Designing a business intelligence system can be a major undertaking, which is why it’s important to employ an expert third-party provider.
In the digital age, businesses generate data every day from many different sources. This data is valuable and helps increase insights and make key business decisions but keeping track of it can be difficult.
To solve this problem, many organisations use Business Intelligence (BI). When it works, it can improve productivity and increase revenue.
A study from Nuclear research in 2014 found that each dollar spent on BI produces a return on investment of $13.01. However, to get this value, BI needs to be used effectively. When done badly it can be expensive, time-consuming and create more problems than it solves.
So, while an effective BI strategy can be enormously beneficial, it can also be extremely difficult, which is why many companies turn to outside help.
Building a business intelligence system comes with its challenges.
Business intelligence software can be crucial for your organisation in simplifying bulky data and extracting insights which can drive your business forward. However, designing and customising a system from scratch can be so difficult and expensive that it’s almost impossible to see a positive return on investment.
Here are just some of the challenges you might face:
1. The high expense and difficulty demonstrating ROI
The cost of building a business intelligence system can be intimidating for many small and medium-sized enterprises. Budgets and resources are tight which makes it difficult to justify the expense.
At the same time, in the initial stages of the setup, it can be difficult to see and calculate a clear return on investment (ROI). You’ll be accepting a sizeable initial investment and ongoing cost without knowing how effective the system will be. It’s a leap of faith which many businesses will simply not be able to afford.
2. Lack of training and execution
Businesses may often have the tools to create a good BI strategy but lack the internal expertise and technical skills such as designing, building and maintaining BI applications. Recruiting experts or training existing employees represents a major barrier and affects both the cost and feasibility of creating a good BI system.
3. Distraction from the core business
Building your own BI application will be a major project and involve employees at the executive and managerial level. It will distract the group from their core, profitable business activities, which is, of course, to sell and service vehicles. By spending all their time on BI applications, your team may be missing out on profit opportunities which could easily offset any financial return from the system.
4. Low utilisation
A common complaint from dealer groups who have adopted a BI application is that they aren’t seeing any impact. This is often because it is not being used effectively.
There may be many reasons for this. Management may not be clear about how BI can help them achieve their goals and management teams may not be able to use the information in the system or even be aware that it exists. In such cases, the expert advice and knowledge you get from a third-party provider will be vital.
5. Installation and deployment
The whole process of installation and deployment can be very cumbersome and difficult to maintain. Users may take a lot of time to adjust to this new application which might end up delaying business opportunities.
A step by step approach may help to break it down into manageable stages. Alternatively, executives could compile a list of the potential problems your business may face and how BI can help find solutions.
Why third parties can help
The solution to these problems can be to hire a third-party provider. They can take the burden off your shoulders reducing the distraction to your existing businesses. Better still, they can provide the knowledge and expertise which may be missing from your internal team.
They’ll use all their experience in developing customised BI systems for business to design a strategy which helps you achieve your business goals.
BI, then, can be highly effective, but only if done correctly. A badly planned
implementation can be cumbersome, expensive and distracting for your employees. It can reduce profits, impact business performance and may, in the end, fail to be used to its full potential.
On the other hand, with the help of an expert provider, you can quickly and efficiently adopt a BI system which empowers your sales team to achieve its core objectives. The key will be understanding the technology and how it can be used to help each department meet its targets.
With a good partner by your side, you’ll benefit from a practical and cost-effective solution which is already developed and has been shown to deliver results. It will be continually advanced and adapted to help you gain and maintain a crucial edge on your competition.
In other words, market-leading SaaS solutions can propel your business into the future with faster, more efficient solutions which find new opportunities for growth.
At Automated Metrics, we’re here to help you and your business. To find out more about us and how we can help you, schedule a call today.
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