Oracle9iR2 Data Warehousing

8.4 The data warehouse and e-business intelligence

The Internet and company Intranets are creating huge opportunities for organizations. For businesses they are identifying new customers and encouraging existing customers to switch their loyalties to other companies. Within a company they are providing a flexible, easy to use, working environment. The data warehouse can be a key component in making your ebusiness successful. Why? Because it can help answer all those important questions that ensure your business succeeds, such as:

• What products people buy

• When these products are sold—time of year and time of day

• When there is a quiet time when systems can come off line

• What we predict our sales will be this time next year based on current sales

• How much free shipping will cost us

Hopefully, this chapter has given you an insight into how you can use the Web with your data warehouse. There are many ways it can be exploited and we have barely touched the surface here with respect to the tools and techniques that are available. Oracle is also continually enhancing the tools to facilitate easier construction of Web-based applications, and new announcements are being made all the time, so keep visiting Oracle's Web site at http://www.oracle.com to get all of the latest information. If you have never experienced customizing a Web site, then try it for yourself at http://myoracle.com.