What is a Smart (Enough) Business Anyway?

DM Review, January, 2008 by James Taylor

DM Review welcomes James Taylor as a columnist. James helped create the emerging enterprise decision market and will share his passion about decision management each month.

Welcome to the first installment of my new column. As you can see, the column is called smart (enough) business, and each month, I am going to focus on how a particular kind of business could (or an actual business has) become “smart enough.” I thought I would take this opportunity to explain the title a little.

Why smart (enough)? Why not just “smart” or “intelligent”? It is hard to make a business, or a system for that matter, “smart” or “intelligent.” It is also not necessary. A business has a specific purpose and very specific targets or goals. Being smart enough to deliver on that purpose...