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Measure Group™
Who Needs BI?

Are we too small to play in this league? Are we too large to even need BI?

B usiness and IT Management, in companies of all shapes

and sizes, are facing this question. Is Business Intelligence
(BI) something we need to take on board? Is it critical, or
can we get by without it?
What are we really asking here?
It is a complex question and one which leads in to for BI is a supply of high-quality data, regardless of
several other questions. Making the determina- the extent of historical data available (BI is about
In the early days of tion as to whether or not your company is going to pressing forward not just delving into the past) .
computers, many benefit from BI is achieved by examining several An assortment of factors are to be examined
did not see a use factors surrounding your business environment, to arrive at the answer to our question, all of which
for them. That was nature of business, types and volumes of data you will reveal pointers to the viability and necessity of
because they did not retain, future growth and improve- BI for you and your company. These
yet understand their ment plans, and more. “BI is about pointers may act as guidelines for
capabilities. BI is at A key factor is your corporate your decision to go with BI now, set
that same point now. strategy for handling a wide variety of pressing a start date in the future or just defer
business drivers such as, competitive
positioning, marketing, public rela-
forward not the whole enterprise to a later time.
More contributing factors you
tions, expansion dynamics, together just delving are almost certain to be wanting to
with a myriad of questions regarding
your company’s efforts to improve its
into the past” explore, revolve around the burning
issue of ROI. You may have heard of
BI is being enabled overall profitability and success. cases where, larger, budget-rich cor-
by a new set of To what stage has your organization evolved? porations have invested huge sums in Data Ware-
software tools and Is it a relative newcomer, well established or even housing projects, to see them fizzle out to nothing,
technologies that are a long-standing household name? or fall well short of expectations. Even if it becomes
continuing to evolve. What is your organization’s business process a critical initiative for your organization, the ven-
maturity and what is its IT maturity? A foundation ture into BI should be very carefully considered. It

The following areas will be explored in more detail in order to answer the burning
question, ‘Who Needs BI’?
 Size and evolution of organization.
 Availability of appropriate and usable data.
 Competitive challenges.
 Opportunities to improve status and profitability.
 Business and IT readiness to adopt.
 Availability of technology and skilled resources.
 The impact of a future without BI.

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Who Needs BI?

is almost paramount that your efforts should start formats that allow dynamic selection of content
out very focused, with minimal outlay, to prove (or analyses) and provide the means whereby real
that it works for your people and that you have the and actionable informa-
people to make it work. tion can be extracted
Sometimes the ‘all at once’ approach is justifiable “Prove that it from the masses of
and necessary. One very large banking client de- works for your stored data. BI is gener-
pended on its BI initiative to achieve compliance ated such that questions
with the Basel II Accord. However, there are many people and that about your business,
reasons why most enterprises will make the great-
est long-term gain from a gradual implementation
you have the that have not yet even
been asked or imagined,
of BI, and this is especially true for any organiza- people to make can be answered im-
tion that has yet to understand BI’s demands, com- mediately. Insights into
plexities and benefits. it work” your operation become
We are about to explore the areas that will available, that them-
help you make the right decision for your company. selves spawn the next set of questions and then
Firstly, however, we need to briefly state what is the next.
meant by the term Business Intelligence. True intelligence in the BI definition is the ca-
pability to get much more than statistics, in count-
less different ways and to have the answers ready
A Brief Description of BI before the question is asked. A forward-looking or-
ganization wants to be self-examining and to ac-
With the advent of low-cost storage hardware and cess critical performance, predictive and compara-
the automation of data capture, we are now at a tive insights that can enable optimal and informed
point where the volumes of data being held across decision making. It can turn to BI as the vehicle to
Though varying in organizations is growing exponentially. We hear of next generation computing.
scope and sophistica- the ‘data explosion’ that has arrived unannounced
tion, business ap- and unexpectedly on our doorstep. Most corpo-
plication systems are rate (and government) data repositories now con- Explore Your Situation
primarily concerned tain far more recorded data than can be looked at
with record keeping. or used by the people in those groups. Many factors will contribute to the conclusion as
The functionality This is where BI steps in. Pouring over vast to whether an organization should or should not
built into these appli- amounts of business records, even when summa- consider an initiative to implement BI. Let us now
cations manipulates rized, may not always be an economic and fruitful explore the areas of strongest influence.
data between initial exercise. Remembering that most of this data is just The following set of comparisons illustrate the
capture, processing transactional record or business entity data (such as ‘pros and cons’ of a BI initiative for a small organi-
and final output for Customer, Vendor, Employee, etc.). Our conven- zation. This chart, and those that follow with the
some useful purpose. tional means of looking at data typically only a same format, use a row for each aspect of the busi-
produce statistical view. Further, we have to put ness or organization, with the left columns (red)
in place a ‘programmed report’ for each of these showing the end of the scale least likely to favor BI
(usually fixed) views. Obtaining more and different and the right columns (green) showing the most
reports become the thorny issue of an IT request of favorable. Think of the red and green as being the
some sort, that creates back-log, wait times and an lower and upper end of a scale. Much of the time,
uncomfortable demand on IT resources. the organization under scrutiny will lie somewhere
BI has grown into a technology set that over- along the scale between the two extremes.
comes the fixed nature of conventional reporting.
BI takes the elementary data, repackages it into

