Intelligent Enterprise

IT and business management are increasingly expressing alarm at rising costs associated with Business Intelligence (BI) implementations. The fear of hidden costs has kept many companies from making an investment, and many adopters have found that ongoing support and maintenance costs for ever-changing analytical and reporting requirements inhibits user penetration and the ability to manage total cost of ownership (TCO).

A new report from Aberdeen Group entitled "Managing the Total Cost of Ownership of Business Intelligence" reveals that top-performing companies are doing more with less when it comes to managing the costs associated with implementing, deploying and supporting a BI solution. The report finds that Best-in-Class companies are distinguished from all others in that they achieved significantly better year-over-year results on four key metrics:

• 5.8% improvement in on-budget completion of BI projects, more than 5 times the rate of Industry Average companies,
• 4.3% decrease in the cost-per-user of BI applications, more than four times the rate of Industry Average companies,
• Average of 14 days to achieve completion of BI projects, almost three times shorter than Industry Average companies and over ten times shorter than Laggard companies,
• Average of .6 days (4.8 hours) to make a change or modification to an existing BI report or analytic view, versus 3.2 days among Industry Average companies and 7.9 days among Laggard companies.

This executive summary details key findings of Aberdeen's "Managing the Total Cost of Ownership of Business Intelligence" report (to download the full report at no charge, click here to register). Among the conclusions shared are the findings that To achieve Best-in-Class performance, companies must:

• Automate the process for collection and integration of data,
• Start with end user requirements " match BI tools with existing non-technical end user skill sets,
• Investigate new licensing and deployment options " challenge solution providers to offer flexible and digestible approaches.

BUSINESS CONTEXT

Click Image to View in Larger Window Best-in-Class Cost Management

Aberdeen's research conducted among 194 professionals at 162 companies between March and April 2009 reveals that top-performing companies are "doing more with less" when it comes to one of the major costs associated with implementing, deploying and managing a BI solution (see "Best-in-Class Cost Management" chart at right).

Interestingly, despite requiring fewer full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) to support BI deployments, Best-in-Class companies are capable of completing BI projects, from start-to-finish, both on-budget and within expected timeframes. Additionally, they are delivering BI capabilities to more enterprise users than their counterparts. This report will dive deep into the specific actions and capabilities that Best-in-Class companies are taking to achieve this result.

Click Image to View in Larger Window Pressures Change with Performance

Research completed in February 2008 for Aberdeen's first annual Managing the TCO of Business Intelligence report revealed that the top two pressures driving the desire to gain improved control over the cost of BI were to move beyond data integration difficulties (42%) and the need to deliver BI capabilities to more end users (29%). The latest research reveals that a change has occurred at the top of the pressures list when it comes to determining what drives companies to focus on lowering their cost of ownership of BI implementations (see "Pressures Change with Better Performance" at below right).

This change between 2008 and 2009 respondent priorities can partially be explained by the advancement in deployment longevity that has occurred over time. Respondents report that they are now more likely to have greater maturity with their BI implementations. In fact, 70% of all respondents to this year's survey have had a BI implementation installed for a year or more, and 45% have been managing their implementation for four or more years.

Until recently, BI was deployed mainly to mangers, business analysts, and C-level executives as a tool used to gain better visibility into company performance, trends and standard reporting. In today's more challenging economy, BI is now being viewed as having a potential impact on operational performance.

Aberdeen Group research has found that as companies begin to mature in their use and deployment of BI technologies, they also begin to realize that there are hidden costs associated with different types of deployments. The resources required to meet the information and analytical needs of a department, group or enterprise can create an unexpected strain, both financially and in terms of time and resource allocation. In order to determine the true TCO of a BI implementation, several cost factors must be defined and understood.