One example is getting an accurate profile of customer purchase patterns to update a Web site storefront. Another is reviewing payment streams to identify opportunities for potential cost recoveries. Critical event situations. If your organization is experiencing a merger or acquisition, litigation, fraud investigation, or a regulatory compliance issue, data analysis accuracy and speed can be crucial. In an acquisition, for example, an electronically generated customer list can be instrumental to accurately valuing the business.
Opportunity costs are real and significant.
When your management team deploys a large part of its resources to solve data issues, such as struggling to derive pertinent facts from technical reports, those resources aren't available to focus on the immediate business decision. And in companies that have already downsized or outsourced their IT analysis resources, the problem becomes magnified. The analysis of electronic data can often be a very time-intensive effort. The detail tasks connected with capturing, validating, and processing your data can take up 50 percent of the total business problem-solving effort. And the more time you spend here means less time for solving the business problem.