Description
Business Intelligence and the SME
Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence and
the SME
Despite sounding like an oxymoron, business intelligence (BI) combines processes, tools
and technologies to help turn data into information, information into knowledge, and
knowledge into plans that drive actions for improved business performance.
During the past decade, analysing business performance has become much easier, largely thanks to
the widespread availability of business intelligence (BI) solutions.
BI works by extracting data from multiple transactional and operational systems (such as orders,
service, sales and shipments) and combining the data into a single dedicated database or repository.
An array of BI tools then make it possible to mine, query and report on data, helping to identify
trends, patterns and exceptions. Unlike two-dimensional files such as Microsoft Excel, BI databases
offer the ability to analyse data across numerous dimensions.
As a result businesses are no longer restricted to simple reporting (such as What happened?) and
can more easily engage in analysis (such as Why did it happen?). BI also opens the way to more
sophisticated considerations such as predictive analysis (What will happen tomorrow?) and
monitoring (What just happened?). It is a technology that is transforming organisations by creating a
better understanding of business performance and trends. It empowers organisations to make
decisions on the best available information rather than on gut feel alone.
Big business and government bodies were the first groups to embrace BI, using it to bring together
information from different applications and systems across the enterprise to create a “single version
of the truth”, as the catchphrase goes.
THE PROBLEM WITH MANUAL ANALYSIS
Although the scale of operation may differ, the information needs of SMEs remain similar to those of
larger enterprises. Yet SMEs have been slow to adopt BI technologies. Instead, they typically rely on
operational and transactional systems that are efficient for running business on a day-to-day basis
but which lack any detailed analysis or reporting capabilities. Managers supplement these systems
with manual, time-consuming and costly processes to obtain the information they need.
It is common to have staff across the business extracting data from multiple sources and then
manipulating it in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access or by using third party report writers. All of this
takes time and demands a level of technical expertise that can be in scarce supply within a smaller
organisation.
Such an intensive approach will eventually deliver results but it is inflexible. It fails because it cannot
J IWA Financials www.jiwa.com.au
Level 10, 100 Walker Street, North Sydney NSW 2060, Australia
provide a simple, easy way for all business users to get the information they're looking for. The last
thing you want is for your management team to spend time trying to develop and manipulate
spreadsheets or learning to use a report writer.
Intensive manual processes are also prone to error. As there is no standard way to create or share
information and no common place from which to retrieve it, mistakes easily creep in. If the Sales
department corrects a figure, it is possible for Finance and Logistics to remain totally oblivious of the
amendment.
Perhaps most importantly, this manual approach to reporting and analysis provides a single point of
failure. It not only increases the workload of the person or team responsible for producing the
reports, it also removes focus from other more critical business activities. The result is a reporting
process that doesn't recognise the need for a 'self service' approach to information gathering.
Businesses make do with existing and standard reports, even though they may be
outdated or based on incomplete details. This can be a lost opportunity to your business.
BI TRICKS TO HELP GET STARTED
With both the cost and complexity of BI technologies decreasing in recent years, there are important
gains to be made by those SMEs willing to consider a BI capability. Accurate information, agility in
the face of a changing business environment, and more informed decision making are just three of
the benefits.
There is considerable scope for most SMEs to uncover new opportunities or gaps in the business by
simply going beyond traditional two dimensional column and row style reports – to being able to
review and analyse information in a completely flexible way across multiple dimensions.
Analytical tools give users the choice as to whether they view a report as a static document, filter it
according to specific criteria or drill down, up or across for more detail. For example, analysis could
include sales by customers, by channel, by sales rep, by time of day and ultimately by location.
Dashboards and scorecards provide exception-driven reports to highlight how a company,
department or person is performing compared to plan, show results against predetermined key
performance indicators.
