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Real-time data flows can provide competitive advantage

An audience views a presentation given by man in a sport coat against a backdrop that says "Becoming a Real-Time Busines."

Peter Weill of MIT tells the audience at the IFS Unleashed user conference about the benefits of being a "real-time business."

Ben Ames

"Real-time businesses" typically have more than 50% higher revenue growth and net margins than their peers, according to chairman of MIT's Center for Information Systems Research.

Ben Ames
By Ben AmesOct 17, 2024
Ben Ames
Ben Ames has spent 20 years as a journalist since starting out as a daily newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania in 1995. From 1999 forward, he has focused on business and technology reporting for a number of trade journals, beginning when he joined Design News and Modern Materials Handling magazines. Ames is author of the trail guide "Hiking Massachusetts" and is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
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Companies that integrate real-time data flows into their operations consistently outperform their competitors, said Peter Weill, the chairman of MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), in a session Wednesday at a conference held by IFS, the Swedish enterprise resource planning (ERP) and artificial intelligence (AI) firm.

These "real-time businesses," according to Weill, use trusted, real-time data to enable people and systems to make real-time decisions. By adopting that strategy, these companies gain three major capabilities:

  • Increased business agility without needing a change management program to implement it;
  • Seamless digital customer journeys via self-service, automated, or assisted multiproduct, multichannel experiences; and
  • Thoughtful employee experiences enabled by technology empowered teams.

The benefits of this real-time focus are significant, according to Weill. In a study with Insight Partners, he found that those companies that were best-in-class at implementing automated processes and real-time decision-making had more than 50% higher revenue growth and net margins than their peers.

Nor is adopting a real-time data stance restricted to just digital or tech-native businesses. Rather, Weill said that it can produce successful results for any companies that can apply the approach better than their immediate competitors.

Weill's remarks came today during a session titled “Becoming a Real-Time Business: Unlocking the Transformative Power of Digital, Data, and AI" at at the “IFS Unleashed” show in Orlando, Florida.

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cisrifsmitpeter weillrealtime decisionmaking
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