The Future of Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence will shape the future as insights gained from data suggest better ways of conducting business. The costs of learning from mistakes are lowered as companies are able to view their current experience in the context of larger masses of information. Business processes will be streamlined and technologies upgraded to improve data quality.
RFID
Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIDs) are a potential substitute for bar codes. Unlike bar codes, RFIDs do not require the intervention of human beings before codes can be read. In addition, RFIDs can be used in moving objects since they do not require a linear line of sight that bar codes need.
RFIDs have opened a new vista for detail in information collection and analysis besides bringing a great deal of accuracy to the data. When attached to products, RFIDs would record the time of day when they were sold. Their use in supply chain management will help to pinpoint the locations where logistical delays happen. The data received from RFIDs can also be received and processed in real time since it is digital.
The possibilities of adoption of the once obscure technology improved substantially when Wal Mart announced that it would require the top hundred of its vendors to embed their products with RFID tags in 2005.
Retailers stand to reap significant potential benefits from adopting RFIDs in the future. Theft is a major source of loss which can be reduced with the use of RFIDs. Also, retailers frequently run out of stocks which can be remedied with real time availability of data from RFIDs.
Widespread adoption of RFIDs will happen as their costs are lowered. Currently, RFIDs are utilized on high value items such as jewelry.
Related Information
How Far, How Fast: The State of RFID
RFID Adoption Survey: Current and Future Plans
by Lorraine Cosgrove Ware
Jun 30, 2004
Project Watch: The Best A Retailer Can Get?
Predictive Analytics
"Once bitten twice shy" explains much of the human attitudes towards risks. When company executives feel confident about the future, they are prone to dare more and often bet recklessly. Conversely, they are prone to overly cautious when they perceive danger in the distant horizon. A blurry future depresses investment levels and unnerves especially those planning to launch innovative new products. The decisions about a hazy future are often based on gut instincts and the force of personality prevails over studied initiatives.
Predictive Analytics, a growing field in business intelligence, promises to lower errors in forecasts. What's more, the low costs of storing information helps analysts to continuously diagnose the source of their errors, improve their models and predict with an ever greater degree of accuracy. The lower rate of errors would be especially helpful in the launch of new products where the cost of a mistake can be enormous
A classic case of the potential benefits of predictive analytics is the emerging medical devices industry. The costs of frequent design changes, liability suites are potentially enormous in this industry besides the risk to human life. Performance of new products varies enormously with changes in the combination of materials used. In addition, medical devices interact with human tissue; the response of the human body is intractable influenced as it is by age, genetic structure, etc. Predictive modeling helps to anticipate the precise effect a particular design will have on the human body and substantially lowers the costs of modifying a product before its broad acceptance.
Related Information
Future Gazing
Predictive Analysis at the Forefront of Medical Product Development
Oct 15, 1999
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