According to a leading industry analyst, IDC
1
, Australian SMEs looking to use BI to enhance their
competitiveness should aim to:
• Provide fast, consistent access to company data to employees throughout the enterprise;
• Deliver a “single version of the truth” streamlined from the various disparate systems within
the company;
• Give decision-makers the data they need so that they can “aim before they shoot”;
• Focus on productivity by deploying applications that facilitate company-wide business
processes. These should also be fast to set up and workable within weeks, not months.
• Focus on integration between BI platforms and existing enterprise systems, and skill sets;
• Capitalise on their ability to be adaptive in the market to outsmart competitors;
1 Australian SME Software Adoption, 2005, IDC J anuary 2005.
Business Intelligence
• Look for a low total cost of ownership in all technology choices that enable them to create an
advantage over their closest competitors.
Quickly determining one material opportunity or gap in the business can by itself provide massive
financial benefit to a company using BI effectively. The key is to keep information analysis simple
enough to be used by all.
The benefits of BI accrue in proportion to the number of people using the system, so the
more broadly the BI system is used, the more benefits it will deliver.
As experience builds up, the organisation as a whole will evolve to become capable of greater levels
of analytic sophistication and more complex requirements can be met. It is this process of evolution
that will ensure you achieve the greatest possible value from your BI investment.
WHITE PAPER FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS
Any feedback or questions, generated by this white paper, would be much appreciated.
Contact David Simmonds, at:
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.jiwa.com.au
Phone: +61 2 9409 0700
J IWA Financials – for MS SQL Server
ABOUT JIWA
Established in 1995, J IWA Financials is an Australian software developer of one of Australia’s most
respected business financial solutions, J IWA Financials. Designed for the Australian environment,
J IWA Financials is a Microsoft Windows-based financial solution servicing a client base that ranges
from single user sites up to global enterprises. The software places emphasis on data integrity and
software performance regardless of transaction or user numbers. The focus is on accurate stock
costing and tracking, and efficient general ledger and cashbook functions; J IWA Financials has found
a natural niche among importers, distributors, manufacturers and service repairers.
doc_849532302.pdf
Business Intelligence and the SME
Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence and
the SME
Despite sounding like an oxymoron, business intelligence (BI) combines processes, tools
and technologies to help turn data into information, information into knowledge, and
knowledge into plans that drive actions for improved business performance.
During the past decade, analysing business performance has become much easier, largely thanks to
the widespread availability of business intelligence (BI) solutions.
BI works by extracting data from multiple transactional and operational systems (such as orders,
service, sales and shipments) and combining the data into a single dedicated database or repository.
An array of BI tools then make it possible to mine, query and report on data, helping to identify
trends, patterns and exceptions. Unlike two-dimensional files such as Microsoft Excel, BI databases
offer the ability to analyse data across numerous dimensions.
As a result businesses are no longer restricted to simple reporting (such as What happened?) and
can more easily engage in analysis (such as Why did it happen?). BI also opens the way to more
sophisticated considerations such as predictive analysis (What will happen tomorrow?) and
monitoring (What just happened?). It is a technology that is transforming organisations by creating a
better understanding of business performance and trends. It empowers organisations to make
decisions on the best available information rather than on gut feel alone.
Big business and government bodies were the first groups to embrace BI, using it to bring together
information from different applications and systems across the enterprise to create a “single version
of the truth”, as the catchphrase goes.
THE PROBLEM WITH MANUAL ANALYSIS
Although the scale of operation may differ, the information needs of SMEs remain similar to those of
larger enterprises. Yet SMEs have been slow to adopt BI technologies. Instead, they typically rely on
operational and transactional systems that are efficient for running business on a day-to-day basis
but which lack any detailed analysis or reporting capabilities. Managers supplement these systems
with manual, time-consuming and costly processes to obtain the information they need.
It is common to have staff across the business extracting data from multiple sources and then
manipulating it in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access or by using third party report writers. All of this
takes time and demands a level of technical expertise that can be in scarce supply within a smaller
organisation.
