Embedding Foresight in Business Intelligence

Abstract

<p>As educators and practitioners, the authors are interested in how to create and develop agile growth companies. They have noticed that business intelligence (BI) is often focused on short-term operative decision-making. At the same time, the authors have envisioned that BI also has potential to provide companies with a better understanding of the future business environment for long-term planning. By putting all the pieces of the puzzle together from the articles in the literature review, the authors identified two themes crucial to the success of BI foresight activities in the firm:</p><p>· Support of top management and active participation in BI activities throughout the enterprise;</p><p>· The IS must be positioned to avoid over-reliance on IT and a mindless approach to data analysis.</p><p>Empowered by these observations, the authors investigated how BI foresight may be embedded in a company culture, utilized in daily activities by human actors in their work roles, and determined whether specially designed IT tools past the experimental stage can be successfully implemented in the firm. The results of this study suggest that detection of weak signals or shifts in the periphery of the horizon during environmental scanning is difficult. BI foresight activities in many companies are not well managed or simply do not exist. In particular, the topic of BI foresight in SMEs is under-researched. Yet it is precisely these activities that companies must embrace in order to achieve competitive advantage in the global market place.</p>