Closing the loop to translate insight into action

Full closed loop BI functionality across mobile and social networks has now become feasible, allowing enterprise BI to deliver even greater business value.

MicroStrategy now makes full use of interactive closed loop capabilities to deliver even greater value from the data residing both within and outside an enterprise. Within an enterprise, mobile adds a new dimension to closed loop BI functionality. From outside, a mature social media ecosystem gives a new dimension and scope to the data available for use.

Closing the loop – from data to decision to action – is key to successful business intelligence applications.

While closed loop intelligence may have been a BI ideal for years, supporting technologies to make even better use of it – such as ubiquitous social media and smart mobile devices – have not been mature enough until fairly recently.

This is because closed loop systems allow users to not only gather and analyse data, but also to put comments and results back into a system to measure changes and make informed strategic decisions. To do this across multiple platforms and devices was impractical.

In the case of social media, enterprises could previously do little more than watch and guess what the outcome of their campaigns might be.

With closed loop functionality, enterprises now can not only tap into the shared information about their Facebook fans, for example, they can also run campaigns against this data and measure the impact of those campaigns – against the same market.

This kind of feedback was previously only available if marketers used form-based surveys and returned to the exact same cross section of survey respondents after a campaign. MicroStrategy’s new tools allow for immediate feedback on the outcome of a campaign.

You can drive the campaign, measure, monitor and if necessary, re-drive it.

And once these tools have been in use for a number of successive campaigns, enterprises will also be able to delve into data from previous campaigns to predict the outcome of future actions in a particular market.

Closed loop processes also deliver value in workflow management, logistics and procurement. Instead of having to source historic data on a supplier’s service interaction from one database or department, then predict the impact of a process, then approve it, enterprises can now tie together the ability to investigate, approve and conclude a transaction with one tool.

This makes it feasible for a single system to be accessed via a mobile device, allowing a decision-maker to review and authorize processes from anywhere.

Closed loop functionality is the way of the future.