15 Oct 2008

Companies 'empowered' on business intelligence

Business intelligence is set to empower companies to boost their organisational efficiency, it has emerged.

Microsoft's latest technologies will help firms use business intelligence across their ranks with minimal reliance on IT, the group said.

The result will be smarter, quicker decision-making and cost-savings as a result of freeing up IT staff to focus on more valuable activities, Microsoft said.

At the second annual Microsoft Business Intelligence Conference earlier this month, the software company unveiled details of its new business intelligence projects called Kilimanjaro and Madison.

“Microsoft’s goal is to transform the way companies think of BI [business intelligence] through familiar and intuitive business-friendly tools that help them unlock the power of BI across their organisations,” Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's business division, told the conference.

Knowledge of Word and Excel is all the technical understanding customers will need to use business intelligence, Microsoft has promised.

Microsoft's business intelligence conference was held in Seattle, Washington, and was branded as a worldwide event for both customers and partners.