Creating Competitive Advantage Through Data Warehousing
Information Strategy: The Executive's Journal  , Summer2001, Vol. 17 Issue 4, p10, 6p 
Parzinger, Monica J.
Many companies possess the keys to success -- only they cannot find them. By using data warehousing, they can find those keys -- the data they need to improve customer service, internal operations, and relationships with business partners. 

Today's key drivers of competitive advantage are knowledge, competence, and related intangibles. The exploitation of technological know-how, intellectual property, and brands and the successful development and commercialization of new products and services are key sources of wealth. Data warehousing is a means of enhancing a company's competitive advantage by providing the data and information necessary for developing knowledge of strategic goals aimed at customer service, internal operations, and business partner relationships.

Databases allow organizations to transform information into knowledge and share this knowledge throughout the enterprise. While transaction-processing databases support business operations, the data warehouse enhances the decision-making process. It does this by collecting and storing data and information from within and outside the company that is useful for identifying organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The data and information held in the warehouse can reduce the gap between managers' perceptions of their company and the reality of the organizational environment. With the desired data available, managers acquire the power to analyze the variables influencing the market. This knowledge can be a source of competitive advantage. This study presents the background and concepts surrounding data warehousing, the benefits of this technology in terms of competitive advantage, and suggestions for the data warehouse planning process.

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