Avoiding Potential Snags in BI Initiatives

Business intelligence analysis platforms are at a precipice, in terms of popularity and adoption.

Business intelligence analysis platforms are at a precipice, in terms of popularity and adoption. While there are still more businesses out there that plan to implement BI and big data initiatives than have actually begun using them, the fact remains that these trends are a formidable aspect of the software market. They have reached a point where their popularity will either continue to increase or will diminish significantly.

As with most types of software designed for the enterprise world, platforms intended to quantify and apply big data and analytics will either stand or fall based on how it is put into everyday practice. There are several ways in which they can go wrong in terms of implementation, according to ZDNet, and it will be important to be cognizant of them to avoid such traps.

BI implementation failures to avoid
The news source reported that two major potential problems of BI use involve poor organizational strategy and a lack of governance.

Regarding the first issue, some businesses are guilty of adopting a BI solution simply because of a desire to remain in sync with prominent trends. This is problematic, as organizations need to find a compelling case for themselves that details how they will benefit from the use of these tools. Otherwise, the software will be largely superfluous. This purpose also needs to be understood and agreed upon by all departments, ranging from IT personnel to executives and other C-level members of staff.

Meanwhile, governance is essential because if there is not a policy in place to govern how big data is applied, it could unearth data that might not be any of its business. The source cited an example of a company that used purchase histories to find pregnant customers and target sales initiatives at them. This could be seen as a bridge too far in terms of having information on customers.

Finally, having skilled personnel on staff to operate the software is incredibly important, as improper use of BI can be problematic.

The benefits are worth it
None of the aforementioned potential problems are reason enough to avoid big data altogether. According to a recent survey conducted by Tech Pro Research, 82 percent of respondents who had managed to implement big data analysis platforms claimed to have seen tangible benefits from them. Predictive tasks, data management, business analytics and data management were just a few of the areas where improvements were noted.