incredibly valuable insights, along with tools and systems, to gather respective data. What also becomes apparent is how the latter can help to guide decision making and address potential risks, which facilitates increased efficiency and cost reduction, and allows organisations to benefit from an improved bottom-line (source). A view supported by McKinsey, as noted by respective comments above.
Business intelligence uses a technology-driven process for analysing data and delivering actionable information that helps key decision makers make informed business decisions. Typically delivered through business intelligence dashboards, which generate reports to make the analytics results available to business users for operational decision-making, they facilitate shrewd strategic planning (source).
Until recently the level of computer vision technology required to extract the level of data, to help guide key business functions that typically fall under the remit of health & safety and compliance, was simply not available. However, with the release of the Ocucon Image Recognition Platform this has changed. For the first time, organisations can now release latent value, from the CCTV imagery that they already capture, through a software only solution that eliminates any infrastructure upheaval.
Ocucon’s proprietary platform delivers the goal sought by Business Intelligence (BI) initiatives, namely to drive better business decisions that enable organizations to improve operational efficiency and gain competitive advantages over business rivals (source). Our Enterprise Solutions incorporate a combination of real time alerts, analytics, data management and proprietary reporting tools, plus various methodologies for managing and analysing data (source). This level of Business Intelligence gives organisations that adopt our market leading technology the BI tools that they need to raise the bar in key reporting areas of health & safety, regulatory compliance, and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Now let’s get back to what will hopefully prove to be quite a powerful analogy:
Imagine an Air Force trying to defend their skies and country without any form of Early Warning Radar. They will remain completely blind to risks and threats, being reliant upon nothing but probabilistic point of contact. How do they then gauge the size of the assets required, and provide effective and efficient deployment of them, so that they deliver the level of risk mitigation required by them?
The above is almost an impossible question to answer. It also highlights the critical nature and need for Business Intelligence, as it allows organisations to identify potential risks and threats by providing a form of early warning. Through utilising Business Intelligence platforms, organisations can anticipate and track risks, then make highly informed decisions to deploy the best mitigation strategies. The way to win a war is necessarily about having more troops, but about possessing better intelligence of where to deploy them.
Through serving real time alerts, for a range of critical issues that represent significant risk, our products facilitate rapid deployment of your associates and employees to where you need them most. Our BI platform also delivers the level of Business Intelligence that you need to drive performance throughout your organisation, by providing in-depth reporting and audit trails of events.
If your organisation is flying blind, without any form of early warning in critical business areas of health and safety, or compliance, check out Ocucon’s proprietary Image Recognition Platform along with our range of intelligent AI software solutions. Combined, they provide the level of Business Intelligence that you need to achieve efficient and effective risk mitigation. Looking to differentiate your business by becoming the safest place to work and shop, why not contact us now to see how Ocucon can help?