Warami Technology Consulting

In my last blog post I mentioned that demand for Business Intelligence (BI) solutions is growing among small and medium sized businesses. Given this, I thought it would be interesting to recap on the subject of BI and take a look at the opportunity that exists for SMB's. I'll wrap up with some basic approaches that you can take when adopting BI technologies and applications.

What I Mean By Business Intelligence

Put simply, BI is the practice of using company data to help you make informed and insightful business decisions. Equipped with full knowledge and accurate reports, business owners and managers can use this information to eliminate unprofitable activities, examine changes in key markets and gain competitive advantage by moving resources to the right areas of the business.

It's worth noting that BI doesn't just refer to the software and technologies involved in producing things like reports, KPI's and performance scorecards. I view it as more of a 'discipline' in its own right as it encompasses the wider set of skills and practices needed to acquire, organize, process and analyse business data. This is an important distinction as the adoption of a BI solution can be a complex task that usually requires strong analytical and technical skills.

Why SMB's Need Business Intelligence

It's pretty much a given that we all want timely, relevant and accurate information. Interestingly, a recent BusinessWeek study found that, when it came to making business decisions, 60% of respondents relied on 'gut feel' half of the time.

Clearly, it remains a challenge for smaller businesses to collate and tap into the kind of information that they require. It's at this point that a well-designed and thought-out BI solution can come to the rescue. Yes, spreadsheets and presentations are useful tools but they are also highly labour intensive. BI solutions can automate the provision of the kind of reports, scorecards and dashboards that business owners require on an ongoing basis.

Why The Time Is Right

Historically, BI solutions have long been regarded as time-consuming and expensive. With such a high cost of entry, usage was mainly confined to large corporations. However, recent technological development, continued product commoditization and increased competition has meant that BI solutions have now worked their way down to the level of the SMB.

With a much lower cost of entry there probably has never been a better time for SMB's to start adopting BI solutions. Smaller companies have the advantage of being able to move quickly and there are BI solutions in the marketplace that allow companies to be up and running in a timeframe of weeks (as opposed to traditional corporate timeframes of 1-2 years) with minimal up-front investment.

Opening The Door to Business Intelligence

So, now that we know SMB's need it, want it and can implement it quickly - how can they open the door to BI? Here are three simple approaches to consider:

• Leverage an existing investment in Microsoft platforms and software
• Evaluate on-demand Business Intelligence solutions
• Keep an eye on open-source Business Intelligence solutions

Leverage an existing investment in Microsoft platforms and software

If you have already made an investment in Microsoft solutions and technologies then you might find that you can leverage this for BI purposes at little or no additional cost. The Microsoft stack consisting of SQL Server 2005/2008, Office SharePoint Server and Office 2007 provides the vast majority of tools and applications required to implement a successful BI solution. For a useful starting point read the TechNet article entitled Business Intelligence with SharePoint and Excel

Evaluate on-demand Business Intelligence solutions

The market for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) BI solutions is starting to heat up with the on-premise/enterprise-level vendors (SAP, IBM) moving downstream to compete with a host of dedicated, cloud-based rivals (PivotLink).

On-demand solutions provide a good opportunity for SMB's as it means they can quickly access BI services with low up-front costs and minimal IT resource requirements - most providers offer free trials and evaluations. Once the initial data load has been designed and supplied it then becomes a case of arranging and managing nightly incremental updates.

Basic things to look for in an on-demand BI provider include:

• Being able to support multiple data sources
• Provision of a full range of analysis and reporting services
• Support for process automation
• Sufficient scale and flexibility to meet your business requirements

As is the case with all outsourced providers, make sure you are comfortable with all aspects of the suppliers terms of service. As key company data will be transferred and managed externally make sure you are happy with things like data management and security, access and service level agreements.

For pricing keep an eye on the minimum contract term and any cost increases related to additional users and/or volume of data.

Keep an eye on open-source Business Intelligence solutions

Although the additional work that can be required to install open-source software can prove an expensive alternative there are a number of community-based and commercial open-source BI platforms on the market that are worthy of consideration.

Pentaho is one such offering that combines a number of open-source intiatives for analysis, data integration, reporting and data mining with full product and installation support.

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