Executive Summary • Buying a BI suite involves a long term commitment to a product and vendor that could result in an expensive divorce if the relationship sours. • BI tool selection requires understanding all facets of your information architecture and business processes in order to choose a tool that is genuinely compatible with your needs. • BI products are notoriously complex and the variety in vendor offerings and packaging make straightforward comparisons difficult to come by. • Market consolidation and an evolving technology landscape also raise concerns about the product roadmaps, leaving IT managers uncertain that their future needs will be met. • Minimize the risk by building the selection process on five critical factors: business requirements, end user requirements, technical requirements, cost, and expertise. • Making a smart choice means defining your needs, understanding the products, and knowing how they stack up. Info-Tech Research Group 1
Choose wisely: Most BI projects exceed $100 K & go beyond 6 months to implement • Most BI projects take 6 -12 months to implement, with 35% taking 12 months to 2+ years. This does not include initial project planning and tool selection. • Most organizations don’t accurately capture the TCO when assessing the cost of an ongoing BI project. Training and support costs are usually left out of the equation. • Organizations cannot afford a failed BI implementation or the cost of replacing a tool that does not meet their needs. “ I think companies are somewhat short sighted when they say “This BI tool costs X amount. ” They haven’t thought about maintenance fees or about the administrative costs of rolling it out to 100, 200, 1, 000 users. The total cost of ownership is not just the invoices you get when you buy the tools. ” -Claudia Imhoff, BI Consultant, President of Intelligent Solutions Inc. , Founder of the Boulder BI Brain Trust Info-Tech Research Group 2
Develop a five-step selection strategy that addresses business & technology requirements, end user traits, affordability & staff expertise 1 2 3 “ Business Requirements. Meet business objectives with a thorough understanding of business processes and pain points. End User Considerations. Low adoption will undermine the ROI of the solution. Match tool capabilities to how analysts will use the tool, both technically and functionally, to avoid misuse or resistance. Technology Requirements. Make sure that the candidate solution will be compatible with existing enterprise applications. 4 5 Cost Considerations. Prioritize features and functionality to match potential solutions to what your organization can afford. Calculate total cost of ownership. Out-year and hidden costs often exceed the purchase price. Expertise. Assess IT staff proficiency and familiarity with available offerings. Include internal product expertise in your vendor evaluation. Knowing the requirements and what you want to get out of the BI solution can tell you whether you need a VW or a Ferrari. - IT Director, Financial Services Info-Tech Research Group ” 3
Step 4: Avoid breaking the bank by keeping TCO in mind Consider both one-time and ongoing costs for BI projects. One time costs include things like software licenses, implementation costs, and hardware costs. Ongoing costs include things like maintenance fees for software and hardware as well as labor. To help assess costs, use the Info-Tech “Total Cost of Ownership Calculator. ” “ Understand product pricing. Ask vendors which functionalities come in their base package and what you will need to pay extra for. Keep in mind that not all BI vendors package the same functionalities together. Request this information in your request for proposal. Organizations that select BI software primarily on license/subscription cost do not recognize that the total cost of ownership has many factors beyond the software and implementation fees. - CEO, Business Services Be aware of alternative licensing options. Vendors often apply pressure to pursue an enterprise-wide licensing arrangement. Ask the vendor to provide information on other licensing options that might be available. Don’t put all of your eggs in one BI basket. Have an alternative software choice to use as leverage during contract negotiations. Info-Tech Research Group Info-Tech Insight: 37% of BI implementations run over projected budgets. More Research • For more information on cost considerations for BI, refer to the Info. Tech research note “BI Vendor Selection Factors: Cost Considerations. ” 4 ”
Simplify selection by understanding how BI products map on to the BI architecture • • • Stack Vendors: Provide comprehensive BI solutions that target the entire BI architecture. Pure Play Vendors: Primary focus is on providing analytical and reporting solutions. Component Vendors: Point solutions for a single component of the BI architecture (e. g. analysis). Info-Tech Research Group 5
Focus on Stack & Pure Play vendors. Component vendors augment or replace specific elements of an overarching BI solution In-Scope of this Research Report Out-of-Scope for this Research Report Stack Vendors • • DW Tools Pure Play Vendors ETL Component Vendors* Tools Other (*) Note: This research report does not deal with Component vendors/tools. They are dealt with in separate parts of our research agenda.
Stack or Pure Play? The choice boils down to product integration vs. vendor independence Clients choose BI stack vendors for two main reasons: 1. Demand for broader functionality to address current and/or future needs. 2. Commitment to the vendor’s product portfolio and the promise of better integration across the BI architecture. Clients choose pure play vendors: 1. To avoid over-committing to a single vendor. 2. For a predictable product roadmap and vendor competence in niche areas. “ I think we have a great variety of BI technologies today. Either big box guys like IBM or Microsoft or Oracle or whatever, or the more niche players that focus on a particular problem like data mining, statistical, or reporting. Some vendors focus on a vertical industry itself, like healthcare or retail. So you end up with a bit of a trade off. Do you want the integration, or do you want the deep knowledge? -BI Consultant ” Stack vendors have the largest number of deployments
Microsoft makes large moves in BI with most competitive pricing Stack Vendor: Microsoft (SQL 08 & Perf. Pt. Server 07) Strengths Weaknesses Vendor Microsoft Completeness of Solution ** Features & Functionality ** *** • Lowest total licensing and support cost. • Requires significant Microsoft developer expertise. • Share. Point provides a well entrenched enterprise portal for wider deployments with a promising BI roadmap in Share. Point 2010—part of project “Gemini” • No single metadata layer: must be custom built. Affordability • Reporting and analysis are still highly IT dependent for development. Company Strength • Microsoft leverages in-memory capabilities of Analysis Services and Office 2010 functionality for better slicing and dicing. • Developing applications and cubes requires more development time than other BI solutions. • Acquisition of DATAllegro allows for data warehousing capabilities. • Shifting roadmap around BI creates uncertainty. There is no clear vision for BPM. Usability Overall Rating * *** Contender “ We looked at the major players that were out there. We came up with quotes on an enterprise level that were somewhere north of half a million dollars, and we couldn’t find anybody in the organization that wanted to foot that bill. Then we came across Microsoft BI and our price tag dropped significantly, which made it a very smart deal for us. -IT Director, Manufacturing Info-Tech Research Group 8
The BI Vendor Selection Tool generates a shortlist for your organization, based on weighting factors you choose The Info-Tech BI Vendor Selection Tool: • Allows you to weight your BI requirements across five key selection criteria. • Generates a customized vendor short list based on your organization’s specific needs. Info-Tech Research Group 9
Appendix Research materials included in this solution set: • Video: Five Factors to Consider When Selecting a BI Vendor • BI Vendor Selection Factors: Business Requirements • BI Vendor Selection Factors: Expertise • BI Vendor Selection Factors: Cost Considerations • BI Vendor Selection Factors: End User Considerations • BI Vendor Selection Factors: Technology Requirements • Vendor Landscape: Business Intelligence Solutions • Business Intelligence Vendor Selection Tool • An RFP for Business Intelligence • A Demo-script for Business Intelligence Info-Tech Research Group 22
Appendix The survey cited in this storyboard took place in February 2010. We had 104 respondents answer questions about BI solutions they had deployed. Info-Tech Research Group 22
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