Business Intelligence should not be built from fire fighting
According to John Van Decker, an analyst at Stamford, very often organisations experience problems with business intelligence software because the process of using it has evolved departmentally in response to specific problems or questions as opposed to pan-enterprise initiatives.
Business intelligence can be fractured
In an CIO News article, he says that because of the fractured evolution of business intelligence, in many companies it is the case that, “you have 100 [users] moving independently” while in others “have the problem of centralised BI that creates a bottleneck of users wanting their business needs met.”
Have you a BI Strategy?
The best way to circumvent these types of problems to implement business intelligence with a clear strategy in place as well as executive sponsorship and training that clarifies the strategy for all users. This may seem like an obvious statement but a recent Gartner report revealed that only 15 percent to 20 percent of business users that have a business intelligence strategy are actually using BI tools.
Business intelligence needs a partnership with IT
This low percentage is in conflict with the reality that business intelligence remains one of the most expensive and top priority investments for the vast majority of companies. And the Gartner report highlights other areas of conflict in regard to the implementation and use of business intelligence. For example, some organisations have a lack of partnership between IT departments and users.
The right business intelligence solution provides the right strategy
It is also often the case that users don’t wish to change from their old system as they take comfort in using familiar spreadsheets. This problem can become even more problematic when business units are spread geographically and individual business units are creating their own BI. Clearly knowing the goals of business intelligence software and the needs of individual users is the first step towards putting an effective BI strategy in place. That said the right business intelligence software will offer strategic solutions.
If you would like more information about business intelligence software, contact MXI Soft today.
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