Businesses are not using business data effectively, according to
a study from analyst Quocirca for Oracle.
The research showed that only a third of businesses rate their
ability to assess the potential success of new product or service
investments as six out of 10 or higher
Only 12% of organisations consider themselves well placed (score
seven or more out of 10) to determine profitability by product
line, customer segment, market, channel.
The study, called the Oracle EPM Index, asked 800 business
decision-makers in Europe and North America, including 100 in the
UK, to rank their organisations on the processes and accuracy of
information in their companies.
Most organisations admitted they were slow to respond to changes
in market and business environments, with just 13% of respondents
believing themselves to be well placed in this regard. The UK was
markedly the most responsive in using processes to deal with
critical events.
Oracle's vice-president for Enterprise Performance Management,
Mark Wilkinson, said, "The research shows that companies are good
at visualising historical data, but not so good at forecasting and
scenario planning."
He suggested that the use of desktop business intelligence tools
was hindering companies because data was distributed on PCs rather
than centralised.
Oracle plans to run an EPM benchmark every six months from now
on, to assess whether businesses are making better use of the
information they hold.