Sysco

SYSCO executives, in the early 1990s, determined that the decentralized and dissimilar business processes and IT systems were having a negative impact on the company. In order to alleviate these problems, Twila Day eventually turned to Business Intelligence Software, because it allowed users to more easily gain access to information without having to write complex database queries. Such a BI system can help alleviate many problems throughout an organization. One of the most obvious advantages a BI system creates is the reduction in uncertainty in decision-making. BI systems often have predictive analytics and data mining elements that enable companies to evaluate the historical trends of their operations. This allows companies to be more forward-looking and reduces information overload. Through BI systems, companies can choose which data they think would be most beneficial to their business and then focus on these areas. If, however, a company chooses to install a comprehensive BI system with many features all at once, this may actually increase information overload because they will not have gained sufficient familiarity with the system yet to know what to do with all of the information.

Although BI systems enhance the decision-making process through eliminating some of the “guess work” involved, BI systems cannot address all the problems. BI systems cannot alleviate personal biases, such a confirmation bias. If key decision-makers in an organization have certain pre-conceived notions, they may still ignore the data provided by BI systems because it contradicts these notions. Decision-makers also tend to “anchor”, or weigh one piece of information too heavily in making decisions. BI systems’ usefulness ends once the data has been presented to the decision-maker; after that, it cannot alleviate any of the cognitive biases that exist within an organization.

The BI system provided by Business Objectives can provide SYSCO with a competitive advantage because it...