Focus not only on technology but bottom line benefits too, says Synergy

Unless data warehousing and business intelligence (BI) solutions are sold as business tools that deliver real bottom lines benefits, then Gartner forecasts that the BI industry is due for a period of stagnant growth will be realised.

This is the view of Andrew Connold, managing director of Synergy Computing, the Cognos-based data warehousing and BI specialist.

Connold spells it out quite clearly: "Today, enterprises expect more from their vendors than ever before, particular in terms of return on investment (ROI), and it's up to us to demonstrate our ability to meet their expectations, or we just won't win the business," he says.

"Just as enterprises connect BI with strong business drivers, to ensure strategic advantage through smarter decisions, so too must the vendor community connect the sale of technology to customer ROI and in particular focus on improving their customer's bottom line returns."

As an example of such business benefits, Connold cites data visualisation tools that are now integral to the Cognos BI framework.

"Business managers, appropriately delegating down profitability management using Key-Performance-Indicators (KPI), can now see how their organisation's performance at a glance, meaning greater staff empowerment and faster corrective action when necessary. Little wonder, Cognos Vizualizer was recently awarded the coveted Intelligent Enterprise Magazine's Readers' Choice award for best data visualisation solution, gathering nearly 57% of the vote."

In straight ROI terms, such easily accessed monitoring solution, backed by drill-down analysis capabilities, enabled an international company with a fleet of 3 000 vehicles to realise $2 million cost savings within a year of implementation. This, in addition to the prospect of continuous efficiency process improvements and enhanced customer service.

By integrating Cognos Vizualizer with the company's dispatch system, branch managers were able to readily measure KPIs, such as whether revenue per mile estimates are being met, and take appropriate action timeously.

Using Cognos Impromptu Web Reports, managers can develop reports based on these KPIs. These can be shared throughout the company and focused action taken to improve performance and productivity where and when necessary.

"It's being able to deliver on such bottom line benefits that make BI tools a key resource in South African business today," adds Connold.