Business Intelligence: Mid Level
Table 7-3 summarizes some external Mid-level business intelligence that you can gather and suggests some places for you to look for this information.
| ‚ | Source | Where to Look |
|---|---|---|
| Large-Scale Process or PPE Investments | Press releases about large deals awarded to vendors Vendor success case stories | Use search engine to find target organization ‚ s name on vendors ‚ or other Websites, organization ‚ s annual report, investor research |
| Legal or Societal Issues | New regulations Legal actions by or against organization Environmental issues or plant shutdowns Investigations, special-interest group protests, lobbying efforts | Industry Websites, industry publications , www.sec.gov, news articles, political watchdog sites |
| Trends | Industry conference proceedings Benchmarking studies | Conference or industry publications |
External to the Organization
Business intelligence on information technology investments, for example, can be found by searching the Web for press releases about major deals awarded to a vendor. Searching for vendor success case stories can also tell you about an organization ‚ s investments and goals. New regulations or legal requirements that may affect how a business is managed can be found in many trade publications or even the general press. Litigation can significantly affect the organization ‚ s cash flow and its ability to continue sales or other operations. If a business has experienced a shutdown due to environmental or other issues, it will be easy to find articles about it. The same will be true for special investigations or public protests.
Read the articles you find with a critical eye. Recognize that the writers may have been biased in their presentation of the facts either for or against the business. Lobbying efforts will also tell you what is important to a business or industry. Political watchdog or industry Websites may discuss specific lobbying activities.
By searching through the proceedings from industry conferences, you can sometimes find excellent case study presentations of how a particular company or one of its competitors solved a problem in an innovative way. By reading such case studies with an eye to their effect on financial imperatives, you can make educated inferences about what was valuable to the Mid-level management within that organization.
Many companies participate anonymously in industry benchmarking studies. Although you may not be able to identify a particular company within a benchmarking study, you will be able to find critical information about the trends that Mid-level managers are expected to keep up with. Benchmarking studies and industry proceedings usually are not free, but you may be able to borrow a copy from a public library. Don ‚ t forget to ask about interlibrary loan programs. University libraries often have larger collections of specialty information.
Internal Business Intelligence Searches
Table 7-4 summarizes suggested internal Mid-level business intelligence that you can gather, along with places for you to look for this information. You ‚ ll find some overlap between this list and the business intelligence lists for the Senior and 1st/Ops levels, especially when it comes to internal information. Just as the Senior-level measures cascade into lower-level measures, so business intelligence resources tend to repeat themselves but with more and more levels of detail.
| ‚ | Source | Where to Look |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Information | Memos or presentations with financial status Divisional or large, group-level business plans Budgets and budget variance reports | Finance or accounting department, routing and distribution via email or interoffice mail, meetings, intranets , networking |
| Individual Measures | Compensation plans Balanced scorecards (more detailed breakdown from higher-level scorecards) Succession plans Leadership development plans | HR department, high-level line management |
| Product Strategies | R&D projections Product road maps New product introduction plans Product quality reports | R&D, manufacturing, service, and marketing departments |
| Other Key Strategies | Restructuring plans Merger and acquisition plans Employee satisfaction surveys Customer satisfaction surveys | High-level line management, HR department, marketing department |
Inside your organization, you ‚ ll find helpful any memo giving financial status as it applies to divisional or group business plans and budgets. Budget and budget variance reports are also important but may be easier to obtain if you are asking for information on a specific division rather than the entire company. Compensation plans, more detailed versions of balanced scorecards, succession plans, and leadership development plans may be available from your human resources or from high-level line management.
R&D projections, product road maps, and new product introduction plans can explain anticipated revenue streams. Product quality reports can highlight areas for cost savings or improved revenues . The R&D, manufacturing, service, and marketing departments are likely to have this information.
Realignment, merger, or acquisition plans can be very helpful in determining financial and performance needs. Employee satisfaction surveys and customer satisfaction surveys highlight excellence levels that need to be maintained or issues that are costing the organization in turnover , lost sales, or complaints. Building long- term relationships with counterparts in other departments will go a long way toward helping you get the information you need easily.
EAN: 2147483647
Pages: 157