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Who Needs BI?

Organization Size and Evolution

It is a myth that BI It would not be correct to rule out those organi-
projects are neces- zations that are small or in their infancy. In fact a
sarily large and fledgling company is in a good position to lay the
expensive. We have foundations for BI, before the opportunity to re-
implemented BI for tain valuable analytical data passes by.
major organizations If it is possible to start capturing useful BI
and achieved success source data right from the outset, there will be
for little investment. benefits that long established corporations do not
enjoy. Companies with a long history often meet
with hurdles to their BI implementations in the
form of missing data or disjoint data, due to system
conversions with incomplete data migration or
substantial data architecture changes.
The type of challenge faced by small or young
organizations range from lack of funding, time and
resources to other pressing priorities that are more
closely involved with survival as a new player in an
established market.
The challenge of survival during those first
years of entering into an existing marketplace are
often sufficient distraction for an overworked man-
agement so that sophisticated analysis of business
data hardly seems to make it onto the radar screen.
However, the neglect of data retention and devel-
opment of analytic capabilities must not become
a habit that endures beyond formation and into
the mature years of operation. As start-up woes
melt into distant memory and it becomes more
imperative to engage and defeat competition, in-
telligence from accumulated data definitely starts
to play a critical role.

Can accommodate BI BI seen

initiative schedule as clear
BI not advantage
expected to to gaining
Overwhelmed with challenges contribute to foothold
relating to startup. current goals

The panels state each Computer

extreme of a view or Current Current applications not
measure of a given improvement initiatives yet stable
scenario that is rele- goals are not would benefit
vant to the discussion. related to data from advanced,
Try to gauge your or- usage dynamic
ganization along each analysis of data
of these scales.
Organization not yet Not ready to
able to utilize BI Business fund suitable Systems well
individuals technology established
ready to
leverage BI Already have, or can
capabilities procure appropriate
software

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Who Needs BI?

Availability of Appropriate and Usable Data

With the massive This investigation will determine if the organiza- ‘relational databases’ and is recorded as a mix of
reduction in the cost tion owns data that is both the right type for BI and figures (financial amounts, quantities, time peri-
of storage, it has in the right condition for BI. The very fact that data ods, scores, estimates and various other values),
become possible is information means that it is unlikely that there and descriptive elements (codes, classifiers, text
for an organization could be no useful analytical content embodied descriptions, etc.). These two groups of attributes
to economically in the data generated within an organization. Pro- (quantitative and classifying) are the types of data
retain data on an vided that there is relatively high volume, consis- central to the core functions of BI where they are
unprecedented scale. tent and accessible data, there is almost certainly referred to as facts (or measures) and dimensions,
Hence the term “Data an opportunity for the introduction of BI. respectively.
Explosion”, which, in The types of data that are likely to be useful The availability of well-populated tables of
turn, has opened for analysis will vary by organization but generally ‘clean’ data is what enables a BI initiative.
the door to large- includes transactions (sales purchases, etc.), busi- The more consistent the data is, the better the
scale, automated ness events (marketing programs, services used or results. If application upgrades and replacements
analysis (i.e. Business provided, targets, thresholds or limits reached or have been frequent and/or radical, there may be
Intelligence). exceeded, and many more. discontinuity in the historic data, often a challenge
Such data is usually found in the company’s to the BI designer.

