E-Book Midmarket business intelligence trends, strategy update and expert advice Business intelligence (BI) and analytics programs at midmarket sized organizations have some unique requirements. Mid-sized companies must find a solution that is cost-effective, scalable and agile one that can respond to growing and changing business requirements. In this ebook, get expert advice to help your midmarket organization find success with BI and analytics. Both business and IT leaders will learn: Why midmarket organizations may have some requirements for BI and analytics programs How to navigate the many options available, and the pros and cons of various deployment styles Easy methods and techniques to get started with BI at midmarket organizations Practical steps and best practices for midmarket BI programs Sponsored By:
E-Book Midmarket business intelligence trends, strategy update and expert advice Table of Contents Redefining the Mid-Market and Its Business Intelligence Requirements Analyst Perspectives A General Look at Business Intelligence for the Mid- Market An Easy Way for Mid-Market Companies to Get into the Business Intelligence Game Using Dashboards as a First Step to Data Visibility Practical Steps for Small and Mid-Sized Companies Adopting Business Intelligence Resources from SAP Sponsored By: Page 2 of 18
Redefining the Mid-Market and Its Business Intelligence Requirements By Lyndsay Wise, BeyeNetwork Expert Contributor Small and mid-sized organizations seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to their software needs. Until recently, business intelligence solutions were largely targeted at the enterprise market. These solutions required solid IT infrastructures to support the deployment and maintenance of data warehouses, data marts, OLAP and the like. Consequently, even many upper-mid market corporations (i.e., those at $850 million and above) were unable to take advantage of what was available. With limited budgets and lack of internal resources to develop and manage solutions, business intelligence (BI) became the elite software that was relegated to a subset of super users within enterprise organizations. With the expansion of solution options and the shift toward the mid-market, the BI industry became inundated with newer solutions and niche players that removed the former barriers to entry that existed for many organizations. Although many of these solutions existed beforehand, renewed focus on marketing activities from the larger BI vendors and general confusion caused by a number of vendor consolidations enabled newer players and diverse offerings to shift positions and to become valid options for mid-market companies. Even with this recent shift, however, the mid-market itself is still ill-defined. Instead of breaking out the market in a way that organizations can relate to, in too many cases, the mid-market is considered to be organizations that make less than $1 billion in revenue per year and small organizations considered anywhere below $250 million or $100 million depending on the source. Consequently, these organizations are lumped together but may have very different needs based on size, revenue, resources, budget, vertical industry, etc. This article explores whether mid-market needs are being met by the solutions available, some solutions that benefit the mid-market specifically and the need to redefine the midmarket in order to better meet the business requirements of these organizations. Sponsored By: Page 3 of 18
Are Mid-Market Needs Being Met? Within business intelligence and especially with the more recent expansion of solutions that target mid-market companies, the question still remains: Are these new solutions actually meeting the needs of small and mid-sized organizations? Do stripped down enterprise solutions make the cut, or do some mid-sized organizations actually require the same solutions as their enterprise counterparts but are being pushed aside because of their inability to pay for the infrastructure and upkeep? These are questions that have long been debated; and although they are valid in certain respects, as diverse solution offerings become available and organizations have more choice, they become secondary. Whether or not pared-down solutions targeted to mid-market companies actually meet their requirements or fall short, little can be said. There is a lack of cohesion existing within the market in terms of what small and mid-sized companies really need to make business intelligence successful. Aside from pointing out what mid-market companies may lack for instance, budget and IT infrastructure there is little agreement on the similarities within mid-sized companies and the key requirements needed to meet their BI needs. In addition, lumping a group of companies together based on how they fall outside of traditional BI offerings does little to offer those companies the additional value or unique requirements that will help them get the competitive advantage necessary to grow their business or to maintain their positioning. Mid-Market Specific Solutions The mid-market solution landscape is broad. With traditional BI vendors offering targeted mid-market products that resemble a subset of an overall suite, with on-demand and open source vendors offering solutions at lower price points and disparate pricing models, and alternate solutions targeting the smaller enterprise, companies are actually well poised to take charge and demand the types of solutions that most suit their unique requirements. Organizations have the upper hand as they can pick and choose their way through various solution choices, pricing options, and deployment methods. This means that although the business requirements of mid-market organizations have not been analyzed to the depths of Sponsored By: Page 4 of 18
