Decision support systems have taken on a strong importance as powerful tools to support decision-making at critical moments, as well as to find market opportunities and expansion within the industry or branch to which the company belongs. The following document will address the role that these systems play within the processes of organizations and the benefits that can be achieved by implementing any of these tools within the business processes in order to obtain a competitive advantage against rivals..
Content
In an increasingly globalized economy, decision-making in organizations becomes more complex, since a greater amount of information must be considered and this must represent the real data of what is happening in the company, so managers and Administrators must make use of tools that allow them to analyze that information and finally make the right decision on how to run the company.
Decision support systems began in the early 70's and one of the pioneers was Scott Morton, being the first to define the concept of these systems. He basically defined it as: "Interactive computer-based system, which helps decision makers to use data and models to solve unstructured problems" (Turban, 2001)
There are different types of systems that support decision-making, so the needs of the organization must be analyzed and the one that best suits it must be selected. Some of the most common reasons for using these systems can be mentioned as follows: (Turban, 2001)
- Greater processing speed: Decision support systems allow administrators to perform a greater number of information processing in a faster way and at low cost. Increased productivity: Forming specialized groups for decision making can be really costly for the organization. Through computerized systems, groups can be smaller and can be found in different places, which would imply a reduction in costs and optimization of resources. Technical support: Many of the decisions of the administrators, involve complex interactions of information in different databases within the organization. The decision support systems allow access to all the information of the organization and through the Web it is possible to have access from any place where it is needed. In addition, support can be obtained through graphics, sounds and sensitivity analysis, among others, in a fast and economical way. Quality in decisions: The quality of managers' decisions is notably improved, since there is a greater alternative to carry out evaluations, risk analyzes can be obtained quickly and communicated to other members of the organization at a very low cost. Finally, they allow the creation of complex simulations and endless scenarios, which will allow the administrator to know the impact of their decisions on the organization.
Within the decision support systems are expert systems, artificial intelligence systems, neural networks and executive information systems, among others; However, all these systems have the same role within the organization: to improve the decision-making process, through the interaction of complex variables with less effort, time and less cost.
Among the benefits that the organization can obtain, when implementing decision support systems, are the following: (Rivera, 2001)
- Increase quality in decision making Greater communication in the organization Achieve cost reduction and optimization of resources Increase in company productivity Optimize and save time Satisfaction of customers and employees
Decision support systems will be increasingly complex and with more powerful features, giving administrators greater ease in making decisions. Some future characteristics of the systems are mentioned below (Restrepo, 2004)
- Support for simultaneous decisions: Decision support systems will have a strong tendency to support the group decision-making process between different organizational units, thanks to the development and innovation of telecommunications and data communication, such as email, local networks and teleconferences. Graphic support: The graphic support provided by the decision support systems will speed up the understanding of the information and the decisions will be executed in less time. Personal Computers: Personal computers will have greater processing capacities and the use of spreadsheets, word processors and personal databases will be key for the development of reports.Vo recognition z: The voice recognition technology, will allow interaction data input to the system can be a faster and minimize input information through the keyboard. Decentralization of the decision-making process: The organizations of the past were characterized because the decisions were centralized. At present this may no longer be possible, since the constant changes in the environment and people's needs, make the organization's staff have current and timely information at all levels of the company.
Finally, it can be concluded that incorrect decisions are paid for by organizations with time and money, however, having structured, timely and reliable information will allow the administrator to have a sufficiently broad and clear frame of reference to optimize resources. of the company and create the strategy that allows it to direct the organization towards the established objectives (Bobadilla, 2001)
Conclusions
Business opportunities and the competitive advantage of organizations over competitors depend on good decision making. Managers must analyze increasingly complex variables to make the right decision on how to run the business and achieve established production, sales, or service goals.
Decision support systems are tools that facilitate decision-making by administrators as they offer a wide variety of information analysis, which is reflected in an optimization of resources and a reduction in downtime, ultimately generating greater customer satisfaction. and all the members that make up the company.
Bibliography
Bobadilla, Martha Patricia (2001); “The business impact of DSS”; Business Key
Restrepo Ramírez, Sandra Cristina (2004); "Path of Support Systems / Decision Support"
Rivera, Manuel (2001); "DSS, impact on the decision-making process"; Business Key
Turban, E., Aronson, J. (2001), “Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems”, 6th Edition, Prentice Hall
