We are flooded by data generated in today’s digital world. It is easy to collect them. Yet, the trick is to analyze them to useful effect.
Whoever, by digging through data, discovers a source of valuable information, gains a precious raw material, capable of charting a new course for their business. Professor Celina M. Olszak studies the use of data analysis tools in business management. Under the NAWA scholarship and the Bekker Programme she conducted her research at Australia’s University of Technology Sydney.
NAWA: To what extent are Business Intelligence and Big Data tools developed in your opinion?
Professor Celina M. Olszak, Rector of the University of Economics in Katowice: The development of BI&BD tools has significantly accelerated recently. From simple solutions focused on static reporting, they have evolved into tools enabling advanced analytics, web data mining, e.g. from social media, and natural language processing. BI&BD tools make it possible to discover associations and dependencies between data and, as a result, help to identify market trends, recognize social and political sentiment, identify many threats (including epidemics, climate, etc.) and embezzlement at an early stage.
Particularly interesting is the fact that BI&BD tools are becoming a driver of change and a provider of new business opportunities right in front of our eyes. As yet, business has determined the scope and area of IT use. By analogy to the financial leverage effect, we are facing the leverage effect of digital assets and the creation, based on them, of new values for the entire business and ecosystem.
What proportion of companies in operation today use BI&BD tools in your opinion?
Modern companies are clearly divided when it comes to the use of BI&BD. Advanced implementations can be encountered especially in banks, financial institutions and large manufacturing and trading companies. There, BI&BD tools are used for customer segmentation and profiling, predicting customer loyalty and migration, credit risk assessment, fraud detection, forecasting the development of strategic business processes, optimizing logistics processes, and designing and analyzing advertising campaigns. It is worth noting that companies using BI&BD are usually also users of modern IT production management systems. Good cooperation of the company’s management with the IT department and the knowledge management centre play an important role in the implementation of both systems.
SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) usually opt for rather simple systems, focused mainly on current reporting. They are not end-to-end solutions and often fail when confronted with the ever-increasing amount of data and the genuine needs of companies. They do not imply a direct translation into decision-making processes, especially the development of new business models and the establishment of original logistics chains.
There is a growing demand for predictive analytics using high-level algorithms based on artificial intelligence and neural networks. A classic example of such extensive analysis is online shopping applications with Amazon.com as the leader. They use, among others, advanced analytical technologies to process data coming from the monitoring of customer interactions in real time.
Does your research indicate the industries for which BI&BD tools are particularly useful? Would you recommend them rather to large companies or also to smaller ones?
There are probably no industries left that do not see the advantages of using BI&BD. Some of the first industries to start using BI&BD solutions were banks and financial institutions. Over time, the beneficiaries of these tools have been joined by manufacturing, logistics, marketing, HR, ICT and energy companies, government administration, and recently also the healthcare sector and widely understood education and higher education. The primary purpose of BI&BD tools is to explore and analyze huge data sets from various distributed sources (databases, internet, mobile devices, sensors, etc.). Therefore, when using BI&BD tools, it is not so much the size of the company that matters, but rather its needs in terms of data analysis and discovering connections between various facts that are difficult to spot with the naked eye.
Can you provide an example of a BI&BD application that can significantly improve business operations?
The most spectacular results of the use of BI&BD have been observed in the creation of advertising campaigns, anticipation of sales and customer behaviour, development of loyalty policies, and investigation of anomalies and embezzlement. BI&BD tools enable one to predict demand better than ever before based on a variety of criteria, not only geographic and demographic, but also behavioural. They offer new opportunities to identify target groups and track customer behaviour. The role of BI&BD in identifying fraud and embezzlement should also be mentioned. Until now, the most popular ways to detect fraud have been expert-based methods. However, the increasing number of transactions and ever-changing fraud techniques have made it necessary to support expert knowledge with knowledge gained through advanced data-mining methods. They make it possible to quickly find patterns of behaviour that suggest fraud (suspicious transfers, orders and other unlawful activities against the company), as well as to search for links between persons involved in fraudulent activity.
Why did you choose the University of Technology Sydney for your research under the Bekker Programme?
UTS is one of Australia’s most rapidly growing universities. It is primarily known for its innovative curricula and cooperation with industry. The university is a member of the Australian Technology Network, comprising five of the most prominent universities with a history of working closely with the industry and public administration, as well as providing practical and professional education. It conducts large-scale research on innovations in technology and managerial practices that contribute to the transformation of companies and increase their efficiency and the economy as a whole. UTS is highly rated in various rankings by specialist agencies and is the only university in Australia to have four researchers on Clarivate Analytics’ “Highly Cited Researchers” list, the leading indicator of the best researchers in the world.
What was the impact of the NAWA scholarship on your development as a scientist?
When I went on the NAWA fellowship, I had already obtained all the possible academic degrees and titles in Poland. So, one may indeed wonder what a scientist like me might expect from such a research visit. To be honest, I guess I was not that much different from a young researcher starting out in his or her career. It was, above all, a desire to get to know more, to expand my horizons, to make new contacts, and to develop further, but not so much in terms of my personal development as acting for the environment, the team, the university. My research perspective – problem solving involving BI&BD – has become more holistic and multidimensional.
If you were to encourage other scientists to take part in the Bekker Programme, what is the greatest value of a NAWA scholarship?
Each visit to a foreign and reputable university gives you positive energy, allows you to break many cognitive and mental barriers and boosts your self-confidence. It also teaches humility, but all in all “pushes you forward”, which is ultimately the point.
Thank you for your time.
Professor Celina M. Olszak, the beneficiary of the Bekker Programme, is currently Rector of the University of Economics in Katowice. Photo: private archive of Professor Celina M. Olszak.
Professor Celina M. Olszak is a graduate of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Computer Science and Management. After graduation she worked at the University of Economics in Katowice, where she earned her PhD, post-doctoral degree and the title of professor of economics. She is a Swiss State Fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), a fellow of Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst at the University of Trier in Germany and the Bekker Programme at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia (UTS). She has also paid many short-term visits and has had training courses in foreign centres (University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand; London University; Vienna University). Her research interests include the design and implementation of IT systems in organizations, digitalization of enterprises, management decision support systems, computer-aided organizational development, Business Intelligence, Big Data, and the impact of information technology on the economy and society.
Professor Celina M. Olszak is the author or co-author of many publications. Her papers are published in major international journals and have numerous citations worldwide. The recent monograph “Business Intelligence and Big data. Drivers of organizational success” was published by Taylor & Francis, 2021. She has held various positions during her career. She is currently rector of the University of Economics in Katowice, member of the Presidium of the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (CRASP), chair of the CRASP IT Infrastructure Committee, member of the Committee on Organizational and Management Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) and head of the Department of Business Informatics.
How to receive a NAWA scholarship under the Bekker Programme?
Detailed information about the NAWA programme can be found HERE