Broaden Your Horizons

For those of us that have been in the BI field for a while you start thinking just about the information that is tidily organized in your data warehouse.  This can be a very limiting vision!  My biggest passion in life is connecting people with the information that can help them realize their full potential in the work they do for their organization and to develop themselves personally.  Nothing gives me a deeper sense of satisfaction like seeing someone find a new insight in their business through BI or to learn a new tool to take their leadership to the next level.

There are so many different types of information available outside of what we think of as BI data.  Here are some examples to get you thinking:

• A leadership book that will provide some of those priceless “a ha” moments
• The practices your organization uses to manage budgets that can help a first time manager
• The name of the person in Operations that has a passion for Supply Chain management
• The blog that you visit for inspiration on marketing problems

As the BI industry matures, my argument is what we typically see as BI today will become a subset of a bigger game called knowledge or information management.  As BI professionals we need to broaden our horizons to understand how knowledge and information is shared within and outside of our organizations to help connect people with what they need most.  The right information at the right time.

Mark