BI: Top of the Heap

topof the

Business Intelligence remains a firm favorite for enterprises even at a time when they scrimp and save as they

realize the need to be more intelligent during a downturn By Radhika Nallayam lllustration by Unnikrishnan AV

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BusiNess iNtelligeNce | FeAtuRe n

A journey that never gets over.’ this is how one of the Ctos de-scribes about the busi-ness intelligence (BI) implementation in

his organization. “as the market and time change, users will come up with new requirements and will thus need to scale up their BI tools. therefore, I would say BI implementation should be a continuous process,” adds arun Gupta, Chief technology officer of Shopper’s Stop. Interestingly, BI is the first thing on his top 10 It buying list even during the crunch periods.

and he is not alone. Most of the decision makers believe that BI is extremely important for their busi-nesses to improve efficiency. accord-ing to The State of the CIO Survey 2008, 23 percent of Indian CIos say that BI is their most important prior-ity for for 2009.

Moreover, in the context of an economic downturn, BI becomes a sensible option for enterprises. however, how many of them really understand the need to have BI in their organizations? awareness and adoption of BI among enterprises are definitely on the rise.

the India advanced analytics software market is slated to grow at a CaGr of 22 percent over the 2009–2013 period, reveals an IDC report. new license revenues in the asia Pacific business intelligence market will reach $259.3 million in 2009. It will grow at a CaGr of 13.6 percent, Gartner says.

So, why is it that BI becomes a ‘must-have’ for enterprises even at a time when they are trying to tight-en their belts?

PRoFits APleNtyMost of us would have heard the story of how wise analysis of data helped the retail giant Wal-Mart to understand some of the interest-ing buying patterns of its custom-ers. they found out that several of its customers who bought diapers during weekends also bought beer. Delving deeper, it also became quite evident that men who stopped by to pick up diapers for their children wanted to stock up beer for the week-

end. Without delay, Wal-Mart kept diapers next to the beer coolers. the result: the beer sales skyrocketed! We really don’t know whether this is a true example or not. nevertheless, it reveals the importance of making the right use of the available data.

“BI tools help you see certain facts which are not visible otherwise. there is no point deploying an erP or a CrM solution if an organization doesn’t know how to make the data talk. Collecting data is not the most important factor. enterprises need to have ‘actionable data’,” says Sanjay Mehta, Ceo, MaIa Intelligence.

organizations, both big and small, are seeking intelligent solutions that can help them analyze and investi-gate, which in turn will help draw

22%

cAgR will be witnessed in the india advanced analytics software market in 2009–2013

conclusions for effective and ef-fecient decision making.

“BI helps in weeding out inef-ficiency from the organizational ecosystem by providing clear, simple, and up to date information targeted at individuals and groups of people in a business. this, in turn, enable them to make informed, timely, and accu-rate decisions. as a result, it helps in cutting costs and increasing bottom-lines,” explains Sanjay Deshmukh, Country Manager, India/SaarC re-gion, Business objects.

Most importantly, BI can change the whole working culture in an organization. there won’t be any room left for guesswork because BI ultimately enhances communication among departments and people. It equips companies to respond quickly to various changes, be it in finance, customer preferences, or supply chain operations.

“Prior to deploying a full-fledged BI system, we had so much depen-dency on spread sheets. But from the time we started deploying BI solu-

tion, we came to realize the errors in our existing spread sheets, and BI helped us throw away those spread sheets,” says Gupta of Shopper’s Stop. “above all, BI helps us to have single version of the truth across the orga-nization,” he adds.

Ghanshyam naik, Vice president – It, Wanbury Limited, says BI tools helped his company identify its areas of weakness and strength. “BI en-ables us to carry out the analysis of the current data and showcases our weak and strong areas. We benefit from it in forming the right business strategies. My experience is that it is better to make strategies based on current performance and analysis rather than blindly forming the strat-egies based on gut feeling. BI tools fa-

cilitate managers in taking informed decisions,” he adds.

“Concisely, BI improves the avail-ability of enterprise data, enhances customer satisfaction, and increases profitability,” says Gupta of Shopper’s Stop. Sunil jose, Managing Direc-tor, Sybase India, adds, “Businesses require a single consolidated view of information from disparate opera-tional systems for making informed decisions, which directly translates into profitability. the goal of BI is to allow anyone using the information provided to make better and effective business decisions.”

