Poor Anna: The Story of Bloated, Pricey BI Tools
Last year, my friend Anna launched her business intelligence project, with great enthusiasm. She fought hard to get her management team to recognize the value of BI tools and, when the management team approved the project, her IT staff went to work, reviewing and selecting a business intelligence solution that would fit within their infrastructure.
This year, Anna is not so happy. The business finally completed the implementation of the business intelligence solution, but the tool is expensive, hard to learn, and difficult to use in a mobile environment. It doesn’t provide access for the average user to create, format and dive into reports and data but rather provides only standardized, formatted reports. This is NOT what Anna wanted, and she is understandably upset and frustrated.
No matter how small or large the enterprise, business users are expected to contribute to the bottom line and to help solve problems. Anna’s solution doesn’t provide the flexibility the organization needs. To make matters worse, the licensing is restrictive and expensive. Now, Anna is stuck!
If you are considering a BI tool, be sure to involve the users, and consider the affordability, hidden costs, integration capability, practicality, flexibility and licensing requirements before you make a commitment. You can find a solution that will suit every user; one that is simple and fast to implement and integrate and will provide the support for growth and change within your organization. You’ll be glad you did. Flexible, Affordable BI Tools
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