When Good To Know Is Just Not Good Enough

Analytical or Business Intelligence (BI) Solutions have been developed with a primary focus on "informing". Through a myriad of methods, visualization techniques, KPIs and more recently predictive tools, BI can provide an excellent view of what has happened in the business (and to a more limited extent) what may happen in the future. This is all really "good to know" business information.

While there is no denying the value of a well-informed executive, any successful business professional has to move beyond contemplation and into action. The "what to do" is where BI solutions have fundamentally missed completing the business requirement. Actions/execution blurs the "figurative line" from analytics into transaction processing. Execution systems follow hardened rules and utilize data processing methods that are rather different than those utilized for analytics. Day after day executives and retail associates "get the news" from one system, resort often to ad hoc decision making processes (aka gut decisions, sometimes supported by spreadsheets) then pass the ball to others to key into the execution system. Sound familiar? We believe, and the foundation of this thesis is, that "Good to know, is just not good enough".

Recognizing that productivity and speed (even from the newest associates) are increasingly key to a Retailer's success, Manthan Systems - the innovator in Retail Business Intelligence - introduces 3^rdi, breaking the pattern of executing on information through split and archaic decision execution systems. BI solutions generally stop at the point of Informing their users. With 3^rdi, Manthan provides capabilities to allow users to Initiate and explore alternate courses of actions, select the best outcome, and then through automation, Implement that action through upstream systems.