Business Intelligence – Implementation Tactics

Beginning business intelligence (BI) initiative doesn’t need to be an expensive investment, but it’s important to choose a solution that enables you to easily achieve your initial BI needs and later grow to more advanced ones. When you first implement a BI solution, you most likely will be coming from an undisciplined spreadsheet environment. The key is to start small and work to expand the BI deployment to additional applications and added functionality as your business adopts and masters the technology. Your ultimate goal is getting organizational users less dependent on IT for their analyses.

After using BI for operational purposes, you will likely want to progress to deeper analysis, like comparing one period’s results to another. This is accomplished by using a data warehouse containing historical data values, which makes time-period comparisons possible. A data warehouse usually contains data from many sources, and the BI solution will be able to consolidate the data for exact, consistent reporting.

It’s crucial to consider other key factors when choosing a B1 product. How easy is it to implement and run the solution? How well will this new system assimilate with the existing platform and environment of your organization?

A few more important considerations include:

• An integrated product suite with a range of functions that your company can deploy as needed
• The scalability to handle an expanding user base as the company grows and usage increases
• Data-quality functionality to ensure a trustworthy structure
• The capability to access and integrate a variation of data sources
• 64-bit construction that can allow you to analyze large quantities of up-to-the-minute information
• Robust report cataloging and distribution functions

Another crucial consideration in the implementation process is selecting an appropriate vendor. It’s imperative to consider numerous aspects, including experience, reputation, stability, professional services capabilities, and the quality and strength of their partnerships.

Some other important considerations include:

• A proven track record and a history of effective growth, both in revenue and capabilities
• A history of vision and innovation
• Reputation and ability as a BI leader
• Education and training capabilities

To conclude the Business Intelligence blog series, it’s important to remember that BI allows you to analyze and better understand your plans and results. It provides insight into what’s working correctly and identifies potential problem areas in time for corrective actions to be taken. If you think a BI solution would benefit your business, contact Third Wave today!