Abstract:
In today’s dynamic business environment, no organization can exist without analyzing its market
environment, customers and competitors and taking appropriate business actions before their competitors.
The ability to be pro-active and not reactive is one of the greatest techniques for creating value within an
organization. This requires a continuous process of transforming information into intelligence and
intelligence into actionable knowledge so that a company can plan for and manage the future. Information
systems have for long been considered as competitive weapons; their ability to convert data into competitive
intelligence makes them essential tools for today’s enterprises. This research considers the role of
information systems in transforming business information into knowledge to drive decision making within
business enterprises. The research considers business intelligence from the perspectives of ICT tools
adoption, growth in data capture in firms, organizations dependence on information in making decisions and
the declining costs of ICT tools acquisition by firms as key characteristics that continue to drive the
dependence of ICT as a critical driver of decision making in firms.
