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The CEO's Guide to The Top 5 Issues that Misguide Business Intelligence Decisions
When considering business intelligence (BI) software, it is
essential to be aware of underlying issues that can seriously
impact on your bottom line. In a country where most businesses
have information stored in several different databases, it's no
secret that the BI strategy you choose will effect your profit
and loss target. From data collection and integration to data
analysis, the holy grail of Business Intelligence software
combines your disparate databases to provide a d
ecision support system that will enable you to make key
conclusions using all of the available information. This is
clearly a huge bonus to those companies searching for ways to
surpass their competitors. However, in today's landscape,
managers and executives in "small to midsize" organizations are
at a significant disadvantage where business intelligence is
concerned. Their business intelligence data and needs are
similar to their Fortune 500 and Global 9000 counterparts, but
their business intelligence budgets are not. So how do you find
the right Business Intelligence vendor--one that provides
concurrent access to all available types of information with a
simple, user-friendly interface at a cost that makes sense?
Simple: Avoid these top five common obstacles and purchase only
what your company will use.
1. Usability verses feature bloat. We've all experienced
it--we want only the best. The most technically sound flat
screen TV on the market. The newest cell phone with the most
ring tones, Web access, and email. A membership to the most
popular gym filled with the most technically advanced machines
and highly-educated trainers. But does too much of a good thing
become more overwhelming than beneficial?
Simplify. Are all the bells and whistles necessary? Be
selective about the BI programs you choose and only buy what
you'll use. Carefully consider the expensive BI products and do
your research. There are companies in the BI marketplace that
provide d
ecision support systems tailored for the small to
mid-size company, without the unnecessary, expensive add-ons.
With a little legwork, you can identify BI software that enables
users to integrate, publish and analyze enterprise data across
disparate data sources - without expensive ETL technology.
2. Enough already about metadata! Metadata is literally
data about data. It can range from timestamps to icons to
free-text comments and much more. Because of the need to distill
the useful information from the mass of information available,
it's typical to invest in a large BI company that ensures
consistency by manually creating your metadata, which
in turn
can add value, but also adds tremendous cost. However, it is
often possible to leverage companies' existing metadata - a fact
that many big BI companies overlook. As such, it may not be
necessary to spend the extra money to manually create these
metadata schemes - the info you need may already be there. As
with anything else, the key is about finding balance--too much
or too little data is not useful. Good business intelligence
means balanced information.
3. Consulting Don't buy it if you don't need it. Many BI
products require substantial consulting projects as part of
their launch process, often costing as much as the software
itself. Take a close look at your company's needs and determine
whether or not this additional support is necessary. Unlike the
business intelligence products of Big BI, there are niche BI
companies with software that installs and runs without expensive
consulting - yet they still provide concurrent access to any
combination of enterprise data sources in a single user request;
can be installed in a matter of hours; and include user-friendly
tools for query creation, reporting and data analytics.
If you would like to read the complete article, please visit
Decision Technology at http://www.decision-technology.com/article_fielding_ceo.htm
.
About Decision Technology, Inc. Decision Technology
business intelligence software is the ideal solution for
organizations with limited IT resources, and whose data are
confined in disparate databases or operational systems. Since
1985, Decision Technology has provided organizations with
intuitive, information retrieval software for decision support
applications. Its newest business intelligence software product,
DecisionCentric, provides Enterprise Information Integration
with query and reporting tools optimized for small and medium
size organizations. It enables users to integrate, publish and
analyze enterprise data across disparate data sources - without
expensive ETL technology.
This article is copyrighted by Decision Technology. It may not
be reproduced in whole or in part and may not be posted on other
websites, without the express written permission of the author
who may be contacted via email at
DTI@digitalbrandexpressions.com.
About the author:
R.L. Fielding has been a freelance writer for 10 years, offering
her expertise and skills to a variety of major organizations in
the education, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, financial
services, and manufacturing industries. She lives in New Jersey
with her dog and two cats and enjoys rock climbing and
ornamental gardening.
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