Looking For A One Size Fits All BI Tool
Your technology investments must serve the needs of your business to be effective.
In the previous chapter, we talked about how the lack of understanding of the available data can harm the company in terms of analytics and business intelligence.
When it comes to BI, it is a mistake to assume that a single solution will be the right fit for every business situation. While you could certainly shovel your driveway with a spoon, using a shovel or even a snowblower is much more efficient. BI tools are different, and you cannot use the same business intelligence tool for every aspect.
Remember that choosing the best business intelligence software will allow you to work the best on your embedded analytics, data analytics, predictive analytics, and business analytics to gain the best actionable insights for your business.
Every company is unique – even companies in the same industries utilize data differently. Every department and every employee will have unique and very specific needs and preferences for BI, and it is important to offer solutions that fit the use case.
If an enterprise solution is required, a completely self-service approach will be ineffective and limiting. A simple BI application is not enough to do the job for an effective dashboard.
On the flip side, there is no need to invest in an enterprise solution if a self-service approach would suffice. Understanding the user’s needs is critical before applying a single solution, which can either limit capabilities or provide more capabilities than users will ever require.
Similarly, decision-makers can often get caught up in the bells and whistles of a BI solution – bells and whistles they may never need. Some executives get caught up in the hype. They try to “keep up with the Joneses” and adopt the hottest BI tool on the market simply because it’s what the competition is doing.
BI vendors already know that, but they keep their mouths shut to gain more sales. They do not realize that the hottest BI tool is not always the best analytics tool or reporting tool for your business. Sometimes, the traditional BI tool can do more than the most trendy ones in town for data analysis, among many other tasks.
And, of course, some executives purchase solutions on price alone. Cost management is important, but working with a limiting BI tool can mean tripping over dollars to pick up pennies. Imagine if your BI tool cannot help you in ad hoc reporting. Bad, right?
If users cannot get what they need, when they need it, they will have to implement workarounds or solicit the IT team for data and reports, straining resources. You need to have the best BI tool for your interactive dashboards, visualization, and data discovery, so it is always important to choose wisely.
Your technology investments must serve the needs of your business to be effective. That means you must be clear on your business requirements before selecting a solution based on features, price, or brand name alone.
Choosing the best business intelligence solution will do you a favor because your data preparation and data mining would be much easier, and you can do data integration without any problems.
Our Takeaway
You must have specific solutions for different facets of your business. Looking for a one-size-fits-all solution is virtually impossible, and you might end up wasting more time and resources than ever. Always remember that being specific is key.
A self-service BI might not be what you are looking for, or you might be looking for great BI software for advanced analytics. Always remember that it matters to be specific to get the proper metrics and the best meaningful insights from your business intelligence platform.
In the next chapter, you will learn how being complacent about how your BI solution works can strike you in the back in the end.