their enterprise counterparts, the sheer volume of solutions to choose from balance out that deficit. On-Demand on the Rise On-demand solutions may be the best poised to meet the needs of small and medium businesses (SMBs) simply because many of these organizations are used to and comfortable with the on-demand model. Because many smaller organizations preferred to have solutions hosted and kept off premise, basically managed as a set of services, the rise of BI-based software as a service (SaaS) provides many SMBs with the type of solutions with which they are most comfortable. In general, on-demand gives organizations the advantage of full data management, reporting and analysis without the hassle of development and maintenance. Aside from traditional business intelligence turning to the on-demand model, the rise of embedded analytics as hosted solutions enables organizations to take advantage of operational or pervasive business intelligence without having to identify and integrate any solutions in house. In addition to solutions that provide embedded analytics and reporting for salesforce.com, other solutions are available that provide analytics, reporting and visualization on top of ERP and CRM solutions to give organizations a broader view of what is happening within their organizations. Final Thoughts Overall, business intelligence can offer great advantages to small and mid-sized organizations. The problem becomes sifting through the plethora of options to select offerings that meet the organization s needs and that offer the flexibility required in an agile marketplace. In addition, generalized categories of where small and mid-market companies fit are too broad and need to be reorganized to take into account the requirements of these companies. Because using an umbrella, such as companies with yearly revenues of under $1 billion, it would be wise to generalize the needs of companies small and large alike without taking into account their differences. Sponsored By: Page 5 of 18
Analyst Perspectives A General Look at Business Intelligence for the Mid-Market By Lyndsay Wise, BeyeNetwork Expert Contributor As an industry analyst, one of the things that keeps business intelligence (BI) interesting to me is the fact that the market is constantly changing. On the one hand, solution providers try their best to stay ahead of the technology curve and of their competitors by developing leading-edge offerings that take into account advanced applications of analytics. On the other hand, organizations apply these solutions to help meet the needs of their organization whether due to lack of visibility into their operations or because of a specific business performance issue. Either way, both sides play a dance of challenge with vendors striving for innovation and business users struggling to achieve value. For small and mid-sized companies, this is even more so. There tends to be a division between organizations that are already on board with business intelligence and continuously looking for ways to improve upon decision-making strategies and the companies that realize the value of what business intelligence has to offer but that are searching for the best way to start. Therefore, when looking at the way vendors develop and deliver business solutions, the question that needs to be addressed is whether the needs of both of these types of organizations are actually being met. Current Business Intelligence Use and Optimization Many SMBs are no longer new to business intelligence. A few years ago, there was a market push to expand toward the mid-market through the development of solutions that were less expensive and quicker to deploy. In addition, niche offerings, software as a service (SaaS), commercial open source, and newer entrants to the market helped with broader adoption within small and mid-sized organizations. Consequently, many businesses have adopted these technologies and are actively interacting with business intelligence on a daily basis. Therefore, the issue is no longer on adoption, but rather on using BI effectively and in a way that provides value to the business. Sponsored By: Page 6 of 18
Although many SMBs actively interact with business intelligence, many are unsure of the exact ROI it provides or how to integrate all required data into a singular view to develop strategic metrics. The technology and interactivity might be there, but the goal of improved visibility and how to take BI use to the next level may be lacking. In essence, for these organizations, a large gap exists. The drive and desire to implement cutting-edge technology and adopt the newest BI solutions available compete with the ability to get business value out of what exists. Therefore, the benefits of vendors focusing on development may offset the fact that no equal focus on providing advice that relates to the optimization of current use exists on a broad industry level. Driving widespread adoption of business intelligence in a way that promotes the expansion of use requires an educational gap to be filled. The focus on BI as a development tool or as a cool user interface lacks the realism required to give companies the ability to apply metrics or analytics within the organization in a way that ties in corporate strategy and strong data management. New to BI and Searching For SMBs looking at performance gaps or lack of visibility within their organization, the implementation of business intelligence and the potential to help answer questions and solve performance inefficiencies is quite promising. The question becomes how and where to start. Because of the attraction of dashboards, many businesses want to start with managing metrics. The issue that arises relates to the data layer beneath this and whether the appropriate data sources are being consolidated and how to ensure the overall level of data quality over time. Many SMBs without a current data warehousing and general data integration infrastructure are stuck with a data environment that is less than effective at best. With disparate data sources, manual processes, multiple spreadsheets, and no way to ensure accuracy, trust levels remain low and time spent to consolidate information on a daily basis to perform analyses is exorbitant. The promise of BI in these cases may be the automation of data associated with business processes so that easier decision making can occur. Sponsored By: Page 7 of 18
