Getting smart about BI

Remember the days when PCs were first introduced into common use in the business world? Not only were they devilishly complicated things, but they were also unbelievably expensive.

With the advances in manufacturing and the explosion of demand, PCs today are a commodity and easily affordable to almost every business. The same adoption curve is making its effect felt in the realm of software solutions; business intelligence, for example, was once incomprehensible to all but 'those in the know' and would require investments on the scale of millions before masses of data could yield the valuable insights contained therein.

Today, BI is well understood and indeed a rather desirable software application. Key questions face customers in a variety of industries, the answers to which can often be found in data. Executives need to know if they are getting the right information to drive profits. This goes beyond raw data such as that from POS (point of sale), inventory and supply chain systems. What is required is the ability to quickly and intuitively gain access to relevant data to answer queries such as comparative sales, performance of line items, the impact of specific dates and times on business and many more.

Since BI is the means to this end, many executives are investigating the possibility of introducing analysis to their data environment. However, despite the fact that IT costs have consistently come down over the years as witnessed by the low cost of a PC, a working and valuable BI solution will still require an investment which may be beyond the means of the SME - that is, unless a better model for the delivery of what is effectively a set of software applications, is found.

The good news is that such a model is already available right here in South Africa.

Combining the notion of outsourcing with the nature of software and the availability of high-speed Internet connectivity, the barriers to providing Software as a Service (SaaS) are removed.

Take all of that and put it into the context of BI. A small company might, were it to buy the hardware, software licences and development expertise necessary to create its own BI solution, be looking at a capital expenditure of R250 000 or more. With the SaaS model, it can get exactly the same sort of functionality for the rather more attractive price of between R5 000 to R10 000 as a monthly, operational expense. Microsoft-based solutions are today available to a broader base of South African companies than ever before. Key business insights can now be made readily available through a complete combination of software, hardware, development and a suite of reports in an easily-deployed automated system. Providing BI as a managed service solves the problem of capital outlay and high deployment and maintenance costs, truly making BI not only affordable, but also risk-free.