Gone are the days when the use of a mobile phone was restricted to connecting to your family and friends. The scenarios have changed now, and it is no surprise that mobile technologies have advanced beyond recognition. The users of the new mobile applications have access to more than thousand applications online and mobile manufacturers are trying to tap this opportunity by developing solutions for smart information.

Over years BI (Business Intelligence) service providers have spent time and money to deliver best solutions to the users. Though the growth has been stagnant for a long time but now it has shown a momentum because of a rapid growth in technology and revolution in mobile based applications. The face of BI in mobile apps will change more when it will move from a dashboard providing application to a more sophisticated task specific feature. With improvement in the ability of smart phones the users not only enjoy interacting with mobile devices but also access useful information and sophisticated analysis.

BI in simple terms means technology, application or software that is used to extract, store, analyze data so as to help the management make better decisions, and BI through phones is sending business information through mobile.

It is helpful to business in several ways like:

1) Improving employee productivity – Today information system is used in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) marketing that will automate sales force management system, which involves huge cost and too much time on data entry. With implementation of these services in mobile BI, the users will get a structured management information system at less cost. This will provide accurate data for sales team as to where they are and what they want to achieve. BI applications also help sales team to represent how the services of the company can be useful to achieve targets. Moreover, it will be useful in supply chain management to form a distribution strategy for retailers and manufacturers. Several models can be proposed through mobile BI for product lifecycle management and information technology chain operations.

2) Faster decision-making – In current business scenario all the firms need information in a speedy manner so as to take accurate decisions and grab the right opportunity. The slow and inflexible business information may lead to major problems. For example, if a decline in sales has occurred in a particular region, the management cannot address the problem quickly without channelized information system. The accurate and fast information through mobile will be helpful in determining the actual cause of the problem along with quick decisions from the management front. The aim of mobile BI is not restricted to provide quality information but to enable faster decision making. Decision makers will be benefitted as it will reduce cost and increase profits by providing the historical trends and predict future estimates.

3) User friendly interface – The introduction of user friendly functions will definitely improve ROI (Return on Investment) in business. The decision makers can keep themselves updated with new trends and developments by subscribing for reports and alerts. These reports can be saved in certain formats and the mobile apps feature makes it easy to update the information from time to time. The information can be filtered by sort functions which save time. Moreover, the user can easily analyze different trends by changing the metrics or can breakdown the single report into different graphs and conduct a drill down research on the data.

Information You Need To Make Decisions

There is no disputing the fact that to make decisions, you need information. Without information, you are guessing in a vacuum. If you guess instead of decide, you are reducing your chances of success with your business.

Company Decision Making

A large company will probably have, or at least should have, quite sophisticated management information systems. The systems will be computerized, bringing information from all the key areas of the business. The management team will have a process for reviewing and monitoring that information, through the circulation of summary reports, meetings (regular and ad hoc), and other means of communication.

Those same sources of management information will be used as a basis for important decision making. Past sales reports; cost reports for different products, manufacturing processes, and cost centres; market intelligence; material cost reports; supplier reliability reports. Depending on what type of decision is being made, some or all of these, plus more, may be taken into account.

There is no doubt that such information should be crucial to making key decisions in that business. However, some companies fall into the trap of allowing the information system to become an internal industry in itself, with no checks and balances. If a company becomes complacent, if the whole process becomes routine and habitual, then the value of those systems dissipates. It turns the information systems themselves into a bottomless pit for management time, bringing no valuable return.

Let me illustrate. In the early 1990′s, there was an internationally known British company, which, like most companies, had a budget setting process each year. That was an important time for decisions; absolutely critical in one of the most competitive markets in the world. That particular company was near the top of the tree, if not at the top. It had won a reputation for modernization, innovation, and efficiency, in an industry bogged down by state intervention across the world.

The whole budget setting process went on for many months before the start of the financial year. Every manager of every department was geared up for it, and it had become a highlight of management activity. So how did they go about deciding the next year’s budget for each department?

Across the board, in each department, their starting point was the current year’s budget. Each manager would add a bit here and there for anything new they needed to spend money on. We’re talking many millions of pounds here. Then the Finance Director and Chief Executive, as they went through their budget setting meetings, would get individual managers to knock off a bit to make the cost base look better. So, they would end up with a budget very much like the last, regardless of whether the last budget was nonsense.

One year the Chief Executive decided the whole system was flawed. He threw out the system of “top down” budgeting, and forced every department to start from zero. They now had to justify every penny they spent to get their budget for the year. Out went the complacency and blind acceptance of what had been happening in the past. From then on, the management were forced to justify what they were going to spend. Each item of expenditure became a decision, rather than a habit. Habits continue unless you “decide” to stop them. Fewer habits and better decisions ultimately means higher profitability.