Vusumuzi Dube
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector has been urged to make use of business intelligence software to increase revenue, improve operational efficiency, and gain competitive advantages.
Business intelligence (BI) refers to the procedural and technical infrastructure that collects, stores and analyses business information from internal and external data sources.
In an interview on the sidelines of the official opening of the winter school, Computer Society of Zimbabwe (CSZ) Bulawayo Chapter chairman and convener of CSZ Winter School 2023, Mr Percy Sibanda said there was need for the ICT sector to enhance the power of business intelligence.
“The delegates are looking forward to two and half days of intense training on how to convert data into information.
Business information is transformed into actionable insights for strategic and tactical business decision-making.
“The sector has to make use of business intelligence, which is motivated by the concept that managers with inaccurate or incomplete information tend to make worse decisions than those with better information,” said Mr Sibanda.
“Business intelligence considers methods and tools that transform unstructured data sets, compiling them into easy-to-grasp reports or information dashboards. It unlocks the power of data.”
He said business intelligence tools included spreadsheets, reporting software, data visualisation software, extract transform load (ETL), data mining tools and online analytical processing (OLAP).
Mr Sibanda said businesses should know where to collect data, such as from customers, the stock exchange and competitors, while for the data to be useful, it must be stored in a data warehouse, a place that data stakeholders can reliably access.
In her opening remarks, CSZ president Ms Joice Benza said the winter school had evolved over the years and they now have a Southern African, continental and global reach.
She said they have also become members of a number of ICT bodies that include Technology Information Confederation Africa (TICONA) among others.
Ms Benza added: “We have also expanded our chapters that include the women’s chapter that has seen us getting bursaries from sponsors for girls in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), while we are rolling out mentorship programmes for girls and ladies among others.”
“We have setup a diaspora chapter to be launched in July and we will be launching satellite chapters in various towns and cities such as Mutare, Gweru and Kwekwe among others as we expand.”
She said CSZ was also in collaboration with a number of universities to empower the students.
This year’s winter school is running under the theme: “Unlocking the Power of Business Intelligence.”
Founded in 1974, CSZ is the largest body of ICT professionals in Zimbabwe and aims to educate the general public on the use and development of electronic data processing.
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