Technical capabilities of business intelligence systems in South African medium to large organisations

Abstract

Companies are putting in place systems that might assist in attaining their business goals and vision to improve the running of their business processes. Companies are looking at Business Intelligence (BI) as a means to attain a competitive edge over competitors, predict future trends, improve strategic decision making, facilitate quick and reliable decision making, or make the day-to-day running of business easier. The study looks at the perspective of middle to top management on the context of BI, with main focus on the technical capabilities of BI within medium to large companies in South Africa. To obtain factors relevant to the South African business context, an online survey was conducted with various sectors of South African industry. The study is part of research conducted collaboratively by the University of the Western Cape and Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences in Germany. It focuses on exploring usage of Business Intelligence Systems (BIS) together with Corporate Performance. Online surveys were conducted that targeted medium to large companies in Germany and South Africa by questioning middle to top management on issues surrounding BIS and Corporate Performance. On this basis online survey approach was taken to ensure required number of participants would be covered and approached. Therefore, the research adopted stratified sample method for the online survey. Stratified sampling enabled the expansion of the research by gathering and collaborating participants responses on the research question and eliminate the possibilities of unreliable sample from large population.