Zara Market Share

Three generations of Data Management in Decision Support 1. Early 1970s – required a repository of data : sourced from operational system + other data (e. g. external data) – Data was customized for the specific DSS – Application-centric approach : data support a single or a few related applications used to help make the business case for the warahouse – Sprague provided the Data-Dialog-Models (DDM) paradigm 2. Late 1980s Telecommunications, retailing and financial services industries built warehouses to store vast amounts of customer and sales-related data –These industries remain leaders in terms of the size of the warehouses and how the warehouses are used – Data-centric approach : support a variety of applications 3. In 2000 – the movement to real-time data warehousing – changes in the way that warehouse data is used – different : Previous : data aims to understand what had already happened and to predict what would h appen in the future * limit to influence real-time decisions and current operations * Now : real-time data (current decisions and critical business process) such as customer-facing and supply chain applications can be significantly enhanced Real or Right Time ? –Incorrect concept applied to warehousing : real-time = instantaneous – Reason : much of warehouse data cannot be captured and entered into the warehouse in seconds or minutes. * expensive difficult to make real-time * may not be a business need for real-time data – Example : Some source systems, e. g. a legacy COBOL program, is undated once a month Continental Airlines – a leader in real-time business intelligence – won The Data Warehousing Institute’s prestigious Best Practices and Leadership Awards – Real-time data warehouse : provide the data that is required to implement real-time BI – Firms can use BI to affect current decision making and business processes by usin e real-time – Importance : especially for customer-facing applications, e. g. hose found in call centers and check-in processes, help firms become more customer-centric –Terms describe firms use real-time BI : â€Å"real-time enterprise† , â€Å"zero latency organization† – Purpose of real-time BI : * increase revenues and decrease costs => improve profitability – e. g. Continental Airlines * taken a $30M investment in hardware, software and personnel to generate over $500M in revenue, resulting in a ROI of over 1,000% – Firms must overcome both organizational and technical challenges for real-time BI successful – Organizational must be executive : * sponsorship and support * initial and on-going financial support governance processes put in place * BI and data warehousing personnel with the requisite personnel – Technical : * acquire and implement new hardware and software * establish processes and procedures for sup porting and managing real-time data feeds from source systems * data must be quickly transformed and loaded into the warehouse * data must be analyzed and made available to operational systems and personnel – briefly discuss an application that illustrates Continental’s use of real-time BI – focus on the technical issues associated with Continental’s implementation of real-time BI