Avoid These Business Intelligence Mistakes

Business Intelligence can be a powerful tool to help your business thrive, but it can only be beneficial when used correctly. Since this is a growing and changing sector of business, it can be easy to make a few mistakes in establishing and using Business Intelligence software.

Business Intelligence can be a powerful tool to help your business thrive, but it can only be beneficial when used correctly. Since this is a growing and changing sector of business, it can be easy to make a few mistakes in establishing and using Business Intelligence software. Here are some of the top problems companies encounter with Business Intelligence:

Choosing a BI solution that doesn’t meet your needs 
It’s important to have a clear outline of your goals for Business Intelligence. Otherwise it will be very difficult to get the best end result. SAP reported that if you don’t specify what BI solution you want, you will have a hard time reaping the benefits of this useful business tool.

“These systems cost a company millions, yet sometimes they provide little or no value because there is a mismatch between what is purchased and the needs of the users,” Rita Sallam, an analyst from Gartner, told IT Business Edge. She went on to explain that when you have specific needs to meet, you’ll be able to reap more benefits from BI. “It could be that users need interactive reports, but they can only generate static ones, or that the capabilities are simply not complex enough – or perhaps too complex.”

Trying to get too much out of Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence and data analytics have far-reaching capabilities that may be able to help transform your company, but these changes won’t happen overnight. C3 Business Solutions recommended that companies set their sights on smaller benchmarks, as only looking at the big picture will make it harder to achieve long-term goals. It is still important to have one overarching goal, but businesses may want to alter their approach to one that takes smaller, manageable steps to get to that end point.

Figuring out Business Intelligence without a professional
To get the most out of business intelligence, you’ll need to analyze the data, but even if you have analysis tools, you will still benefit from having an expert who is trained in compiling and sorting data. IT Business Edge reported that trying to do this without the help of a BI expert can create delays and cost more than simply hiring someone who knows how to do the work you need.

“Accessing that data is not easy,” Boris Evelson, an analyst from Forrester Research, explained to IT Business Edge. “It’s not just about accessing the database – you need to understand the metadata and how the data is laid out.”

Having the right Business Intelligence solutions, trained professionals and realistic short- and long-term goals will help your company reap the most benefits.