I have found that most people will make the same decision when presented with a fairly complete data set. Improve the information available to individuals, and they will make better decisions. Better results will follow.

One of the most significant developments of the last few years has been the development of databases that sit on top of the information systems of customers, suppliers, partners, and the company itself. Business Objects, a pioneer in business model innovation, has been important in making these improvements.

These data (called business intelligence) are accessible to people throughout the information ecosystem that supports the business (the company, and its customers, partners, and suppliers), and any business user can ask their own custom questions and get immediate answers without having to involve anyone from the information technology staff. This innovation of shielding business people from the complexity of the back-end system while opening up access to the information is helping to drive effective decision-making down in an organization closer to the customer, and making the company more competitive.

Although the idea of empowering knowledge workers has been around for awhile, only in the last few years have business intelligence solutions turned this potential into reality.

This sort of data integration then fits nicely with the new communications tools like work sharing programs and e-mails that can tie together large numbers of people to work on the same task without being in the same location at the same time. In addition, many forward-thinking companies are beginning to deploy business intelligence on mobile devices, such as PDAs and cell telephones.

The traveling workforces of executives, sales people, and customer service representatives, as well as line workers of all kinds, can now always have business intelligence and communications at their fingertips.

With these two changes, new business models can emerge that build on human curiosity and intelligence to allow people to "serve themselves" in a wide variety of markets in the same way they do now in the supermarket. The rise of discount broker Charles Schwab on the Internet is a good example of this trend.

The information that a customer can access on the Schwab Web site exceeds what a full commission broker could look at only a few years ago. Schwab has used this linkage of knowledge and communications to become the market leader in discount brokerage, even though its trading services are priced higher than many of its competitors.

Where can you apply improved information to create a more profitable business model?

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved