Business intelligence (BI) is fast becoming one of the most vibrant sectors in the slowly reviving South African IT market.
Keith Jones, MD of Harvey Jones Systems, says there is a number of driving factors behind this growth, not least the reviving economy.
"The BI market historically did not have a good reputation in either the global or local markets due to many vendors `box-dropping` expensive solutions onto clients. There was also lack of meaningful data coupled with unrealistic expectations in the business community. This has all changed and the odds of getting a cost-effective, easy to use business intelligence solution that meets your expectations are now in your favour, rather than against you."
The objective of any BI solution is to assist the business users to make better decisions in less time with information they can trust. The business community, Jones adds, is finally realising this solution is aimed exclusively at them and is becoming more actively involved in the whole process from beginning to end.
"This ensures they are getting what they need, when they need it in a format they can understand. They are the ones under pressure to perform and to do this they need access to information, without involving IT, or waiting for yet another report to be written."
The shift is ensuring expectations are more realistic and that the business users are ultimately given a solution they are comfortable using.
"Another assisting factor is that the back-end transactional systems are fast becoming more homogenous and open, making integration easier and getting `one version of the truth` is often not the painful process it used to be."
The entry of Microsoft in to this market sector has probably had the single largest impact from a vendor perspective. Microsoft, now the dominant BI platform player globally, has essentially commoditised the market, ensuring BI is no longer the exclusive domain of the expensive, proprietary platform vendors. Microsoft has shown it can deliver powerful, scaleable solutions at a fraction of the cost of competitors, from both an installation and cost of ownership perspective, making this a compelling option in the perennially price-sensitive South African marketplace. There have also been advances in the ease of use of the front-end tools available.
"Whatever the driving factors are, BI is now a `must have` solution that when placed in hands of the business users, will become one of the most powerful business tools a company has," Harvey concludes.
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