The role of technology in the management and exploitation of internal business intelligence
| Published date | 10 August 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-04-2015-0030 |
| Date | 10 August 2015 |
| Pages | 247-262 |
| Author | Ronda Harrison,Angelique Parker,Gabrielle Brosas,Raymond Chiong,Xuemei Tian |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems |
The role of technology in the
management and exploitation of
internal business intelligence
Ronda Harrison, Angelique Parker and Gabrielle Brosas
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
Raymond Chiong
The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia, and
Xuemei Tian
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to provide an introductory overview of internal business intelligence (BI)
and the role that technology plays in its management and exploitation. BI represents the tools and
systems that play a key role in the strategic planning process of a corporation, allowing the integration
of applications, databases, software and hardware essential to users and enabling the analysis of
information to optimise decision-making.
Design/methodology/approach – In reviewing the existing literature, this paper examines the core
components, current trends and operational issues of a typical internal BI system architecture. The
implications of these trends and their effects on business processes and culture are also explored.
Findings – The successful implementation of an internal BI system should include the core
components and address operational issues, whilst also providing meaningful output to the
organisation. It is contended, however, that to be truly successful, the internal BI system must
be embedded within organisational processes and be adaptable to changing technologies, allowing the
exploitation of the organisation’s internal BI.
Originality/value – This general review is the rst to provide a high-level overview of internal BI and
explores the role of technology in the management and exploitation of internal BI.
Keywords Competitive advantage, Business intelligence, Big data, BI architecture, Data warehouse
Paper type General review
Introduction
A signicant component for the success of organisations in today’s information and
data-rich society is the ability to exploit the data available and use it for the achievement
of operational objectives (Weidong et al., 2010). However, the organisation must have the
ability to understand, analyse and transform this ever-increasing amount of data into
meaningful and relevant information (Bures et al., 2012). Business Intelligence (BI) is a
method of using advanced technological tools to amass and analyse data and
information about an organisation; to better understand the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and position in the market; and to monitor the organisation’s competitors
(Balaceanu, 2007;Gullapudi et al., 2012;McCarthy, 1999;Su and Chiong, 2011;Weidong
et al., 2010). The information outputs from BI enable employees at all levels of the
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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Internal
business
intelligence
247
Received 4 April 2015
Revised 4 April 2015
Accepted 4 April 2015
Journalof Systems and
InformationTechnology
Vol.17 No. 3, 2015
pp.247-262
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/JSIT-04-2015-0030
organisation to make timely and informed business decisions based on reliable factual
data (Intelligent Enterprise, 2002).
Because BI improves the quality of the information available to an organisation, it
can be attributed with creating high-performance organisations through the minimal
effort required to obtain relevant, intelligent and targeted information and knowledge
(Weidong et al., 2010). Hence, BI is fundamental to business today, providing
organisations with the potential to make informed strategic decisions regarding their
internal and external business positions and also to improve their business performance
(Computerworld, 2008;McCarthy, 1999). Generally speaking, there are two key types of
BI: external and internal.
External BI is based on data sourced from outside the organisation, which may have
an impact on internal business decisions. External BI provides high-level data for
strategic decision-making, from sources such as social media platforms, government
reports or statistics, market reports and e-commerce, allowing an insight to competitor
performance and consumer trends (Bures et al., 2012;Chen et al., 2012;Tonchia and
Quagini, 2010). Organisations sourcing and utilising external data for BI must ensure
these data are from a reliable source, and that the organisation has the capacity to
analyse it (Collett, 2002).
Internal BI, on the other hand, refers to the analysis performed using data from
within the organisation sourced from a wide variety of internal systems, such as an
organisation’s customer relationship management (CRM) system, nance system or
company website. The data are generally stored in data warehouses, which connect all
the company data in multiple databases to enable inclusive decision-making (Boateng
et al., 2012).
An example of operational efciency gained from internal BI adoption can be seen in
the case of Texas Children’s Hospital (Microsoft, 2011). The hospital implemented a BI
solution that integrated data from the electronic medical record system and the bed
management system in near real time. Aggregating and analysing the data on patient
ow metrics and bed availability gives hospital management and support staff the
information they need about where the bottlenecks are at any one time (CHiME, 2014).
The immediate problem areas can then be addressed by informed decision-making and
resource allocation. This improves hospital services through a reduction of patient
processing time, reduced wait times and the ability to treat more patients with the same
level of resources (Microsoft, 2011).
The omnipresence of the Internet and the innite amount of data being created daily
from sources such as social media and consumer purchasing behaviours have led to the
growth in BI architectures and tools for the storage, management, analysis and
visualisation of data (Saarijärvi et al., 2013;Schectman, 2013). The trends, such as big
data, cloud technologies, self-service and mobile BI, are leading the way in the BI
market. Big data in particular is a technology-driven trend, which has been designed to
meet the demand created by the change in volume and variety of data available from
Internet-based technology.
The objective of this paper is to provide the reader with a high-level understanding of
the role that technology plays in the exploitation of internal BI. While focusing on the
general aspects of internal BI, such as BI architecture and its core components, the paper
will also provide the reader with information about the current internal BI trends and
operational issues associated with internal BI implementation. Finally, this paper
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