HARNESS IT. An introduction to business intelligence solutions. THE SITUATION THE CHALLENGES THE SOLUTION THE BENEFITS

Transcription

1 HARNESS IT. An introduction to business intelligence solutions. THE SITUATION THE CHALLENGES THE SOLUTION THE BENEFITS

2 THE SITUATION Data is growing exponentially in size and complexity. Traditional analytics applications limit what data can be used to make informed business decisions. In addition, they re slow and centralized, which hinders mobile access and time-sensitive requests. To swiftly generate and disseminate actionable insights with the diverse data your organization is collecting, you need a business intelligence solution. Business intelligence (BI) is a set of methodologies, processes, architectures and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information used to enable more effective strategic, tactical and operational insights and decision-making. -Forrester.com UNDERSTANDING BIG DATA Big Data refers to the techniques and technologies that make handling data at extreme scale affordable. By making it cost-effective, your business can manage Big Data to increase your competitive advantage, which leads to better, quicker and easier decisions with more positive results. THE CHALLENGES The tools, strategies and applications of yesterday can t keep pace with today s rapidly changing business and regulatory environments. There s just too much variety in data. Too much volume. And too much velocity. Your workers are looking to generate insights from the rapidly growing sets of both structured and unstructured data, and they want the power to view/manipulate the data on their own, from virtually any location. Less than DATA SPRAWL of information workers currently use enterprise BI solutions. 1

3 CDW.com/BI THE SOLUTION Providing your workers with tools that help them make better business decisions requires a multi-pronged approach. You need a solution that addresses structured data, unstructured data and mobile demands without adding complexity. STEP 1 ASSESS YOUR BI ENVIRONMENT Determine who is using BI Identify the current BI tools your organization is using Determine the type of analytics you need STEP 2 MAKE A PLAN Consider consolidating to fewer BI tools and platforms Select self-service tools to empower end users Include secure, mobile BI capabilities STEP 3 IMPLEMENT PLAN Consider modifying existing implementation to suit the needs of a broader user base Introduce new capabilities with highly relevant training Determine which delivery model fits your business needs 80% traditional of self-service BI applications offer more agility and flexibility than production-level tools. 1

4 WHAT TO LOOK FOR When selecting BI tools, applications and platforms for your organization, consider the following: SCALABILITY To ensure your business isn t continually starting over with a new BI platform, consider solutions that can adapt to your changing needs, including the trends around both Big Data and structured data, as well as growing velocity, variety and volumes of data. COMPATIBILITY Look for BI tools that are compatible with your current database, operating system and server/storage infrastructure. Consider scheduling a professional BI assessment before making any purchases. STYLE OF REPORTING When looking at BI tools and applications, think about how your end users prefer to view data. Different BI tools and applications can be designed to provide data differently, and matching your workers preferred reporting style to any format or mobile device will improve productivity and data quality. DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS Consider multiple deployment options using both on-premises and cloud solutions. This will lower the burden on centralized/it resources and aid you with other considerations, including scalability and compatibility. 49% of BI sourcing, vendor selection and contract decisions are made by business executives. 2

5 CDW.com/BI THE BENEFITS An effective BI solution can help your workforce make intelligent business decisions. In addition, it offers benefits including: FASTER TIME TO INSIGHT Generate actionable insights faster. Take data from supply and demand chains or organizational performance and transform it rapidly into organizational behavior and IT operations information. END-USER PRODUCTIVITY Empower end users with the right tools to extract insights in near-real time and leverage them into intelligent decisions without relying on centralized resources. LOWER TCO Improve the return on investment for the BI technologies you ve deployed by consolidating to fewer vendors/solutions and improving the utilization of the remaining technologies to save IT resources, time and budget. HIGHER OUTPUT on productivity metrics over expected non-enterprise grade, BI-based decision making. 3

6 WHY CDW We ve helped many organizations like yours improve their BI platforms, and we work with leading BI technology partners to help ensure you get the best possible solution. APPROACH We re dedicated to understanding the challenges within your business, and to helping you develop, build, deploy and support BI solutions that fit your organization s unique needs. CAPABILITIES We have expertise across the entire BI stack, including the software (reporting and analytics, dashboards, scorecards) and hardware (servers, storage and networking). OPTIONS Our breadth of partners enables us to offer you options for on-premises, cloud or hybrid BI solutions. As well as platforms that can handle both structured and unstructured data. And our world-class support means we ll be with you from planning to implementation and beyond. PREVENTING A BI FREAKOUT When your staff has limited BI tools, they often become stressed out trying to make sense of the deluge of data and how to present it in a useable form to end users. The result is often a backlog of requests and out-of-date data. See how we can help you empower your workforce with BI solutions that will help keep them sane. Learn more at CDWsolutionsblog.com