In some cases, a large gap exists between what organizations would like to do and what they have to do in order to get started with business intelligence. Even though a broad set of options exists in relation to getting analytics up and running quickly without having to worry about a data infrastructure, the ability to automate processes and to ensure data validity ends up becoming a valuable side effect of establishing a full BI infrastructure within the organization. And it's one of the issues that is not always considered before beginning a business intelligence initiative. General Mid-Market Needs Whether long time BI advocates or new to the cause, SMBs do have unique requirements in comparison to their enterprise counterparts. On the surface, these include limited resources, both financially and IT infrastructure wise. Realistically though, the challenges faced by SMBs expand beyond these traditional considerations. The industry education and general development of BI on the whole is geared toward enterprise organizations. Although some solution providers have built their offerings to meet the needs of mid-sized companies, many others have not. For instance, some solutions targeted to SMBs are smaller or incomplete versions of their enterprise counterparts. For organizations to identify what would work best within their company and whether to go with a full BI suite or smaller best-of-breed solutions (i.e., data warehouse appliance and dashboard) requires a lot of knowledge that is not always easily available. In addition to understanding implications related to implementation times, resources required to develop and to maintain a solution, and potential for growth, SMBs also need to match these aspects to their current environment and future business needs. This, in and of itself, may not differ from what any organization evaluating business intelligence has to go through, but midmarket companies have less room for error. Vendor Actions Solution providers help drive market trends based on their marketing initiatives and software development. Focusing on the next big technology wave may help with a product s overall appeal; but, in many cases, mid-market organizations are far from being able to take advantage of what vendors have to offer. Instead of focusing on an incremental Sponsored By: Page 8 of 18
approach to BI, some companies are left to believe that they can have it all without any effort and are not given a realistic starting point. Takeaways Business intelligence for the mid-market is dynamic. A variety of solutions exists to meet the needs of any small or mid-sized company, whether they have a mature BI infrastructure or are new to analytics. Overall, any gaps that exist between what is being applied within organizations and what actually exists seems due to the lack of broad education initiatives to help businesses understand the benefits of business intelligence and the options that are available. Luckily, the options for SMBs keep expanding, due to the increasing flexibility of licensing models, diverse best-of-breed applications, and more vendors focusing on providing value to small and mid-sized businesses. With the increasing use of social media, unstructured data, and operational analytics, general BI use will continue to become more dynamic. For SMBs without the constraints of large-scale BI implementations, the ability to take advantage of these newer solution offerings will be easier than that of their enterprise counterparts. Sponsored By: Page 9 of 18
An Easy Way for Mid-Market Companies to Get into the Business Intelligence Game Using Dashboards as a First Step to Data Visibility By Lyndsay Wise, BeyeNetwork Expert Contributor In many ways, business intelligence (BI) is a saturated market. Many organizations have implemented business intelligence; and enterprise organizations, in particular, use some form of business intelligence, data warehousing, or advanced analytics as part of their strategic and tactical efforts. Whether the applications of business intelligence within these organizations are effective is external to the fact that most large organizations have a BI presence. This perceived saturation is one of the many reasons that solution providers began to make a play for smaller and mid-sized organizations. And even though many solutions that target mid-market companies exist, organizations may still find the idea of implementing a full scale BI solution overwhelming. Luckily alternatives exist whether they are looking at a software-as-a-service model, using spreadsheets (the most common form of business intelligence currently used), or using dashboards as a first step toward gaining additional business insights. This article looks at the proliferation of dashboard use and the concept of using dashboards as a bridge between operational solutions and insight into business practices and data. General Use of Dashboards Although dashboards have existed for several years, until more recently the common way organizations visualized or analyzed information was through reports and/or the use of OLAP. This enabled end users to slice and dice information using multidimensional analysis. As dashboards become the de facto way of visualizing and identifying key business metrics, dashboard offerings have expanded to become more visually appealing and highly interactive, giving employees that might not otherwise have the technical skill to develop their own reports or OLAP cube views the ability to drill through information to see how performance is matching up to overall plans. This, in addition to low price points, enables dashboards to become an easy way for organizations to dabble in analytics and to use dashboards as a starting point toward a larger BI implementation. Sponsored By: Page 10 of 18
