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Breadth of Functionality

Data, BI and Value

Nucleus Research discovered by talking to hundreds of business intelligence (BI) end users that when companies - or departments and teams within companies - are deciding who their BI vendor will be, only a few factors come into play. The most important is breadth of capability and functionality. Almost as important are standardization and the ability to leverage existing BI investments. Buyers seem to care more about maximizing their benefits from BI rather than minimizing the cost of getting them.

Based on best practices found in ROI-based case studies and end-user interviews, Nucleus finds that breadth of functionality is the most important factor in BI vendor selection.

Because BI is often purchased by managers of departments or project teams rather a central BI manager, the next most important factor is incumbency - if a fulfillment department is about to buy BI and a particular vendor is already used by another department, the CFO is likely to argue for the incumbent vendor.

Breadth of Product Offering

Smart BI purchasers know that their first BI project is typically only the beginning. They also know that they can't predict where their BI initiative is headed, what kinds of projects will be undertaken, what users will come on board or what functionally will be added.

One of the reasons Hoganas, a European manufacturer of metal powders, selected a BI vendor was that they expected their BI deployment to broaden, but didn't know how. In order to have flexibility and breadth, they selected a well-known vendor. In order not to limit themselves, companies often select vendors with the broadest product offering and this favors the large, best-of-breed vendors such as Cognos and Business Objects.

Standardization

If a manager of a department or project is shopping for BI and BI is already being used somewhere else in the company, incumbency will always be a factor. Extending an existing BI platform rather than starting with a new vendor can result in reduced costs for customization, development, data warehouse construction and training. It will also accelerate adoption, since end users are already familiar with the incumbent's user interfaces, reports and dashboards.

Conversely, incumbency can also hurt. If a BI deployment has bogged down with unexpected complexity or costs, or if benefits have fallen short of expectations, a new BI project could for a vendor trying to unseat an incumbent.

User Friendliness

Ease of use - whether it is related to end user ad hoc reporting or report construction by developers - is often key. Nucleus has seen a number of deployments in which a vendor was selected because end users test drove a solution and found it to be just plain old easy to use. End users are used to Google, Firefox and Netflix. They want that same level of functionality in their tools at work as they have at home. They want to be able to drill down and across to look at other data - without being overwhelmed by it - and they want Ajax-enabled balloons to pop up and tell them what else they can do with the report or dashboard they are using.

Browser accessibility is also a factor, since this is an environment that end users - especially those ad hoc users whose adoption can dramatically broaden your deployment - are used to and have come to expect in their applications at work.

RFP Performance

Doing your homework still counts. Nucleus has seen lots of vendor selections hinge on one vendor simply outperforming the other vendors by rapidly and credibly responding to an RFP. Credibility here is key. Vendor selection processes often include proof-of- concept projects or extensive demonstrations. Smart BI advocates are selective in what the nature of the proof of concept will be and use it to prove the connection between BI functionality and the company's strategic goals. This means that more than just helping a CFO decide which vendor to use, a proof-of-concept project can achieve key buy-in from senior management.

Price

Although a BI purchase usually requires the blessing of an ROI-savvy CFO, price is seldom a primary factor when there is no BI incumbent. However, it effectively is a factor once an incumbent exists because extending an existing deployment is almost always less expensive, complex, and lengthy than using a new vendor for a one-off deployment.

Avoiding ERP

Nucleus finds that companies tend to go with best-of-breed vendors even though they may be offered relatively inexpensive BI applications from their ERP vendors. BI buyers perceive the best-of-breed applications to be better at accessing more data of more types and integrating over the firewall to customers and partners who may be using a different ERP system. And because IT managers are also risk managers, they want their BI deployment to be free of the complexity and customization they probably associate with their ERP deployment. This may be changing. Oracle's recent acquisition of best-of-breed performance management vendor Cartesis means that ERP vendors want to take their BI-related functionality up a notch.

SOA Need Not Apply

Despite all its hype, SOA doesn't play much of a role in BI vendor selection. If a company is considering SOA adoption, or has it underway, SOA compatibility will be a plus for a potential BI vendor.

SOA may play a factor because it enables a vendor or its partners to integrate a BI application to the enterprise less expensively. Beyond being an enabler in this way, Nucleus isn't seeing SOA as a critical factor in BI deployments or vendor selection.

Vendor tip: Don't play the SOA card too heavily in the sales process. It may only introduce a new acronym that causes confusion or skepticism. Instead, focus on how the benefits of SOA will accelerate the deployment or improve BI functionality.

And the Winner is ...

BI vendors that will win new customers will be the ones who:

  • Grow with their customers. BI users want to adopt and deploy BI on an as-needed basis, but also have the ability to add functionality and features in whatever way they need later on. Since buyers want both features and flexibility, the winning vendors will be the ones that prove they can cost effectively provide a breadth of functionality while also not forcing companies to take on a full BI deployment at the outset.
  • Enable user adoption. End users are key to BI. In the beginning, they can hold sway when they use potential vendor solutions. Once a company has adopted BI, end users are key because their usage - and resulting productivity improvements - pays for BI investments. If an incumbent's reporting, dashboards, and queries aren't being used because they aren't user friendly, that vendor can expect to be unseated by a rival.
  • Prove their ability. Vendors should be aggressive and thorough during the RFP process. Business and technical staff should be on hand to address every requirement stated by a prospect and developer time should be available to create compelling proof-of-concept solutions that win deals. Rather than treating the RFP process like a bake off, vendors should be aggressive, and use it as an opportunity to help their internal champion successfully champion BI.

New BI deployments and projects tend to be awarded to the vendors who have the broadest product offering or are incumbents. Although BI standardization is an old story and primarily a product of vendor marketing messaging, its logic holds true. The best way to get more ROI from your BI investments is to extend your existing BI deployment, and do it without bringing a new vendor into the picture. Vendors should take advantage of this dynamic by aggressively investigating their customers' operating environments, finding opportunities to extend BI deployments to more processes and end users, and helping their internal champions make the ROI-based case for these projects.


David O'Connell contributes to Nucleus Research's industry-leading body of research by performing interviews, writing research reports and building ROI tools. O'Connell follows a number of sectors, including integration, collaboration, business intelligence and workforce management. As a former commercial banker, O'Connell is particularly skilled in evaluating how solutions impact the roles of the CFO, controller and treasurer, and has been writing and presenting technology-oriented business cases for more than 10 years. He is the author of numerous ROI reports, evaluation reports, tools and case studies. You can reach him at doconnell@nucleusresearch.com.  

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