BX — Beyond BI
BI tools were great in an era where the volumes of data we had could be conveyed with graphs and charts. But a decade later and we’re dealing with exponentially more information. Visualisations alone don’t cut it for businesses looking to act on data. They don’t pinpoint what we need to focus on and help us trigger the action we need to take.
Because here’s the thing: Visibility is great until you have it. Because the next question becomes, so what?
What do I actually do about that pretty chart or report on my screen?
How do I surface what action I need to take? What is the recommendation for what I need to start or stop doing to drive my business forward? What actions can I kick-off?
You can’t.
BI (Business Intelligence) tools have served an important purpose to date: They allow us to bring together information and visualise them in ways we could never have done before. But we’re entering a world where seeing charts and tables don’t cut it. At best, they help us identify outliers: the highest value, the peak or pit of a graph — but it’s too overwhelming to do much more than that with those tools.
Five examples of where BI falls short
- Managers want to walk into meetings with relevant, targeted and tailored notifications in realtime. Not dated reports that result in disputes and disagreements.
- Teams want to automate processes, not wait for reports to be reviewed and actions to be decided.
- OH&S teams want to pre-empt catastrophes, not helplessly report and visualise issues after people are hurt.
- Customers expect us to pre-empt their issues. They don’t like being a statistic buried in a report until they kick and scream to be heard.
- Supply chains and Manufacturers need to predict failure, not wait for a report describing processes and equipment that have failed, and waiting for a meeting to take action.
Welcome to BX Platforms
Spreadsheets were the staple tool to get by in 90’s. BI tools became all the rage in the early 2000s. Today the world is looking to a simpler, more meaningful way to provide insights and automate processes. Fast forward to 2020 and we’re welcoming Bx to help us run businesses more simply and efficiently than ever. Here’s a small taste of what it could look like for your organisation:
Three ways BX transcends BI.
Bx platforms are different from traditional BI in three ways:
- Bx platforms are about actionable events and insights.
- Beautiful reporting is a “given” in Bx platforms, it’s not the end game.
- The x denotes BX platforms ability to sit across more than systems that spit out numbers and charts: BX platforms can stand for Business Automation, Business Insights, Business Compliance, Business Audit, Business Integration and Business Control.
At Sky Ledge, we’ve been working on creating the world’s first Bx platform in partnership with some of the world’s largest organisations over the past two years, and the results have been amazing. Here’s an example of the type of feedback we get from customers:
“Instead of wading through reports and charts, I can receive instant notifications and take actions”
“Different teams can receive insights that are personalised. A safety issue in a mine can be communicated as a technical failure to technical teams, an OH&S issue to Safety and a business impact issue to the CEO”
“Bx Platforms sit at the intersection of my IoT and BI platforms. They really help me unlock potential across data that sits in both systems in a way that’s simple and powerful”
Bx is a new way of doing business. Sky Ledge is available to enterprises looking to trial Bx with the goal to have a general release available in Q1 2020. Developers can sign up today to get free access.
