The concept of the business intelligence competency centre, or BICC, has been receiving a growing amount of publicity in recent times. But the question remains, does an organisation really need one, and if so, should it be outsourced or not?
This was the basic premise behind the presentation delivered by Bruce Jones from Blue Platinum Consulting at SAS Forum South Africa 2008, held on 22 and 23 October at SAS headquarters in Johannesburg.
"A BICC is a central place, or division within an organisation, where business intelligence experts work to support the business, helping managers to make decision," says Jones. "But while having a BICC is undeniably beneficial, there are several factors that should influence the decision of whether or not to implement a competency centre."
The first of these is the maturity level of BI within an organisation. The Information Evolution Maturity Model defines five stages of maturity, namely: operate, consolidate, integrate, optimise, and innovate. Each of these levels has certain stages that facets within the organisation, such as human capital, knowledge processes, culture and infrastructure, need to reach to gain the next level. Jones states that any organisation should not even begin to consider implementing a BICC before it reaches the third stage at the least.
The second factor is the size of the organisation. The bigger and more complex an enterprise is, the greater the need for a BICC. Also to be considered, therefore, is the complexity of the BI environment. This includes the number and type of BI users, such as internal users, partners or customers; the diversity of applications, such as analytical applications, corporate performance management, data mining, reporting, and custom-built BI applications; and the diversity of data sources, from data warehouses and transactional database management systems to real-time, operational and master data sources.
The next thing to be taken into account is alignment with corporate goals, including goals within primary activities like product development, sourcing capital, marketing, sales and service, and support functions such as human resources, information technology, information management and procurement, says Jones. In other words, the enterprise needs to answer the question "What can BI do for the business?" A BICC can help the organisation to determine whether it is looking at the right market, asking the right price for products or services, or aiming at the correct audience, as well as who is using the information.
Also to be factored in are elements such as what BI tools are in place and what level of BI skills exist within an organisation. In terms of tools, the BICC can provide a high level of flow between different tools, whatever vendor they are from, and there needs to be a coordinated, centralised effort to consolidate disparate systems. If an organisation has multiple technology and vendor needs, a BICC may be helpful. The BICC can also assist with the harmonious workings of various skills, such as IT, business and analytics.
"A BICC is also useful if there is a need to standardise the processes of BI, including master data management, information architecture, delivery methods, definitions, solutions architecture, technology architecture, business, data and automation," states Jones.
"However, it is important to bear in mind that for a BICC to be successful, business buy-in and support is vital. The BICC should ideally report into C-level. Corporate culture also needs to be supportive and collaborative, and the BI strategy formulated before a BICC can be considered a viable option for an organisation. The value of information needs to be recognised as a strategic asset."
If all of these factors have been considered and the decision is made to implement a BICC, there is one final decision to be made - whether to "insource" the centre or outsource it.
According to Jones, insourcing is the only way to go, and the BICC should only be outsourced if the necessary skills are not in place, or if the organisation lacks the critical mass to justify permanent in-house skills.
In summary, to establish a successful BICC, an organisation needs executive buy-in and support, a BI strategy that is in line with corporate strategy, and a collaborative environment across divisions. An appropriate organisational structure needs to be created, as well as information flows and standards.
"The main role of a BICC is to support the business, and it is vital to ensure that it can be successfully implemented within an organisation before steps are taken, in order to ensure that the enterprise can gain the maximum benefit from this investment," ends Jones.
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