Criterion for selecting a BI Solution
While selecting a Business Intelligence (BI) solution, always keep in mind that the goal is not to find the “best tool” but to find the “best fit.” Every BI tool has its sweet spot. If you deploy the tool outside its sweet spot, you will see its weaknesses.
A BI Solution Must Integrate and Align to Deliver Maximum Business Value
Most BI projects and applications are motivated by a desire to derive more value from existing IT infrastructure and applications. The selection of data integration and BI tools should complement and leverage these investments as much as possible. It is therefore necessary to define a BI architecture and vision to complement the existing IT infrastructure. This means considering the issues of scalability, usability, security, metadata etc., from an overall system perspective not just a stand-alone tools perspective. Likewise, it’s important to have an overall BI applications road map that specifies the type of BI applications to be built and when. The architecture (both infrastructure and information) needs to be able to evolve over time to meet the new applications and changing business requirements. The tools need to be able to support and adapt to that evolution. A well-thought-out vision and architecture will go a long way to ensuring a higher return on investment (ROI) in your BI tools investment and delivering effective BI capabilities that meet the users’ requirements.
Tactical Guideline: Define the overall BI technical architecture and select the BI tools to leverage the existing IT infrastructure and deliver on the users’ BI requirements.
There is no such thing as a “silver bullet” BI solution. Plan to evaluate the BI tool types in developing your shortlist and recognize that multiple BI tools may be required. Minimize BI tool proliferation as much as possible. Prioritize and match the user types (Strategic, Tactical and Operational) and their requirements. Recognize industry trends, but avoid products and vendors that lead with hype.
Having completed the definition of business and user requirements, the technical infrastructure, as well as a survey of the market, you are now well armed to develop a set of objective evaluation criteria for vendor selection. Evaluating the tools requires a commitment of adequate time and resources; vendors need time to respond to the request and tool evaluation usually has to be done in addition to everyone’s “day job.” Develop a shortlist of vendors with similar products; don’t try to compare vendors that have very different products — it will get very confusing when you try and do an apples and oranges comparison. This will make the task less daunting. Provide each of the vendors with a set of the business and user requirements as well as envisioned architecture. Also provide a typical business case example that you would like to see them address. Use the criteria checklist to stay focused on real requirements vs. hype. Whenever possible conduct a proof of concept that implements your case study example. You will learn a lot about the tools and the vendor in the process. Remember, the tools you buy are not stand-alone products; you will be building a relationship with the vendor. This relationship is in terms of the support and partnerships that you need to bring your unique set of requirements together within your BI project. Finally, check references and financial viability of the company.
Build an Objective Evaluation Criteria Checklist
• Integration with Infrastructure
• Functionality
• Reliability
• Scalability
• Vendor Viability
• Pricing
• Customer References
• Support/Services
• Documentation
• Partners
Intangible Factors Can Make or Break Tool Selection
Many vendors talk about “solutions,” but this is the wrong word. First of all, it usually means the vendor offers a mix of applications, consultancy and custom development, and it is often not clear what exactly it is offering. Second, it places the vendor solution first, not the user problem. This is a fundamentally incorrect approach. Enterprises should challenge vendors that talk about “solutions” to make clear what they mean.
Vendors that are open about their strategy, what they do and, equally important, what they don’t do, are best able to establish long-term growth relationships with a loyal customer base.
Our customers have seen issues with MNC BI product vendors who are unable to localize the solution of Indian customer needs. CIO tend to get with big brands and hype of MNC products and the compromise on business users local needs. CIO now look for whether they have access to RnD product team of the vendor where they can put their view as part of product road map.
Posted on August 23rd, 2010 by Sanjay Mehta
Filed under: Business Intelligence, View Points & Perspective
I really enjoyed this post. It has many good points. As you said, it’s important to think about not just what the solution itself can offer you, but also what your requirements as an organization are, to make sure they are a good fit. A savvy IT professional will ask end users about their requirements, before trying to introduce business intelligence (BI) to his or her organization.