Knowing the answer isn't always the end of the line

There’s another destination on the Business Intelligence horizon that organizations are embarking on, we’ve been going there for a while, likely unknowingly. Today information workers use a combination of communication methods including instant messaging, email, phone calls, ect. What is the result of this besides clogging up our inboxes with even more messages? A larger investment in communications strategy including areas like voice over IP (VOIP), mobile devices, and video conferencing to allow workers to effectively communicate across their different groups, share information, and collaborate around information.

As organizations look to make sense of their data with business intelligence tools, do deeper analysis or product categories, performance of sales, financial calculations, users look for ways to make sense of the questions and answers. While this is occurring, users also need more seamless ways of communicating with each other to effectively drive decisions. Think of a scenario like this:
Business issue: Q4 numbers are below forecast for Europe
Business question: What are my net sales for Germany vs budget in Q4?
Answer: Net sales for Germany in Q4 are $5million vs budget of 5.8million, a variance of $800,000
Question: What caused this variance?
Answer: Product sales for desk lamps are down by 22%

Deeper analysis can be done around product and market trends but at this point and phone is being picked up and someone, (typically someone is sales) in being asked why this is occurring.
The reality is that once we get the answers to our questions there are a number of next step communications that happen. In this case the following questions could arise; was there an issue with sales, was there an issue with the product, was there something that happened in the market during this time period, what do we need to ensure this trend doesn’t continue?

Knowing the answers doesn't make any difference if you can't effectively communicate those answers to the right people in the organization. Look for business intelligence, communications, and collaboration technology to being to blend strategies together as information grows and users continue to cry out for easier ways to communicate and make informed decisions.