Business intelligence solutions narrow the ever widening gap between the amount of data gathered and the methods of being able to understand that data.
The problem is that simple graphs and charts are no longer adequate to get the most of that data-five new questions get asked for every one that’s being answered and getting those answers is time consuming and sometimes inaccurate. Business intelligence solutions allow companies to combine multiple data sets and then use visual and interactive graphical representations of that data to gain insight into their business. They can find nuggets of information that they didn’t even know to look for. In spreadsheets and report writing software, users have to know what they are looking for before a report or graph can be developed. Therein lies the problem – they have to know what to look for. There is so much data and information available, why not use that data to find out helpful and unknown information to make your business more effective and efficient and do it quickly?
If you have a lot of data and have business questions that you are relying on tabular and graphical reports to get answers for, you probably have a need for a business intelligence solution but just don’t know it yet. The beauty of the technology is that it doesn’t care what the data is or what industry you are in – manufacturing, services, financial, etc. It graphically represents the data and then allows the user to mouse click on certain parts of the data, drill down into the details of that data , export the findings to a traditional report, and then back out and do it all over again but going down a different path.
The technology has evolved to the point that the users do not have to have any kind of IT training, programming ability, or technical intuitiveness in order to use the solutions. If they can click a mouse, the resultant visual use of size, shape, and color will tell them a story that will give enormous insight into their business. It can be a difficult concept to understand until you see it. The solutions are set up so that when you click on a portion of a pie chart, a bar chart, or any other graphical representation on the screen, all the data that is not associated with that specific attribute is hidden from view -not deleted -just hidden. Further clicks can either bring all the data back or begin to drill further down into smaller subsets of the data you started with. It’s a remarkable technology.
The other aspect that companies have to face is cost and time for implementation. There are packages in the market now that can get five to ten user licenses as low as $15,000. A good barometer for a complete implementation including licensing and integration is two to three times the licensing cost or, on the low end, about $30,000. This has come a long way from only a couple of years ago when typical installations ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It has become affordable for small and medium size companies to get the same power that the Fortune 500 enjoy.
For more information on Business Intelligence or any of the other services offered by ICS Advantage email info@icsadvantage.com or visit www.icsadvantage.com/GreatPlains.asp or www.icsadvantage.com/navision.asp
