Smart Enough Systems

"Enterprise decision management (EDM) is a leading-edge concept that brings together business intelligence, business rules and business modeling: three areas that have heretofore been progressing along separate paths. By bringing them together, businesses could realize substantial gains through more effective and understandable enterprise decision making, and apply automation where possible to overcome the cost and complexity challenges that are plaguing most BI efforts. Neil Raden and James Taylor have written a book that is unique in its ability to explain EDM in depth, show how it represents an advance over earlier concepts and describe why businesses will attain new competitive advantages by adopting EDM. I recommend this book highly.

With so many distinct applications but interrelated decision processes at work in most large organizations, it's time that business and IT leaders look more comprehensively at what it takes for employees and partners to make good, informed decisions to accomplish a business goal or serve a customer. Since most BI and DW systems were set up for a different sort of information gathering and strategic analysis of historical data, organizations need to look at fresh approaches that may be more relevant to solving their problems. This book describes well the problems with current BI and DW approaches and why EDM deserves careful consideration, especially as organizations look at service-oriented architecture and greater implementation of process management.

While the authors show the shortcomings of current BI and DW implementations, they do not recommend "boiling the ocean" and changing to something completely different. Rather, the authors describe how EDM can take the current investments and apply them to address business challenges and seize new opportunities. Leading-edge companies want to sharpen and deepen how they use information for decisions that must be made with blinding speed, including loan processing, financial trading and fraud detection. To do this, they need to push forward, not get mired in massive redevelopment or reengineering of BI and DW systems. The authors are sensitive to this constraint and present EDM as an additive approach.

The writing is clear, perceptive and enjoyable to read. This is not an academic or theoretical treatise; it is rooted in experience with real-world information and rules systems, including current frustrations with implementing them. The in-depth discussion of what EDM is and how it fits with other relevant rules, BI and information management initiatives is highly valuable, even if the reader ultimately decides that EDM is not exactly what their organization needs or can implement at this time. Readers gain a better understanding of what's ahead for businesses trying to become "intelligent" businesses."

David Stodder, VP & Research Director, Ventana Research and founding chief editor of Intelligent Enterprise

"While growing up, the big rhetorical question I often heard asked was, "If we can send people all the way to the Moon and back, why can't we... ? (Fill in the blank with a frustration - predict tomorrow's weather, design a car that runs on something besides oil, make a good omelet...). The same kind of question might be asked of today's businesses: With all the vast amounts of information technology and data that is abundant in today's corporations, why can't companies still comprehend want their customers want, what their employees know, and what the future directions they should take?

In Smart (Enough) Systems, James Taylor and Neil Raden - who have been leading the charge for more engaging business intelligence for a number of years now - attempt to finally answer this question, by looking at the current state of technology and how it is employed - or underemployed - within today's organizations.

In fact, James and Neil point out that most organizations already have the technology in place from which they can make better decisions. It's not technology that's holding things back, it's the way that decision making is managed and measured - which, in many cases, is no management or measurement at all.

This book is a must-read for any manager or professional that seeks to understand how human-machine interaction can be better leveraged to make sense of all that data now flowing through organizations - and make smarter decisions. And, ultimately, the lesson learned is the same with any other major technology change that has swept today's organizations - it's not technology that means the difference between failure and success -- it's adroit and informed management that makes the difference."

Joe McKendrick, Industry analyst and contributing editor ZDNet, Database Trends & Applications magazine, ebizQ

"The book is more than a primer and handbook, it is an instruction manual that can be used collaboratively by both sides of the organization. The business-oriented sections of the book justify and explain the need for the technical requirements, which ought to make for constructive leadership and better decisions that are understood throughout the process by all parties. An ambitious dive into a complicated topic, Smart (Enough) Systems delivers a big menu of valuable opportunities balanced by the pragmatism of the authors' experience. I could immediately relate the advice in this book to the experiences of the corporations I talk to on a daily basis."

Jim Ericson, Editorial Director, DM Review, BI Review Magazines

"A must read for anyone that is serious about improving the art and practice of organizational decision-making."

Mark Clare, Vice President, Parkview Health. Adjunct Faculty, Northwestern University