In addition, the market has seen an expansion of dashboard use due to the ability to apply dashboards more broadly than just through business intelligence. For instance, some organizations use dashboards as a way to monitor their operational environment on a constant basis. Whether within a manufacturing environment or in a call center, dashboards can visually measure performance and progress. And this can be done in a way that meets the needs of various requirements, by using charts, gauges, maps and the like. With advancements in technology and increased market penetration, organizations are becoming more demanding with the types of solutions they choose to deploy. Add to this the difficult economic times and a demand for lower cost and higher return initiatives and dashboards become even more important. Organizations are no longer stuck with an all-ornothing approach to business intelligence. Nor are they required to look toward static reports or multidimensional analysis to gain business insights. In essence, dashboards provide organizations with two key advantages in regards to data visibility: 1. They provide a low cost way to gain BI insight without having to implement a full BI infrastructure, and 2. They enable business users to share information and use data more broadly across the organization, in part due to ease of use. Dashboards as a First Step to Business Intelligence Dashboards provide a good first step into the world of business intelligence. With lower price points, shorter implementation times in many cases, and easy to decipher user interfaces, dashboards remove BI s difficult stigma. Consequently, for small and mid-sized organizations, and for organizations looking for a low risk entry point to analytics and increased business visibility, dashboards can provide the first step to larger BI deployments. Many solution providers offer dashboards as a best-of-breed offering, meaning that they can be deployed as a stand-alone solution. These include solutions that can be developed by the solution provider and deployed across the organization, developed in-house, or offered as a service using an on-demand model. All of these ways let organizations choose the data they Sponsored By: Page 11 of 18
want to view and manage, develop metrics, and visualize that information to help them meet and exceed defined goals. In addition, organizations can choose to look at information on an ongoing basis. For trend-based information, however, organizations may be required to house their own information depending upon the solution choice. Even though a data warehouse per se might not be required, the organization might have to keep their information in a spreadsheet or other database to be able to analyze time-based data. Organizations choosing to start with dashboards can choose from a plethora of solutions, giving them freedom to choose the best solution for their organization. In addition, the role of dashboards within the organization is expanding toward collaborative initiatives to enable business users across the organization and across geographic regions to collaborate and share data. Dashboards for the Masses The maturity of business intelligence within organizations precipitates the demand to be able to share data more broadly across the organization. It is no longer all right to have one report or OLAP developer who creates individualized analyses for super users. In order to get the most out of data and to be able to plan and act effectively, all decision makers require access to information. This includes the ability to analyze information at will. Dashboards give organizations the tools necessary to do just this. Users can share information, develop metrics for team members, or compare performance to colleagues, and the list goes on. In today s society, with the evolution of Web 2.0 and the expansion of social networking, the ability to see the right information at the right time, and to share that information and collaborate on projects, is an essential aspect of a person s day-to-day tasks. Using dashboards to enable these acts actually makes work easier because of the ability to sift through data and transform that data into valuable information and insights. The Bigger Picture Dashboards represent one aspect of a larger business intelligence platform or initiative. However, for organizations looking at business intelligence for the first time, or those that only require a front-end tool to gain visibility into their business, the use of dashboards provides the first step to obtaining a broader sense of how an organization is performing. Sponsored By: Page 12 of 18
Because of the multitude of solutions that exist, organizations can pick and choose what works best for them. This includes features, design, interoperability, deployment method, etc. The overall flexibility can be seen as an extra bonus to the overall ease of use and ability to gain insight into the business without large budgetary requirements. Sponsored By: Page 13 of 18
Practical Steps for Small and Mid-Sized Companies Adopting Business Intelligence By Lyndsay Wise, BeyeNetwork Expert Contributor The goal of business intelligence (BI) is to enable better decision making. By having a full view of sales, customers, information about trends, etc., and by being able to forecast and use predictive models to analyze what is happening both inside and outside the organization, companies can evaluate the appropriate data to make informed decisions. In addition, individual departments and managers need to understand the implications of their actions and decisions on the company as a whole. Add to this the requirement for intra daily analysis (operational BI), and business intelligence becomes a tool that is essential in the day-to-day running of the business. As always, all of this is easier said than done. The issue becomes not what the benefits of business intelligence are, but how to implement a solution that can provide added value and cost savings to organizations. This article offers some suggestions about how mid-sized companies can get the ball rolling and embark on the road to a BI environment. With a focus on addressing the business issues, and overlapping those with project management principles, this article steps away from the traditional focus on technical requirements and information architecture toward the human elements that can make or break any BI project. Starting Small and Taking Incremental Steps When adopting business intelligence, small and mid-sized organizations should start small. Even though there is talk of enterprise-wide BI and developing an organization-wide approach to business intelligence, that is mostly valuable for companies that already have mature BI environments. For organizations that are committed to starting a BI evaluation and implementation, the best way to achieve success is to address one business pain and to develop a solution that tackles that pain. The trick becomes implementing a solution that meets the requirements of the current business problem, but can also grow with the organization to meet additional requirements as time goes on. Some larger organizations implement solutions at a departmental level, Sponsored By: Page 14 of 18
