e-Business Intelligence: Turning Information into Knowledge into Profit [Hardcover]

Business intelligence software basically does two things: First, it pulls off data from other databases so that relevant information is all together in a usable form. Two, it contains simple query tools that allow anyone to ask a wide variety of ad hoc questions and get quick answers back. Think of this as being like turning a large business into the simplicity of a one-person operation being run by the owner.

The strength of the book comes in the many detailed examples from around the world of companies in different industries using business intelligence software to improve themselves, their customers, and suppliers. The examples come from companies of many different sizes, dealing with different kinds of problems, and having varying degrees of technical sophistication. These are presented in some detail in sidebars that are highlighted in gray backgrounds so that they are easy to find.

I intend to recommend this book to all of my clients, which is something I seldom do.

The writing in this book deserves special praise. Mr. Liautaud and Hammond have done a very careful and thorough job of taking complex ideas and breaking them down into simple words, concepts, lists, and examples. They have done this without "talking down" to the reader, and the material is consistently interesting. Mr. Hammond deserves special credit for understanding the advanced thinking of Mr. Liautaud that has led to the development of an entire industry around helping companies expand their e-business intelligence.

I am often annoyed by books written by CEOs of companies that have services to sell. The books often come across as one big piece of advertising or brochureware. Although the examples here come from Business Objects clients, I did not have that negative reaction to this book at all.

After you finish this book, you will realize that the key thing to getting benefit from e-business intelligence is to ask better questions once you have the databases and query tools in place to do your own interrogations. I suggest that you start asking those questions now. You may find that some can be answered simply and quickly without bogging down the IT department, and you will obtain the benefits sooner. What's even better is that you will find ways to start thinking in improved ways about your business sooner.

Enjoy the benefits that follow naturally from having all of us know more and be able to ask more . . . to extend our knowledge into improved forms of profitable intelligence!

Liautaud's core premise is that knowledge is the new currency of the new economy. This knowledge is not just about a '360 degree view of the customer' or 'e-Supply Chains'. It is all about a company's ability to create an intelligent view of its business by bringing information and knowledge together where and when required. 'E-business Intelligence' explores the subject from the very fundaments up, including many practical case studies from some leading companies.

Information Model Evolution If you were still not convinced of why you need business intelligence, Liautaud makes a clear case for change in the first part of four in the book. The case should not surprise any of us. He introduces some good (but obvious) models for what the value of information is and clearly shows that the overload on information we are receiving makes this value difficult to realise. Not much new under the sun. Much of this could come straight from an MBA programme. Remains the question then, why so few leading companies are investing more in business intelligence projects! Liautaud highlights this need clearly.

Liautaud divides the business intelligence world into four information models, which he cleverly discusses as an evolutionary process. This process in itself would be a valuable addition to the paradigms we are looking for. Information Dictatorship, where only the selected few have access to information and Information Anarchies, where everyone starts creating their own information system are touched upon but wisely ignored as 'Old World'. Information Democracies (Part 2), with free-flowing but controlled information and -ultimately- Information Embassies (Part 3) that companies use as data 'beachheads' outside their boundaries are the business intelligent models. Although none of the discussion is truly earth shattering, the power of the analysis is in the fact that they are brought together in no-nonsense language. He does not use the traditional 'consultant speak' that so often burdens these sort of overviews. It can actually be read and understood by business people! Liautaud even aims it at business people that are completely IT illiterate, although of course -in this new world- these ought not to exist anymore.

Your next steps? Liautaud is to be praised in avoiding a '12 steps to happiness' approach. The case studies are interesting and support the story quite well, but they are sometimes somewhat artificial. They give the reader a good 'hook' for comparison, though, and Liautaud summarises the 'lessons learned' from them. Take your pick.

The book is a good and very practical summary of the field. It will certainly spark some good ideas in the reader's mind. The book is well written, but sometimes rather obvious for the more experienced reader. Perhaps too many open doors are, well, opened. The appendix on how to do ana RoI is, quite frankly, condescending to the reader. Perhaps Liautaud tries to aim for too wide an audience? There are some interesting and challenging parts for everyone. Although, Liautaud's vision for the future is perhaps not earth-shattering it certainly realistic and shows, again and again, that if your company today is not up to speed it may actually miss the New Economy train.

Despite his rather clumsy analogy, Liautaud does make plenty of salient points about how organisations approach information access, sharing and the extraction of value from data. Although attitudes to business intelligence have moved on from the elitist, Star Trek scenario, according to Liautaud, most organisations now face the precise opposite: a situation of 'information anarchy' where individuals or company departments have taken charge of their own data so it cannot be accessed by anyone else. 'Information democracy' - where organisations provide all their employees with access to the corporate knowledge base - is still some way away, according to the book.

Aided by an impressive series of customer case studies, e-Business Intelligence should make useful reading for those organisations hoping to achieve that information democracy. However, while the book outlines a number of practical approaches to building a business intelligence system that will actually provide value, Liautaud devotes only six pages to justifying the multi-million dollar investment required for this kind of system at board level. Furthermore, the questionnaire entitled 'Test your e-Business Intelligence Quotient' reads more like a fun quiz in a teen magazine than a valid means of measuring how well an organisation manages its knowledge base, declaring, "Congratulations, your organisation is among the leaders in e-business intelligence," if readers answer 'C' to enough of the questions.

In its favour, however, e-Business Intelligence does not degenerate into an elaborate advertisement for Business Objects' products as so many books penned by software CEOs tend to do. For example, Liautaud makes a concerted effort to dispel the misconceptions many IT managers have about implementing an unwieldy, and often hugely expensive, data warehousing system: that sharing information means losing control; that web self-service is a waste of time for users; that people in the IT department cannot understand the business; and that organisations often feel "we don't need all that data anyway". Moreover, most case studies feature a section on 'lessons learned' that will prove valuable to businesses about to embark on business intelligence projects. The most notable of these is 'Peter Blundell's Top Lessons Learned' - a list of potential business intelligence pitfalls drawn up by Peter Blundell, knowledge strategy manager for British Airways.

But while the case studies make interesting reading, the textbook style of e-Business Intelligence does tax the reader in places. The occasional moments where Liautaud peppers his narrative with anecdotes from his experience as Business Objects' CEO are genuinely entertaining, and could have been more prominent in an otherwise dry read.