7 CDW.com/BI OUR PARTNERS Our BI solutions bring together advanced partner technologies and platforms, including leading products and services that deliver interoperability and cross-platform support. Using Business Intelligence from Microsoft through Excel 2013, SharePoint 2013 and SQL Server 2012, you can empower users of all levels with new insights. Microsoft uses familiar tools to balance the need for IT to monitor and manage user-created content. Deliver access to all data types across structured and unstructured sources. From business intelligence to financial performance and strategy management to analytics applications, IBM Cognos software can provide what your organization needs to become top-performing and analytics-driven. With products for the individual, workgroup, department, midsize business and large enterprise, Cognos software is designed to help everyone in your organization make the decisions that achieve better business outcomes for now and in the future. Choose the business intelligence or performance management product you want and be confident that it can grow seamlessly as your needs expand. All organizations need the ability to make intelligent, timely decisions. This affordable family of entry-level business intelligence software from SAP Crystal solutions enables anyone to: Create presentation-quality reports with SAP Crystal Reports software Monitor business performance in real time with SAP Crystal Dashboard Design software Turn ordinary spreadsheets into professional presentations with SAP Crystal Presentation Design Share reports and dashboards and enable ad hoc data exploration for self-serve access with SAP Crystal Server software Get insights on the go with SAP Crystal Server, an add-on for mobile solutions Perform ad hoc query and analysis with Crystal Interactive Analysis software The Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition Plus (EE) is a comprehensive suite of enterprise BI products, delivering the full range of BI capabilities including interactive dashboards, full ad hoc, proactive intelligence and alerts, enterprise and financial reporting, real-time predictive intelligence, disconnected analytics and more. In addition to providing the full gamut of BI functionality, the Oracle Business Intelligence Suite EE Plus platform is based on a proven, modern, web services-oriented architecture that delivers true nextgeneration BI capabilities. WE VE GOT THE PROOF CERTIFICATIONS AND AWARDS IBM Certified Administrator - Cognos 8 BI IBM Certified Designer - Cognos 8 BI Reports IBM Information Management InfoSphere Warehouse C-Class Technical Sales Professional ISW 9.7 and Smart Analytics Technical Professional v1 IBM Netezza Technical Mastery Professional v1 Information Management Optim Technical Professional v2 Microsoft Silver Partner in Business Intelligence

8 CDW.com/BI SEE FOR YOURSELF. THE PROBLEM: Organization s workforce was asking for self-service tools. The organization s information workers were struggling with traditional business intelligence tools. They needed applications and tools that would allow them to perform self-service reporting and data exploration. And while they wanted to alleviate the reporting burden on their IT staff, they still wanted a platform that could be easily maintained. THE APPROACH: Assessed organization s existing platforms and looked for underutilized capabilities. We sat down with the organization and discussed their current BI environment and needs. Once we had a clearer picture of their BI applications and tools, we began by suggesting ways to maximize their current Microsoft BI stack, including PowerPivot and Power View, to give their information workers more self-service data analysis. In addition, they could utilize SharePoint and SQL Server to manage the total solution. THE RESULTS: The organization saved time and money, while improving their BI self-service capabilities. We demonstrated how users could leverage the PowerPivot and Power View tools, in conjunction with their SQL Server and SharePoint infrastructure, to enable self-service BI capabilities. They saved time and money, while achieving their goal of delivering self-service BI capabilities. Visit CDW.com/BI or call to learn more about how business intelligence tools help you make smarter decisions The Future of BI. Top 10 Business Intelligence Predictions for 2012, Forrester.com 2 Business Intelligence Services Pricing and Contracting, Herbert, Liz, October 31, 2012, Forrester.com 3 Drive Business Insight with Effective BI Strategy, Forrester.com, April 30, 2012 The terms and conditions of product sales are limited to those contained on CDW s website at CDW.com; notice of objection to and rejection of any additional or different terms in any form delivered by customer is hereby given; CDW, CDW G and PEOPLE WHO GET IT are trademarks of CDW LLC; all other trademarks and registered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.