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January 24, 2008

'Agility': Can It -- Should It -- Be Measured?
The BI vendors -- and analysts and pundits -- talk incessantly about the 'agility' new BI and analytics systems deliver to the business.

BI and analytics deal with precise measurements and benchmarking of data. But the lofty goal of agility is something that doesn't seem to have a precise measurement. Should it?

So, what exactly is agility, and how do we know when we have it?

That's the intriguing question put forth by Cliff Longman, chief technology officer for Kalido: "The industry talks about 'agile' systems, and 'flexible IT'. Could someone propose a way to BENCHMARK agility?"

Cliff suggests that perhaps agility should be measured in the amount of time it takes to change an application may be a yardstick for agility. "Some people would say that adding a new hierarchy to an existing BI application in less than a month is 'agile'. Some would say that only less than a week is 'agile'. Some say that only less than a day is agile."

Is there a way of putting a quantitative value on agility of business systems? Readers, we'd love to get your thoughts on what, exactly, is meant by 'agility,' and how that can be measured, if at all.

Posted by joemckendrick in Management | Digg This | Add to del.icio.us

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