For many, if not the majority of companies, IT is essential for keeping the business operational. This, in theory, should mean that IT has aligned itself with the strategies of the organisation, but in practice, this is far from the truth, especially when it comes to the SME sector.
Although some companies have a C-level IT executive, more often than not, they don't sit on the Board as a fully-fledged director and are not, as a matter of course, part of the decision-making team, despite the dependence the company has on IT. With SMEs, this is even truer, and over the past two years, Space Age Technologies has been researching if, and how, IT can create value for an SME - the research and its outcomes has been labelled "Relevant IT", says Chris Welham, Marketing Director at Space Age Technologies.
At a recent seminar, Space Age MD, Mark Geschke, presented some of the findings from this research to an audience of business executives, CIOs and IT managers. One of the key outcomes, according to Geschke, is that, in order for a business to even have a hope of achieving real value from IT, there needs to be fundamental belief among the business leaders that this is possible. There is no doubt that many business leaders do indeed believe that IT could contribute in a significant way to better business performance - they just don't know how.
The research performed revealed that:
* The IT industry is broken;
* The business/IT divide is the root cause of many doubtful decisions and undesirable effects;
* "Relevant IT" tackles this divide, involving IT in business decision-making and employs rigorous evaluation of IT investment suggestions and operational decisions;
* Reducing this business/IT divide will increase the chances of success for IT projects.
One such example identified in this context is the need for executives to have easy and direct access to relevant information that would help them with their decision-making. However, their perception of the business intelligence (BI) projects that would provide this type of information is that they are difficult to undertake and require the involvement of expensive and scarce resources. In this regard, Space Age Technologies' research also confirmed what the 'experts' have been saying re the BI space, ie:
* Gartner, in its annual survey of CIO technology priorities, BI was named the top priority, a position it has held in three of the last five years. Also, it is forecast to remain one of the fastest-growing software markets.
* IBM, whose annual survey suggests that BI and analytics is a key IT investment over the next five years for 83% of SMEs.
* Forrester Research, which indicates that BI is the key to providing the right information to the right business stakeholders.
So if the above is true, how do SMEs overcome their real concerns regarding costs, complexity and resources for BI activity, the outputs of which are vital to their ongoing business success?
* Look beyond the 'bigger' and better-known BI players and the perceptions created from the users of those systems;
* Look at a system that can be utilised by the business owners and not just the IT department; and
* Look for an agile system and one that is flexible, interactive and easy to change.
But are there such systems? Yes. Three such examples are Tableau Software, QlikView and Spotfire, all of which figure well in Gartner's Magic Quadrant reports and other of its research articles, as well as Forrester's Advanced Data Visualisation Platforms diagram.
If these reports are analysed, it is very clear that they emerge as clear leaders when it comes to implementation costs and implementation time; and they do not need BI professionals. If you also analyse the user base, for example, of Tableau Software, it makes for interesting reading with names such as Amazon.com, Barclays, Bayer, Ferrari, Dow Jones, EMC, Goldman Sacks, Google, Pepsi, Pfizer, Stanford University and Wal-Mart among its extensive list. Nearer home, Clicks, Discovery, Old Mutual, Shoprite and UNISA are also users.
Thus, BI is but one example of 'Relevant IT' in the context of the SME market and an important one; but I know there are others, including ones involving cloud computing and mobile applications.
So what should business leaders who believe that opportunities for IT to differentiate their businesses do exist, do?
My suggestion is that you find a relevant thought leader in this 'Relevant IT' scenario. Gaining insight into your business through easy-to-use data discovery and analysis is a good way to start. When going the BI route, it is important that you work with a company that can help you identify the right questions to ask of your data. In addition, the choice of BI solution is critical. From the output of the research it has already done in the SME sector and its use of one of the BI systems mentioned above, Space Age Technologies more than 'fits the bill'.
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