- Business Intelligence (BI) solutions have the potential to help organizations of all sizes glean valuable insights from otherwise nebulous data sets; however, without proper consideration of data integrity and quality, the value diminishes almost instantly.
- Organizations need insights immediately, but those that are in a hurry to achieve these insights often neglect the finer points of BI. While vendors are promising faster time-to-value through their deployments, the actual technology deployment should be the last piece of the puzzle, not the first.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Cloud computing has created an opportunity for vendors to leverage multi-tenancy SaaS deployment, especially in the small and mid-market space, to drastically reduce infrastructure requirements and deployment complications.
- Mobility of solutions is becoming a steeple chase amongst leading vendors to keep up with a market demanding always-anywhere access to data; however, do not let nice-to-haves, like mobile access, dominate evaluation criteria when other must-have features could be more important.
- Do not short-change people and process in favor of technology. Even the best solution will not deliver valuable insights if IT rigor and formal processes are absent. All three must work harmoniously to ensure that the organization attains maximum value.
Impact and Result
- Understand that BI can no longer be measured by the level of adoption because adoption is simply a cost driver. BI should be measured in business results.
- Develop a strategic direction for BI that builds success on data quality, staffing, and delivery of insight.