Right time FoR BiIt’s no secret that times are chal-lenging and demands on business leaders are high and more complex than ever before. Stakes are high and organizations are currently focusing on reducing their cost and preserv-ing their precious capital. Most of the industry experts will try and explore the divisions to divest, assets to sell, or staff to let go. others will ‘tighten

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to establish a foothold in the PSus. Currently, most enterprises (process/manufacturing) have deployed and stabilized erP/CrM/SCM applica-tions and are thus looking for a tool that can leverage the It investment in these packaged applications. “We are also seeing great interest from other verticals, such as retail and government for adopting BI for in-creasing their competitiveness and transparency, respectively,” Panjwani of SaS adds.

collABoRAtioN is KeyIn the present economic scenario, enterprises are looking at associating with vendors who can do a faultless implementation, can integrate the BI tool seamlessly with the existing systems, and finally who can provide great value for money. they expect BI companies to innovate and part-ner with them to address real-time business issues, including more effi-cient management of information on cash flow and liquidity, maximizing a global workforce through change, and optimizing procurement and supply chain processes.

Being user-friendly is another im-portant factor. “We associate with a vendor based on the user friendliness of the tool. It should be easy for us to develop the BI reports and do analy-sis from the given reports,” says naik of Wanbury.

In the coming days, vendors ex-pect to see an increasing demand for customized and industry-specific BI solutions. BI is expected to become more mobile as users are no longer tied to their desks. there is a clear indication that enterprises have to or are going to consider BI as survival tool and also as the most important way to re-double their efficiency. as Gupta of Shopper’s Stop says, BI has to be viewed as a continuous journey, instead of stopping in the middle when the road ahead is rough.

“Business intelligence is more im-portant than ever in tough environ-ments. as organizations make cuts, executives will only get one chance to make the right strategic decisions — as the old phrase has it: Measure twice, cut once,” concludes Deshmukh of Business objects. n

Deshmukh of Business objects. BI undoubtedly delivers the greatest immediate impact for Indian enter-prises with instant roI.

the maturity of BI adoption can best be seen with the new economy companies, including those that are in the telecom, retail, and BPo sec-tors. the mindset of traditional econ-omy organizations can often become a challenge for BI companies seeking

their belts’ with strict controls that make it almost impossible to seize any opportunity.

“the decisions that organizations have made in the past few quarters or will make in the coming quarters can make or break their business. not surprisingly, the advance analytics market in the first half of 2008 has demonstrated a robust growth and is likely to sustain the same, moving forward,” says ashit Panjwani, Director – Marketing, SaS India.

Since BI directly relates to profit-ability of business, investing in a solution that will give a 360 degree view of the business will always pay off. this is the popular belief among enterprises, which have already deployed BI. after all, nobody can afford to take wrong decisions when the times are testing.

But how agile are the Indian en-terprises? “When it comes to tech-nology, the top priority for Indian enterprises would be on the type of It deployment that provides the greatest ‘bang for your buck’,” says

leAdiNg APPlicAtioNs oF BiApplicAtion AreA Key AnAlysis AreAs

FinanceBalance Sheet, Profit and Loss/Income Statement, Cash Flow, Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable, Financial Budget-ing and Forecasting, Risk Management

human resources Headcount Trends, Compensation, Employee Expenses, Career Path, Benefits Administration, Time & Labor Management

sales Forecast Sales Pipeline, Channel, Competitor, Sales Force Performance

customer relationship Management

Customer Segmentation, Customer Profitability, Customer Cross-Sell, Customer Acquisition, Retention, and Attrition, Loy-alty, Campaign, Customer Service, Customer Scorecards

product salesCategory Performance/Category Management, Inventory, Merchandising, Fraud Analysis and Loss, Prevention, Product Scorecards, Discounts and Promotions

supply chain and operations

Supply and Demand Planning, Manufacturing Scheduling and Production Planning, Regulatory Management, Order Fulfill-ment, Strategic Sourcing and Vendor Scorecards, Quality Con-trol, Network Optimization, Call Center,

Web site Analysis Web Traffic, Web Visitors, Web Navigation, eCommerce

$259.3 million will be the

new license revenues in the Asia Pacific business intelligence market

in 2009

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