Good analytical data is produced

Current and retained (see sidebar)
applications
do not produce
or retain data
suitable for use
in analysis

The same data No data is Many

v data
is represented duplicated, elements have not
(duplicated) in or is been populated
many different consistent
systems and where
has little duplication
consistency does exist

Data exists
but content Data has
is of very been
low quality checked for
validity and Applications
(poorly have a high level
validated) consistency
of mandatory
populated data

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Who Needs BI?

Competitive Challenges
Some organizations are not placed in a competi- Every manager knows that there is a thin line be-
In free-enterprise, it tive marketplace or operate under strict regulation. tween profitable growth and many less desirable
is normal to be faced If an operation need not, or can not outcomes. Depending on the busi-
with competitive
forces. This compels
seek to improve its fiscal performance
or quality of service in any way, it will
“Competitive ness, there can be many parameters
requiring careful adjustment in order
companies to seek have less justification for the introduc- Challenge... the to achieve optimum performance.
advantage-reaping tion of BI. Business analytics can help make
tools and techniques One international client enjoyed an Raison d’etre those choices more prudently and
of which BI is the almost unilateral monopoly and, al- of Business generate feedback to aid in assessing
latest entrant on this though investing enormously in their effectiveness. This is the ‘reason
business battlefield world-class marketing, concerned it- Intelligence” d’être’ of Business Intelligence. The
self largely with internal issues in the direction a company takes is based
absence of a need to compete externally. For the on the decisions of its leadership. Management
majority of organizations, competing for market makes those decisions based on available informa-
share and profitability are the core business drivers. tion. BI makes for better, more timely information.

The Competition is fierce

organization and those equipped
is in a non- with the best tools are
competitive more likely to survive
situation with
no incentives
to improve

A monopoly exists The Innovation The organization

that obviates environment is able to takes all
the need for is highly flourish directives from
competition regulated with a higher level
and without benefits for of ownership or
latitude for those who control
improvement pursue it

Free market The entity is Dealing with

forces abound a member of competition
and competition some larger is a critical Destiny is
is rife group that function controlled locally
manages all requiring with autonomy
aspects of all possible from any higher
competitive assistance authority
matters

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Who Needs BI?

Opportunities to Improve Status and Profitability

Many high visibility As with any demanding and significant venture, BI Business Intelligence is about leveraging a
companies have demands attention and consumes resource. It is knowledge, extracted from oceans of data, that
taken pursuit with not going to be a viable exercise if there is neither would be otherwise undetected. Unless there is
initiatives that label the need or capability in the organization to seek something to be gained from the exercise, it would
them as progressive some kind of improvement. be a pointless waste of resources.
or quality oriented. BI does not come under the heading of non- Organizations whose charter is not concerned
Six-Sigma, Total Qual- discretionary, so an ulterior motive must exist for with profit, performance or public image have less
ity Management and its adoption. Many large and successful corpora- incentive to pursue BI. However, those engaged in
Capability Maturity tions will embark upon a BI initiative as much with trade or service delivery or those having set stan-
Model programs are their public image in mind as the need to do bet- dards to attain can benefit from employing the
often used to nurture ter in their field. This is all part of the competitive tools of BI to better enable astute decision making
a favorable public mind-set and is justifiable in of itself. and optimized operational parameters.
and investor image. There are many kinds of organizations: not Even statutory and regulatory compliance are
all are profit motivated and not all are concerned potential beneficiaries of a BI initiative.
with competitive achievement.

