Adaptive Business Intelligence

Abstract

Since the computer age dawned on mankind, one of the most important areas in information technology has been that of “decision support.” Today, this area is more important than ever. Working in dynamic and ever-changing environments, modern-day managers are responsible for an assortment of far reaching decisions: Should the company increase or decrease its workforce? Enter new markets? Develop new products? Invest in research and development? The list goes on. But despite the inherent complexity of these issues and the ever-increasing load of information that business managers must deal with, all these decisions boil down to two fundamental questions: What is likely to happen in the future? What is the best decision right now? Whether we realize it or not, these two questions pervade our everyday lives — both on a personal and professional level. When driving to work, for instance, we have to make a traffic prediction before we can choose the quickest driving route. At work, we need to predict the demand for our product before we can decide how much to produce. And before investing in a foreign market, we need to predict future exchange rates and economic variables. It seems that regardless of the decision being made or its complexity, we first need to make a prediction of what is likely to happen in the future, and then make the best decision based on that prediction. This fundamental process underpins the basic premise of Adaptive Business Intelligence.