BI needs an upgrade

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist

The Forum, Bryanston, 27 Feb 2009

The traditional model of business intelligence (BI) is a failure, says QlikTech international marketing manager Anthony Deighton. A new form of delivering information to end-users should be developed that can show results in a shorter period of time, he adds.

Speaking yesterday at ITWeb's BI conference, in Bryanston, Deighton explained that BI 1.0 was geared towards large corporations with millions of dollars to spend on implementing new systems.

He noted the current economic crisis means BI vendors are challenged to find ways of developing technologies for the next generation of end-users.

“Decision-making has never been as important as it is now and for the next 12 months. What the BI industry needs to do is move to a business model where companies can buy tools with low investments, but have high returns.”

Deighton believes BI 2.0 processes should be able to give users report backs in a matter of days, not months. He said the key to success in this way of thinking lies in companies avoiding buying systems which promise to show progress in several months.

“If you can't show any progress in weeks, then something is wrong.”

Generation Y

BI processes need to be revamped to cater for the new generation of end-users, noted Deighton. This generation of users do not show brand loyalty, they have high expectations of the technologies they use and do not need training in new systems.

“What they prefer are simplistic tools and applications as opposed to simple ones. Simplistic processes allow users to perform tasks with ease of use and are not complex, while simple ones lack any added features.”

Deighton likened BI 2.0 to a simplistic process and explained it means working in the way the human brain does and allowing complex tasks to be completed by the computer.