Efficiency
improvements
are not relevant
or possible

The organization Public image

is not under is important
scrutiny from requiring that
the outside the organization
world (Public, is seen to be Serious impact will
Investors, Media progressive and be felt from falling
or Regulators) quality-conscious behind in the use
of effective tools

Profit must be Due to The

sustained in order to regulation organization
continue in operation or other has freedom
constraint, no and self
The organization latitude for governance
is not bound to improvement to shape its
or in existence to exists own destiny
generate profit

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Who Needs BI?

Business and IT Readiness to Adopt

Development of BI solutions follows a well defined
path and can be successful if given the right tools
Many BI project and resources. However, BI is somewhat of a para-
failures are due to digm shift from conventional applications and can
misunderstandings not be achieved simply by re-assigning designers
within management. and developers with conventional systems expe-
It should not be rience. This is certainly the highest risk factor and
assume that BI is just most frequent cause of failure in the case of BI ini-
another IT project, it tiatives. Our experiences bear out this fact. More
is in fact, radically than 50% of clients have called for support after an
different. internal attempt has run aground.
This should be no surprise as the challenges
can be difficult and the techniques are obscure
to the uninitiated. BI is different, just as object
oriented techniques were different and the inner
workings will not be immediately obvious even to
a seasoned development team and leadership.
A key component of BI is the Dimensional
Model (as opposed to the familiar Relational
Model). The Data Warehouse is the repository for
the dimensionally modeled data and this is why
a “transformation process” is required before data
can be loaded into it.
Once data have been correctly transformed
and then further processed for use in Analytic tools,
it is necessary for the Business users to be initiated
into the use of tools that facilitate the comprehen-
sive exploration of the BI capability.

Business Business
managers or members
individual have
contributors knowledge
have not been or even prior
informed of experience
the benefits or of BI usage
existence of BI and benefits

The business People are IT is over-stretched IT is still in need

can not be eager and in terms of of enlightenment
convinced of waiting for resource and as to the process
the benefits of BI facilities budget or fully and technologies
data analysis knowing they committed to to be embraced
and other BI will bring other priorities
features certain benefit

Leadership is IT is informed,
The business Willing and committed to prepared and
community capable managers sponsor, fund and energized to launch
has no and individual drive BI success the BI initiative
resource contributors
capacity are available to
available to participate in a BI
introduce BI initiative

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Who Needs BI?

Availability of Technology and Skilled Resources

The area we are about to discuss is that in which
most mistakes are witnessed. In spite of the num-
ber of hurdles to be overcome in a BI initiative, the
pitfall that seems to trap most IT managements is
Training is not only the issue of appropriate resources.
valuable but virtually Business applications of all shapes and sizes
essential for new BI have been developed successfully by practitioners
developers, but train- with conventional development experience. This
ing alone does not is not going to work with Data Warehousing and
ensure success. This Dimensional Analysis. Inexperienced developers,
is one project that even with one or two weeks of dedicated special-
must have at least ist training, have no way to handle the very differ-
one experienced ent challenge of BI.
person on board to Multiple client experiences have shown this
mentor beginners. to be true. Most of the situations we have en-
countered exhibited the remnants of a failed and
abandoned attempt. Even the largest of BI projects,
staffed with excellent people, have floundered due
to the lack of experience. This is one type of proj-
ect that is different from the conventional business
application.
Before engaging a consultancy to deliver your
BI, enquire extensively and conclusively into the
experience of the staff members being allocated
to your project. If the vendor does not have expe-
rienced personnel to dedicate to your BI initiative,
your success may be jeopardized. Measure Group’s
mission is to help you succeed with BI. Study the
available material and make use of the tools and
templates on offer. You will not only save time and
budget but will have a much greater likelihood of
achieving success, guaranteed.

