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MIT: Businesses thrive more with real-time data flows

Strategy enables people and systems to make real-time decisions, MIT professor says at IFS show.

MIT professor Weill speaks at IFS show

Companies that integrate real-time data flows into their operations consistently outperform their competitors, an MIT professor said in a session today at a conference held by IFS, the Swedish enterprise resource planning (ERP) and artificial intelligence (AI) firm.

A real-time business is one that uses trusted, real-time data to enable people and systems to make real-time decisions, Peter Weill, the chairman of MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), said at the “IFS Unleashed” show in Orlando.


By adopting that strategy, they gain three major capabilities, he said in a session titled “Becoming a Real-Time Business: Unlocking the Transformative Power of Digital, Data, and AI.” They are:

  • business model agility without needing a change management program to implement it
  • seamless digital customer journeys via self-service, automated, or assisted multi-product, multichannel experiences
  • thoughtful employee experiences enabled by technology empowered teams

And according to Weill, MIT’s studies show that adopting that real-time data stance is not restricted just to digital or tech-native businesses. Rather, it can produce successful results for companies in any sector that are able to apply the approach better than their immediate competitors.

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