Recognizing this, the Thai-Swedish Chamber of Commerce organized a BI seminar inviting Filip Ekstrand from the Swedish firm Advince to give a speech on this special subject on Thursday 24 October at Oakwood Residence, Bangkok. Filip Ekstrand is a BI expert with 25 years of management consulting experience, mostly for multinational firms and Private Equity houses. He co-founded Data Webhouse in 1995, which was the first company in the world to create web-based Business Intelligence. Based in Stockholm, but a regular traveler, Mr. Ekstrand has been a guest writer for various esteemed publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and The Economist and has spoken on Management & Business Intelligence subjects at numerous conferences, notably among them the “E-business & Wireless CRM” in Singapore.
The seminar started with a short introduction by Håkan Arm, board member of the chamber. In addition Mr. Ekstrand briefly introduced himself and shared some of his BI experience from multinational firms. Mr. Ekstrand espoused definitions of BI from different points of view and deliberated on how to harness the power of BI, as well as how to avoid potential pitfalls. It is a well-known fact that many BI projects fail outright or do not deliver according to plans or expectations. On the other hand, well-designed, user-friendly BI applications can really deliver a competitive advantage. Hence, it is imperative that BI initiatives need to start with business objectives and target the most important and relevant business issues, rather than selecting technologies and tools. Further Mr. Ekstrand explained that the objectives and targeted issues must align with company strategy and that managers must continuously test. In addition, in order to avoid failing in BI, Mr. Ekstrand emphasized that one should not try to design a company’s BI packages as “The Mother of All Systems”.
The Seminar ended with a Q&A section which was full of interesting questions from participants.
Wine, beer and soft drinks were served, kindly sponsored by Oakwood Residence.
This seminar is organized with the aim of increasing value for members of Thai Swedish Chamber of Commerce. It was a well-attended, successful and energizing event.