Modern server technologies, IT is poised

database system, net-worked to launch a Practitioners
The company is desktop computers are all BI initiative with
not equipped with standard and deploy actual BI
suitable computing developers experience
facilities and without prior are in
software tools to BI experience house or
implement BI obtainable

Managers expect Well briefed Management

that sending management is unaware of
developers on understand that BI factors that
BI training is technologies are influence the
sufficient to too complex for success of BI
prepare them for a inexperienced staff and expect
successful project to implement technical teams
to overcome
any obstacles
There is a Informed managers Management Management Management
perception that BI are aware success is bases BI invest- researched BI commissioned an
is an ‘all-or-nothing’ more likely from a ment decisions extensively before analysis of data archi-
undertaking small venture into solely on infor- making large tecture and prelimi-
requiring a massive BI with subsequent mation from ven- budget decisions nary data profiling
project team or efforts based on dor salesmen before deciding on a
huge external valuable learning full BI development
spending experiences

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Measure Group™
Who Needs BI?

The Impact of a Future Without Business Intelligence

A final way to determine Who Needs BI? is to en-
visage the organization going forward without it,
perhaps in an environment where the competition
has BI.
Undoubtedly, many Even the largest and most successful enter-
organizations are prises still have their problems and challenges. In
unable to judge the fact the larger the company, often, the larger the
impact of a future problem. BI is a tool to help overcome some of to-
with or without BI. day’s business problems and also a facility to help
Careful monitoring manage into the future. It therefore makes sense
of the successes (and to think that a future without BI will be less effi-
failures) of others is cient than one with it.
prudent. Beyond efficiency, there is the over-arching
issue of competitiveness. No entity in a competi-
tive arena wants to be lacking a benefit or advan-
tage that the opposition has. In the final analysis,
the possession of BI capabilities will likely be man-
dated purely in order to avoid being overtaken by
the competition.
It is possible to think of BI as another tool in
the corporate arsenal, just like advertising, sales
discounts or promotions. Or compare it with mar-
ket research and quality assurance. There was a
time when each of these business components did
not exist but it is hard to imagine surviving with-
out them anymore. BI is an advancement over the
standard IT applications of today but tomorrow it
will be common-place. There is probably going to
be a time when your organization employs BI so
the question becomes more of a when and how
rather than a go or no go.

The organization
can choose
to wait rather You are an early
than seek early adopter with If the competition
advantage from no desire to be gets ahead with BI,
innovations left behind on it will be difficult
technological catch up or regain
advancements the lead

External The public Being innovative is

opinion is and investor a desired aspect of
that the image of the corporate culture
entity focus organization Staid
on core expects conservatism Deferring BI is an
objectives it to be generally option as a rapid
and not BI progressive restrains dynamic catch-up operation
investment forward thinking is highly feasible

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Who Needs BI?

The final answer - who needs BI?

A review of the scales represented by the pan-
Take the Measure els on the previous pages and positioning your
Group assessment own organization somewhere between each ex-
to determine the rel- treme, will render an overall picture of the pros
evance and viability and cons (or for and against) proposition of BI in
of a BI initiative for that organization.
your organization. If you wish to reach a more empirical conclu-
sion with these assessments, try applying a numer-
ical score to each panel. Treat the negative state-
ment (associated with icons of “stop”, “red light”
etc.) as scoring a negative 10 (minus 10). Treat the
positive statement (associated with icons of “green
light”, “success”, etc.) as scoring a positive 10 (plus
10).
Then add up the scores given each panel to
produce a zero-adjusted overall score. A posi-
tive total will give an overall indication that BI is
needed in the organization and a negative total
will indicate the converse. Something at, or near
zero would be a close call and require careful con-
sideration as to the viability of a BI initiative at this
time.
The panel below illustrated how this scoring
may be applied to each scale of measure discussed
previously.
The additional Measure Group booklet en-
titled “What exactly is BI?” should be referenced
in conjunction with this one. You can be sure that
the “second great era” of commercial computing is
powered by the concepts that define Business In-
telligence and that the future will see a time when
virtually all eligible organizations depend on BI.

Each panel can be

seen as a scale where
the two statements
represent each
extreme of the
scenario. Determine
your organization’s The Innovation
position along the environment is able to
scale and award is highly flourish
the score as shown regulated with
below. For any panel and without benefits for
that is not relevant latitude for those who
for your organization, improvement pursue it
award a zero.

-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10

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