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The CEO's Guide to The Top 5 Issues that Misguide Business

Article:

When considering business intelligence (BI) software, it is

essential to be aware of underlying issues that can seriously

impact on your bottom line. In a country where most businesses

have information stored in several different databases, it's no

secret that the BI strategy you choose will effect your profit

and loss target. From data collection and integration to data

analysis, the holy grail of Business Intelligence software

combines your disparate databases to provide a d

ecision support system that will enable you to make key

conclusions using all of the available information. This is

clearly a huge bonus to those companies searching for ways to

surpass their competitors. However, in today's landscape,

managers and executives in "small to midsize" organizations are

at a significant disadvantage where business intelligence is

concerned. Their business intelligence data and needs are

similar to their Fortune 500 and Global 9000 counterparts, but

their business intelligence budgets are not. So how do you find

the right Business Intelligence vendor--one that provides

concurrent access to all available types of information with a

simple, user-friendly interface at a cost that makes sense?

Simple: Avoid these top five common obstacles and purchase only

what your company will use.

1. Usability verses feature bloat. We've all experienced

it--we want only the best. The most technically sound flat

screen TV on the market. The newest cell phone with the most

ring tones, Web access, and email. A membership to the most

popular gym filled with the most technically advanced machines

and highly-educated trainers. But does too much of a good thing

become more overwhelming than beneficial?

Simplify. Are all the bells and whistles necessary? Be

selective about the BI programs you choose and only buy what

you'll use. Carefully consider the expensive BI products and do

your research. There are companies in the BI marketplace that

provide d

ecision support systems tailored for the small to

mid-size company, without the unnecessary, expensive add-ons.

With a little legwork, you can identify BI software that enables

users to integrate, publish and analyze enterprise data across

disparate data sources - without expensive ETL technology.

2. Enough already about metadata! Metadata is literally

data about data. It can range from timestamps to icons to

free-text comments and much more. Because of the need to distill

the useful information from the mass of information available,

it's typical to invest in a large BI company that ensures

consistency by manually creating your metadata, which in turn

can add value, but also adds tremendous cost. However, it is

often possible to leverage companies' existing metadata - a fact

that many big BI companies overlook. As such, it may not be

necessary to spend the extra money to manually create these

metadata schemes - the info you need may already be there. As

with anything else, the key is about finding balance--too much

or too little data is not useful. Good business intelligence

means balanced information.

3. Consulting Don't buy it if you don't need it. Many BI

products require substantial consulting projects as part of

their launch process, often costing as much as the software

itself. Take a close look at your company's needs and determine

whether or not this additional support is necessary. Unlike the

business intelligence products of Big BI, there are niche BI

companies with software that installs and runs without expensive

consulting - yet they still provide concurrent access to any

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combination of enterprise data sources in a single user request;

can be installed in a matter of hours; and include user-friendly

tools for query creation, reporting and data analytics.

If you would like to read the complete article, please visit

Decision Technology at http://www.decision-technology.com/article_fielding_ceo.htm

.

About Decision Technology, Inc. Decision Technology

business intelligence software is the ideal solution for

organizations with limited IT resources, and whose data are

confined in disparate databases or operational systems. Since

1985, Decision Technology has provided organizations with

intuitive, information retrieval software for decision support

applications. Its newest business intelligence software product,

DecisionCentric, provides Enterprise Information Integration

with query and reporting tools optimized for small and medium

size organizations. It enables users to integrate, publish and

analyze enterprise data across disparate data sources - without

expensive ETL technology.

This article is copyrighted by Decision Technology. It may not

be reproduced in whole or in part and may not be posted on other

websites, without the express written permission of the author

who may be contacted via email at

DTI@digitalbrandexpressions.com.

About the author:

R.L. Fielding has been a freelance writer for 10 years, offering

her expertise and skills to a variety of major organizations in

the education, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, financial

services, and manufacturing industries. She lives in New Jersey

with her dog and two cats and enjoys rock climbing and

ornamental gardening.