The “Where” Dimension of Business Intelligence
/Extracted 27JUL2011 from http://logisticsviewpoints.com/2011/07/27/the-where-dimension-of-business-int...
SAP’s announcement that it is collaborating with Google “to enhance its business analytics software with location-based data capabilities, allowing people to interact with real-time information via Google Maps™.”
The “Where” dimension of business intelligence facilitates the mash-up of different information, which can open the door to new, perhaps non-intuitive, insights...
For the past few years, we’ve been highlighting how mobile solutions and location-based technologies are driving innovation in supply chain and logistics processes (see “Apple, Google, and IBM: Different Takes on Location Tracking,” which includes a listing of other postings too). And I’ve also commented on how mobile and social media are driving supply chain innovation. So, I think it’s time I update my formula to bring all of these factors together:
Mobile + Social Media + Business Intelligence + Location Data = Supply Chain Innovation
Of course, poor data quality—my “soap box” issue for more than a decade—remains the Achilles’ Heel of supply chain management (see “A Decade of Insights (My 1-Page Logistics Book)”). Simply stated, without timely, accurate, and complete information, the equation above will yield the same answer as always: garbage in, garbage out.