Issues that Can Affect Your Business Intelligence Software

Your business intelligence software will only ever be as good as your company’s attitude towards it.  Here are a few ways that businesses end up sabotaging their own business intelligence initiatives:•    Unrealistic Expectations – Believing that just because the software has been paid for that you’ll have compliance to this new system across the board is, unfortunately, not enough.  Before the software system is purchased, it is important that a core group be designated to lead the initiative and help achieve compliance.  This group will be responsible for orchestrating the rollout of the business intelligence software and maintaining it moving forward, as well as eliminating any old systems of data collection that could cause duplication.  •    Limiting Access to Results – In companies that allow limited access to reports, the sales team, marketing department, and other key teams and groups are left out of the loop and the business intelligence software is not used to its full potential.  While business intelligence reports are very important during the decision making process at the corporate level, they can also help guide the teams that have the most face time with your customers, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and retention.  •    Poor Data Quality – If the data your program is using is poor then the results it produces will be unreliable, no matter how excellent the business intelligence software is out of the box.  No one will end up using the information during the decision making process or while interacting with customers after being burned by shoddy results.  The initiative will crumble before it gets off the ground.  By entrusting the core group with data quality, you can follow through with your program knowing that poor existing data will be cleaned up and that new data coming in will be quality from the get go. •    Resistance to Change – Business intelligence doesn’t exist in a vacuum.  When you choose your business intelligence software, you need to find a vendor who can help you pick a product that can adapt to changing variables or that can support additional applications as time goes on.  Both your customers and your employees will probably have some suggestions for how to improve your system within the first couple of months or even weeks of its launch, so you must be ready and willing to change your business intelligence program.•    Winging It – Without a clearly defined set of variables and objectives, any company will have a hard time finding value in their business intelligence software.  The core group should be aware of what your company’s goals are and what will be the key milestones towards those goals.  They should also know exactly what constitutes revenue and the specifics of other important variables when they process incoming data.  With a clear view of what the business intelligence initiative was expected to accomplish, they will be able to help the system provide useful business intelligence for the entire company.