Such an intensive approach will eventually deliver results but it is inflexible. It fails because it cannot
J IWA Financials www.jiwa.com.au
Level 10, 100 Walker Street, North Sydney NSW 2060, Australia
provide a simple, easy way for all business users to get the information they're looking for. The last
thing you want is for your management team to spend time trying to develop and manipulate
spreadsheets or learning to use a report writer.
Intensive manual processes are also prone to error. As there is no standard way to create or share
information and no common place from which to retrieve it, mistakes easily creep in. If the Sales
department corrects a figure, it is possible for Finance and Logistics to remain totally oblivious of the
amendment.
Perhaps most importantly, this manual approach to reporting and analysis provides a single point of
failure. It not only increases the workload of the person or team responsible for producing the
reports, it also removes focus from other more critical business activities. The result is a reporting
process that doesn't recognise the need for a 'self service' approach to information gathering.
Businesses make do with existing and standard reports, even though they may be
outdated or based on incomplete details. This can be a lost opportunity to your business.
BI TRICKS TO HELP GET STARTED
With both the cost and complexity of BI technologies decreasing in recent years, there are important
gains to be made by those SMEs willing to consider a BI capability. Accurate information, agility in
the face of a changing business environment, and more informed decision making are just three of
the benefits.
There is considerable scope for most SMEs to uncover new opportunities or gaps in the business by
simply going beyond traditional two dimensional column and row style reports – to being able to
review and analyse information in a completely flexible way across multiple dimensions.
Analytical tools give users the choice as to whether they view a report as a static document, filter it
according to specific criteria or drill down, up or across for more detail. For example, analysis could
include sales by customers, by channel, by sales rep, by time of day and ultimately by location.
Dashboards and scorecards provide exception-driven reports to highlight how a company,
department or person is performing compared to plan, show results against predetermined key
performance indicators.
According to a leading industry analyst, IDC
1
, Australian SMEs looking to use BI to enhance their
competitiveness should aim to:
• Provide fast, consistent access to company data to employees throughout the enterprise;
• Deliver a “single version of the truth” streamlined from the various disparate systems within
the company;
• Give decision-makers the data they need so that they can “aim before they shoot”;
• Focus on productivity by deploying applications that facilitate company-wide business
processes. These should also be fast to set up and workable within weeks, not months.
• Focus on integration between BI platforms and existing enterprise systems, and skill sets;
• Capitalise on their ability to be adaptive in the market to outsmart competitors;
1 Australian SME Software Adoption, 2005, IDC J anuary 2005.
Business Intelligence
• Look for a low total cost of ownership in all technology choices that enable them to create an
advantage over their closest competitors.
Quickly determining one material opportunity or gap in the business can by itself provide massive
financial benefit to a company using BI effectively. The key is to keep information analysis simple
enough to be used by all.
The benefits of BI accrue in proportion to the number of people using the system, so the
more broadly the BI system is used, the more benefits it will deliver.
As experience builds up, the organisation as a whole will evolve to become capable of greater levels
of analytic sophistication and more complex requirements can be met. It is this process of evolution
that will ensure you achieve the greatest possible value from your BI investment.
WHITE PAPER FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS
Any feedback or questions, generated by this white paper, would be much appreciated.
Contact David Simmonds, at:
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.jiwa.com.au
Phone: +61 2 9409 0700
J IWA Financials – for MS SQL Server
ABOUT JIWA
Established in 1995, J IWA Financials is an Australian software developer of one of Australia’s most
respected business financial solutions, J IWA Financials. Designed for the Australian environment,
J IWA Financials is a Microsoft Windows-based financial solution servicing a client base that ranges
from single user sites up to global enterprises. The software places emphasis on data integrity and
software performance regardless of transaction or user numbers. The focus is on accurate stock
costing and tracking, and efficient general ledger and cashbook functions; J IWA Financials has found
a natural niche among importers, distributors, manufacturers and service repairers.
doc_849532302.pdf