Is it necessary to collaborate in order to take good decisions?

A subcategory of Business Intelligence which intends to be Social and Collaborative appeared in 2009 as CDM (Collaborative Decision Making). A Collaborative Decision Making Software (CDM) is a 

software application with different functions and features required to take collective decisions on time. Its principle¹ is founded in the fact that a good decision cannot be taken by one person or based on one single source of information. A good decision requires the involvement of stakeholders, knowledge sharing and the analysis of different pieces of information.

CDM exploit the social philosophies of social networks, Web 2.0 technologies and their functions, to apply them into the reporting and analyzing processes across the company. These software are designed to facilitate, improve and save time in the decision making process based on facts. Everyone must be able to share contents and contribute to the discussion, anywhere and anytime.

Uncertain decision!

The “Uncertainty Principle” attributed to Werner Heisenberg (1920), argues that for a given particle, it is impossible to know simultaneously its position and speed. This is because its characteristics are acquired and modified in contact with its environment.

Like the “Uncertainty Principle”, it seems difficult to imagine a straight and final way for the implementation of a decision. As “the particle” the decision is modified and enriched in contact with the stakeholders and the environment. Henry Mintzberg (Le Management, 2010) also explains that “strategies are not necessarily deliberate, they can also arise from actions”. In this context, from the decision making to its implementation, it is important to collaborate in order to take into account and capture the tacit knowledge of the stakeholders. A Collaborative Decision Making Software (CDM) offers the opportunity of sharing and formalizing the information, the analysis and the ideas that would otherwise be lost.

Since 2010² there is a tendency to incorporate features from social networks into Business Intelligence solutions. All types of business applications should also follow this fundamental transformation in the coming years.

English Translation by Paula Andrea Gómez Gutiérrez (web marketing – Advanseez)

Photo Source : From unsplash By Charles Levecque

1. NIEUWBOURG P. (2011), « CDM: Collaborative Decision Making, qu’en pensez-vous? » [↩]
2. IDC (2010), « Determining the Value of Social Business ROI: Myths, Facts, and Potentially High Returns » [↩]