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May 7, 2009

UK business too reliant on spreadsheet management

Lacks integrated views and business intelligence insight

By CBR Staff Writer

Businesses of all sizes are hampered by inadequate systems that provide only fragmented views of their operations.

In a survey completed by over 160 business managers in small and medium-sized organisations in February, most admitted to having difficulty analysing critical business information.

Three-quarters confirmed they still rely on spreadsheets to store critical business data, and only one in five use a single data warehouse repository.

Oracle said of its survey that too many disparate information sources and the lack of any integrated business intelligence systems only leaves UK businesses struggling to identify their most valuable partners, suppliers and customers. 

Companies are missing out on key analytical insights that would enable them to better understand customer needs, David Tweddle of Oracle UK said, “Business Intelligence is no longer the preserve of big corporations.”

In an earlier study sponsored by Oracle, the software supplier concluded that in large enterprises the executive focus needs to be realigned and focused on the broader context of management excellence, rather than angled solely at driving operational effectiveness.

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One over-arching theme of that research was that businesses have failed to develop an integrated view of their operations and had not coupled the information flows that stem from their ERP systems with the business intelligence applications they had already deployed.

In that scenario, Oracle proposed the use of enterprise performance management software was needed to funnel financial numbers, customer information and operational data together to provide an integrated view of the business, underpinned by a common data model.

 

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