For many years I worked in large corporations that had large application databases. These databases held logs of tracking data, product data, etc. I have yet to see a company use this type of data to its full potential. Most day to day business applications contain data that can tell you how much products cost in terms of time, resources, etc. It can also tell you about trends, seasonal or otherwise.
Sure these application databases had day to day reports written against them. They only had the beginnings of business intelligence type reports. With that sort of data you can determine standards, accountability, aid decision making regarding products, lines of business and resource performance.
Now that I am working with smaller businesses I am curious if there is still a wealth of information in the data they have. Even with a small database, implementing business intelligence principles and getting the most value out of your data is still possible.
I am going discuss business intelligence, data management and reporting here in the next few weeks.
