“While growing up, the big rhetorical question I often heard asked was, “If we can send people all the way to the Moon and back, why can’t we… ? (Fill in the blank with a frustration – predict tomorrow’s weather, design a car that runs on something besides oil, make a good omelet…). The same kind of question might be asked of today’s businesses: With all the vast amounts of information technology and data that is abundant in today’s corporations, why can’t companies still comprehend want their customers want, what their employees know, and what the future directions they should take?
In Smart (Enough) Systems, James Taylor and Neil Raden – who have been leading the charge for more engaging business intelligence for a number of years now – attempt to finally answer this question, by looking at the current state of technology and how it is employed – or underemployed – within today’s organizations.
In fact, James and Neil point out that most organizations already have the technology in place from which they can make better decisions. It’s not technology that’s holding things back, it’s the way that decision making is managed and measured – which, in many cases, is no management or measurement at all.
This book is a must-read for any manager or professional that seeks to understand how human-machine interaction can be better leveraged to make sense of all that data now flowing through organizations – and make smarter decisions. And, ultimately, the lesson learned is the same with any other major technology change that has swept today’s organizations – it’s not technology that means the difference between failure and success — it’s adroit and informed management that makes the difference.”
Joe McKendrick, Industry analyst and contributing editor ZDNet, Database Trends & Applications magazine, ebizQ
