Current Trends in Business Intelligence - Term Paper Example

? Current Trends in Business Intelligence Introduction The modern business scenario has been continuously becoming quite complex each passing day. Information reaches from one place to another through various technological sources. Information arrives from both entities involved in the process at a rapid pace. The sources of such technologies include the internet, the supply chains, automated business process and sensor equipped devices among others which are collectively tagged under Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID). Through this method, the information can be captured in a superior granularity as compared to previous times (Hanna, 2010). Moreover, there are technologies such as reality mining which are also emerging in the business world. Reality mining is mainly used to analyze the collected machine-sensed environmental data with regard to social behavior of human beings (Doody & Shields, n.d., pp. 1-31). The paper intends to present an elaborative explanation of a few of the current technological trends being used in the business. Furthermore, the paper would also depict the various impacts of RFID technology and reality mining on the present day organizations. The paper would also discuss the merits as well as the demerits of the aforesaid technologies in business. Discussion Technologies have a very crucial role to play in the present altering business environment. There has been a continuous emergence of new technologies in the business world. A few of them such as RFID technology and reality mining would be explained in details below: Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is one of the most important tools or technologies for business entities. This technology is quite effective and is capable of replacing the present modern day technology such as bar code. The technology offers strategic benefits to the business as it can track the record in case of supply chain activities more competently and effectively. This technology also provides real-time-in-transit visibility (ITV) and can also observe the general enterprise assets in the business (Sweeney II, 2010). A few of the present day examples of RFID is recognized in supply chain to create pallet tracking application which is used in companies such as Wal-Mart and its suppliers. The access control system such as keyless entry is also a RFID technology. Apart from this, applications like point-of-sale, automatic tool collection system, and animal tracking devices among others also use this technology (Hunt, Puglia & Puglia, 2007). Impacts of RFID on an Organization (Pros and Cons) The impact of RFID for the organization is based on how it is being handled by the organization. The ability of the technology to ensure services such as real-time and serialized data could prove to be quite essential to the organization. The best way to know the impact of the RFID on the organization is by assessing the area of the business where this technology is employed. The overall impact of RFID to the business can be assessed with the assistance of three distinct work flows. They are business processes, physical infrastructure as well as system and information. Proper execution of these three aspects alone would depict the major impacts of the technology in the organization (Sweeney II, 2010). On the other hand, the technology also has certain demerits that are quite vital to be analyzed. It has been observed that the technology of RFID reader at times faces difficulties to read the information if the tags are installed in liquids as well as in metal products. The problem occurs because liquid and metal surfaces replicate the radio waves, which makes the tags unreadable. Again, certain interventions can be observed in the proper use this technology if devices for example forklifts as well as walkies-talkies are in the surrounding area of the distribution centers (Shah & Murtaza, n.d. pp. 1-9). Effective Use of RFID Technology in Business By Harnessing the Benefits and Avoiding the Pitfalls The use of RFID technology in the business could augment the productivity along with diminishing considerably the associated costs. For this reason, the effective implication of the technology is quite necessary. There are certain areas where this technology plays a vital role. It has been observed that due to the use of RFID technology, the business could be able to complete identical tasks much more quickly than bar code technology. Moreover, it is very reliable as the technology possesses a greater level of accuracy. The number of errors is very less in this system. Furthermore, it has also been observed that the technology is capable of superior audit as well as asset control. Its ability to track and trace items or assets minimizes the risks of the business. Moreover, by eliminating uncertainties through the utilization of this technology, companies will undergo only a fewer “out of stock” scenarios. It can also obtain considerable amount of item availability, thus lowering the amount of lost sales along with increasing the availability resulting in more sales (RFID Centre, 2013). RFID technology is a very effective tool in the field of business. One area where it plays a vital role is the supply chain business. This technology possesses the capability