Introduction
Today’s increasingly competitive and ever shifting business environment demands professionals to develop the capability to use emerging technologies, tools, and applications with the view to enhancing the performance and competitiveness of their respective organizations. The role of information management systems (IMS) in ensuring the success of organizations operating in the present scenario has reached phenomenal proportions, as firms must now use people, available technology, and business processes in a much more harmonized and interrelated way if they are to realize optimal benefits in terms of performance and competitiveness. Drawing from this elaboration, the present paper is a personal reflection on what I have learned from the Wall Street Journal readings and active participation in the course. I also reflect on how the cumulative knowledge learnt from the readings and course has prepared me for a better future.
Desired Career Path
Upon reflecting on what I have learned from the readings and participation in the course, I am without doubt that I want to pursue a career as a business intelligence analyst. Throughout the readings and participation in the course, I have been attracted by how contemporary organizations in service-oriented and product-oriented sectors use information systems at all levels of operation to collect and process data with the view to predicting important business dynamics such as future sales, market behavior, customer trends, and customer satisfaction levels.
It is my considered opinion that I want to pursue a career as a business intelligence analyst, particularly in light of the fact that I enjoy analyzing and solving problems, working with cutting-edge technology applications to provide solutions, and collaborating with other members or stakeholders to ensure the interests of the group are realized. I believe I have the necessary analytics knowledge, intellectual curiosity, and propensity to employ available tools and applications to deliver meaningful analysis and insights as demanded by my future employer.
Role of Information Systems
The role of information systems in the domain of business intelligence analysis can never be underestimated. In fact, information systems have a pivotal role in developing business intelligence in organizations as they provide a framework through which professionals are able to use technology tools and applications to collect information from the environment and analyze it with the view to assisting firms understand a number of important outcome measures.
Upon reflecting on what I have learned from the readings and participation in the course, I am now of the considered opinion that organizations can use MIS capabilities (e.g., computer databases) to not only understand the strengths and weaknesses of their competitors in the industry, but also to appraise their own competitiveness and market share relative to others in the same industry. Today, a sizeable number of organizations employ information technology (IT) tools and applications (e.g., SAS, SAP, OLAP, SPSS, Matlab) to plan ahead by making quantifiable predictions on competitor, customer and government actions and modeling these relationships to demonstrate their effect on business.
Upon closer reflection, I now believe that IMS-related knowledge is of critical importance in ensuring the success of students preparing to pursue a career in business intelligence analysis, as the technologies, processes, and applications availed by contemporary information systems provide the needed framework for students to use internal structured data to perform online analytical processes aimed at facilitating the performance and competitiveness of their respective organizations. Additionally, I am convinced that knowledge of information systems is critically important in ensuring the success of various client-based and web-based applications, such as customer data management, accounts receivable management, billing, authorization tracking, and scheduling.
Recent News from Readings
The Wall Street Journal contains numerous news articles on IMS in general and business intelligence analysis in particular. For example, the publication contains news of how blue chip companies in America and abroad are hiring known contractors of information systems (e.g., SAP, International Business Machines Corporation, Oracle) to develop software and hardware applications intended to boost organizational productivity and enhance various business processes including customer management and inventory management.
I have read news articles on how managers and chief executive officers can use cheap technologies (e.g., mobile phones, social media applications, data mining capabilities, virtual reality, tweets, and videoconferencing) to transform business processes, standardize processes across the organization, and empower employees to become more productive. Most of the readings I have gone through demonstrate that information systems are a major ingredient in ensuring the competiveness of contemporary businesses and their adaptation to harsh business realities, though caution needs to be taken to ensure that the systems, technologies, and applications do not minimize productivity or contribute to reduced sales.
Upon closer reflection, I am of the considered opinion that the readings have enabled me to understand how various information systems and applications can be used to further the gains for organizations. Specifically, the Wall Street Journal has a lot of news articles detailing how companies have been able in employ information systems to support various business processes, including conducting competitor analysis and understanding customer behavior.
Owing to the analytics software developed by global technology firms such as IBM and Oracle, business professionals are now able to analyze and play with organizational data in real time, identify activities and processes that could affect business in the external environment, and model risk as part of enterprise risk management. Furthermore, most of the readings have real-life examples of how various global companies are using information systems to cultivate competitive advantage and how technological applications continue to be used to make business intelligence analysis a reality.
Following my Career Dream
From the readings, I have learnt that various technology giants have developed several analytic applications that could be used by business intelligence analysts to undertake competitor analysis and evaluate customer behavior orientations, among other critical functions. Consequently, I plan to consolidate this knowledge by enrolling into an educational program that will enhance my skills and competencies in using available analytic applications and software to perform various business processes, including undertaking competitor and customer analysis. The goal of taking such a facilitation program, in my view, is to enhance my capacity in using available tools and applications to analyze data and develop interpretations that will safeguard the performance and competitiveness of the organizations I plan to work for in the future.
Conclusion
In addition to demonstrating what I have learned from the Wall Street readings and active participation in the course, this presentation has effectively detailed how the learnt knowledge prepares me for a better future in a career as a professional business intelligence analyst. Overall, the personal reflection paper demonstrates that I am indeed ready to use the knowledge so far gained to propel my future career objectives and aspirations as a business intelligence analyst in a leading organization.