INVESTIGATING BUSINESS INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN LARGE FINNISH COMPANIES

Traditionally, information systems and processes in companies have focused on selected information within a certain context. However, what decision maker's need is a comprehensive set of up-to-date information on various contexts. Information on both internal and external sources is important in order to enable sophisticated decision-making. In a time of fast change and intense competition, companies aiming to succeed in this demanding business environment are restlessly seeking effective business information management practices. Term Business Intelligence (BI) refers to business information management processes and systems and the business knowledge itself, although the terminology is far from consistent; other terms instead of Business Intelligence are also used. Besides, in the real world Business Intelligence is often used to refer to both the information technology based systems and the actual business information management processes. In this study, the business information management practices of large Finnish companies are explored. The aim is to find out - to mention a few topics - what terminology is used, how Business Intelligence functions are organized and how important this area is seen for the future competitiveness. The top 50 Finnish companies were interviewed by telephone in July 2002. The sampling plan of the study required that the business intelligence experts representing the top 50 companies in Finland answer a multi-page questionnaire. An expert interviewer navigated the respondents through the questionnaire, and assisted when found necessary. In the paper, the research process is described and the main results of the study are presented. In addition, conclusions based on the results are withdrawn to contribute to the research and development of business information management, and to set guidelines for further academic research of this emerging topic.