of replacing the bar code system which has a lot of limitations. This technology has enormous potentials to improve the business in-spite of having a few limitations. The proper use of the technology is quite necessary as only through this way its benefits could be fully leveraged (Blecker & Huang, 2007). Reality Mining Reality mining is the study of human interference on the basis of the use of portable computing devices to reflexively record and measure the data providing imminent understanding into individual or group behavior. It is one form of data mining that removes unknown sample from real data. The purpose of this study is to get a clear and accurate picture of what people do and with whom they communicate (Peparella & Simko, 2009). Impacts of Reality Mining on an Organization (Pros and Cons) The technique of reality mining is an alternative solution of the data mining that allows the analysts to extract information by evaluating the pattern of mobiles phones as well as other wireless devices. This technology could be quite effective with regard to business. The data collected from the reality mining process allows an organization to collect vital information about people on the basis of the profiles created from a collection of data of conversation or talk through assessing e-mail, location and Web data. This process can therefore be implied to identify the collaboration or lack of it between the organizations. It has also been analyzed that evaluating the interactions between two people in the workplace through reality mining would certainly enhance the functioning of the organization (Rainer & Cegielski, 2010). Conversely, there are certain drawbacks of this technology that should not be overlooked by the organization. The quantities of data required for proper execution of the process is quite large. There are privacy issues regarding analyzing the data which obstructs the process (Biswas-Diener, 2011). Effective Use of Reality Mining In Business By Harnessing the Benefits and Avoiding the Pitfalls The implementation of reality mining in the business activities would be quite beneficial on the part of an organization. This technology has numerous benefits such as capability of analyzing the interactions between two people in the workplace which could help in improving the functioning of the organization. Moreover, this technology is also useful in analyzing the annoyance or irritation of the employees through examining the pressure exerted by them on the computer mouse. Thus, an organization can use these benefits of the technology to recognize the organizational work culture. If these advantages of the technology could be effectively implemented by the organization, it could ultimately benefit it by a considerable extent. In this regard, it can be said that in order to avoid the pitfall of privacy issue, an administrator needs to be kept who would monitor the process with adequate permission from the concerned authorities (Biswas-Diener, 2011). Conclusion From the above made observations, it can be summarized that there are many new technologies that have emerged in the world which could be beneficial to the modern day business organizations. The paper illustrated the impacts of two well accepted technologies (i.e. RFID and reality mining) on the organizations. Furthermore, the paper evaluated the benefits and drawbacks of both the technologies and provided a few consequences of improper use of these technologies. From the assessment, it can be realized that RFID and reality mining both provide unique advantages for an organization to ensure rapid exchange of information and organizational data. Moreover, these technologies also facilitate an organization to prepare better working procedures which in turn enable to augment its productivity. References Biswas-Diener, R. (2011). Positive psychology as social change. USA: Springer. Blecker, T., & Huang, G.Q. (2007). RFID in operations and supply chain management: research and applications. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH. Doody, P., & Shields, A. (n.d.). Relationship classification of object to object communications in the internet of things using reality mining. Retrieved from http://www.rfidineurope.eu/sites/default/files/Conference/Academic%20Day/Presentation%205-%20Relationship%20Classification%20of%20Object%20to%20Object%20communications%20in%20the%20Internet%20of%20Things%20using%20Reality%20Mining%20-Pat%20Doody.pdf Hunt, V.D., Puglia, A., & Puglia, M. (2007). RFID: A guide to radio frequency identification. United States: John Wiley & Sons. Hanna, E. (2010). Enabling enterprise transformation: business and grassroots innovation for the knowledge economy. USA: Springer. Peparella, M.S., & Simko, E.S. (2009). Current topics in technology 3E. India: Cengage Learning. Rainer, R.K., & Cegielski, C.G. (2010). Introduction to information systems: Enabling and transforming business. United States: John Wiley & Sons. RFID Centre. (2013). RFID business benefits. Retrieved from http://www.rfidc.com/docs/introductiontorfid_business.htm Sweeney II, P.J. (2010). RFID for dummies. United States: John Wiley & Sons. Shah, J.R., & Murtaza, M.B. (n.d.). Impact of RFID on data sharing and business processes. Retrieved from http://www.swdsi.org/swdsi08/paper/SWDSI%20Proceedings%20Paper%20S601.pdf Read More