November 14, 2014

Business Intelligence won’t help your company, unless …

We are at an exciting time in the world of business technology. Cloud-based Software as a Service has all but eliminated the need for companies to own and maintain servers and associated software. Low-cost subscription models allow businesses to use the latest versions of software, accessible from everywhere.

One of the newer and more significant software categories to enter the SaaS space is Business Intelligence, or BI.  This new breed of BI tools can be used without the need for data scientists and costly on-premises resources. The result is the opening of a new world of benefits to small- and mid-sized companies – benefits that used to be available only to large enterprises.

However, in this brave new world of data analytics, it’s not enough to deploy performance-tracking dashboards and simply wait for the revenue to pour in. To take full advantage of the power of BI, a fundamental mindset change is required. To make real, measurable progress in business, and to harness the power of BI, we must embrace the data-driven business model.

What separates SaaS BI from in-house BI is that it can be used by business people, not just IT professionals and trained data analysts. It enables the executive, business owner and employee, to gain insights into their operations and make strategic decisions based on real-time data.  More importantly, by increasing visibility, businesses increase accountability, driving more productivity and better decision-making.

The problem is that most companies aren’t used to making data-driven decisions. And for those that do understand the power of BI, visibility is often limited to top-level executives. Unfortunately, this prevents BI from being utilized to its fullest potential.

The Data-Driven Business uses BI to not only gain insights about customers and competitors but also to analyze its own performance. More than that, in the Data-Driven Business, employees from executives down to entry level can clearly see their personal performance data and that of other the people affecting their area of the business. They allow themselves to be measured and motivated by that data. In our experience, this transparency has inspired accountability and a sense of camaraderie among teams. In addition, “communal BI” empowers employees to contribute toward company goals beyond their immediate work.

Like anything in a business, the adoption of data-driven management must start at the top, with executives leading by example, showing employees that they will measure their own performance by specific, measurable data and will hold themselves accountable to it. They must value transparency, and the elimination of siloed information.

At Blue Margin, we encourage employees to look for ways to improve the company and give them a weekly forum to share their insights. Their insights and efforts are empowered by the visibility into the business that our BI dashboard brings them.

SaaS BI has made business intelligence accessible to companies of all sizes, but to benefit from this evolution, companies need to adopt data-driven decision making as part of their culture.

Jon Thompson, a partner at Fort Collins-based Blue Margin, can be reached at jon@bluemargin.com, 970-214-1652 or 720-504-0017.

We are at an exciting time in the world of business technology. Cloud-based Software as a Service has all but eliminated the need for companies to own and maintain servers and associated software. Low-cost subscription models allow businesses to use the latest versions of software, accessible from everywhere.

One of the newer and more significant software categories to enter the SaaS space is Business Intelligence, or BI.  This new breed of BI tools can be used without the need for data scientists and costly on-premises resources. The result is the opening of a new world of…

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