meaning that many different solutions may exist within the organization at any one time. For smaller organizations, this might not be feasible. And even if it is, depending on the goals of the organization and the time it takes to align solutions across the organization, this approach might not be the most practical. Goal Alignment Although first time BI projects should focus on one issue, aligning initial projects to organizational goals becomes key to ensuring a successful project. For instance, the ability to show how solving a particular business problem will help an organization attach value to their overall goals helps ensure management buy-in that might be required to get the ball rolling. To align goals effectively, it becomes important to identify how business intelligence will help or support strategic goals. Examples might be the use of business intelligence through customer analytics to identify consumer buying habits or the identification of why customer retention is dropping, and then tying these to either marketing initiatives or to finding ways to increase retention. It is possible to find links between goals that align with corporate strategy or that are beneficial to the organization as a whole. Even though there is inherent value in business intelligence solving business pains, in order to get the most worth out of a solution, there need to be components that are broader focused and forwardlooking to help tie current initiatives to those that have far-reaching effects. Buy-In and Stakeholder Management Attaining management buy-in and getting stakeholder involvement cannot be overlooked. In general, people understand the value of involving management and getting their support beyond the traditional budget sign-offs. But in many cases, other stakeholders are overlooked. The ability to achieve end-user adoption ties in to identifying stakeholders. This goes beyond simple budgeting requirements toward the inclusion of future end users into the product design itself. Simply put, people are more likely to adopt a solution or new way of doing something if they ve had a hand in designing it. Therefore, when evaluating solutions, it becomes important to have the involvement of those who will be using the solution, managing it and maintaining it in order to ensure overall buy-in. When stakeholders feel that they have contributed to the overall solution, they are more likely to use the solution and be spokespeople for that solution. For the eventual expansion of Sponsored By: Page 15 of 18
business intelligence across the organization, or for future collaboration, this becomes important. Understand Organizational Information Requirements The fact that business intelligence requires the identification of information requirements, an understanding of how technology works within the organization, and how infrastructure interoperates with available solutions means that to properly implement an initial solution, it is important to understand the overall data requirements and how solutions interoperate. When it comes to on-demand solutions, however, organizations can focus on the metrics required as opposed to how all of the pieces fit together. Some general considerations include identifying how often the information is required, defining the required algorithms and metrics to monitor, and identifying the kinds of analyses for the business problems at hand. Know What Deployment Options Exist Aside from the information required, organizations should ask the appropriate questions, such as: How should the solution be managed? Should it be developed in house? Or should the solution be hosted? These considerations might affect maintenance and ongoing costs. Therefore, not only are organizations required to understand their information, but also how different types of business intelligence will affect their maintenance, ongoing costs and future expansion. Overall, the more knowledge an organization collects about what solutions are available and how to best leverage potential solutions within the organization, the more likely a BI solution will help solve the business pain it set out to solve. Conclusion Business intelligence solutions are becoming more essential within the overall framework of business management and development. For organizations to stay competitive, it becomes essential to be able to analyze and define metrics to set goals and hopefully exceed targets. For small and mid-sized organizations, there are now more solutions than ever without the required costs and infrastructure of enterprise companies. This, however, does not make the initial implementation of these solutions any easier. By combining project management Sponsored By: Page 16 of 18
fundamentals with business process management ideals, the road to implementing business intelligence frameworks within the organization becomes more realistic. After all, business intelligence cannot be a long-term success if it exists in a vacuum. About the author: Lyndsay is the President and Founder of WiseAnalytics, an independent analyst firm specializing in business intelligence for the mid-market. For more than ten years, she has assisted clients in business systems analysis, software selection and implementation of enterprise applications. Lyndsay conducts regular research studies, consults, writes articles and speaks about improving the value of business intelligence within organizations. She can be reached at lwise@wiseanalytics.com. Sponsored By: Page 17 of 18
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