The BIG Blog

Businesses Must Face Reality or Lose Prosperity

I thought the following extract from a speech given by USA president elect Barak Obama was interesting in its parallel to the adoption of new ways of thinking and making decisions in business:

“It’s time, once again, we put science at the top of our agenda” …. “The truth is that promoting science isn’t just about providing resources it’s about protecting free and open inquiry and it’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say even when it’s inconvenient. Especially when it’s inconvenient. Because the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a better understanding of the world around us. That will be my goal as President of the United States.”

It is these very principles – seeking knowledge to gain a better understanding of our customers and their worlds, as well as new ways of doing business and new product technology that drives my passion for business intelligence. BI is about breaking down the barriers of protective egos, outdated or incorrect assumptions and releasing the reality of past performance and future presight so that we may avoid the comfort of our own delusions.

This environment is very uncomfortable for many, as is change in general. But inspite of the inconvenience of change, and the discomfort of the truth, this is the new way forward for businesses. It is one of the most power releasing business capabilities that has been introduced since the adoption of the Internet. Can you imagine doing business today without email, without access to the vast knowledge of the web, without broadband….and all the other everyday business conveniences we now take for granted. Yet there are still many senior business people lacking in www search skills, who cannot type at a reasonable speed, who resist using software of any kind – because learning how to master these tools is both inconvenient and uncomfortable. Accepting that some of these skills are not required as much at C-level, there is little room in business today for such individuals who resist business evolution. Such mentality is largely responsible for wiping 486/500 businesses from the Fortune 500 over the past 35 years.