Businesses and business leaders no longer ask whether they need business intelligence (BI).
They already know they need to be able to analyze all their data effectively and efficiently to make better business decisions, stay competitive, and continue to grow within their markets.
So the real question is, what’s the best tool to help a business get there? Should a company develop its in-house platform from scratch, or is purchasing a leading business intelligence software better?
Factors to Consider
If there were a single answer that ultimately settled the debate for every individual business situation and scenario, then this would be one of the shortest blogs ever!
An organization might want to build its business intelligence solution, and choosing an already-established BI platform has many benefits.
Some companies develop their BI tools to meet their customized business goals. Others prefer to use a proven third-party solution that’s fully functional out of the box and has already worked out all the development kinks.
But again, which option is right for your business? If you’re facing the same dilemma, read our recommendations below before making a final call.
Evaluate the Time, Resources, and Cost Required for Each Option
Build-Your-Own BI
Does your business have the time, money, and resources needed to build a BI platform from scratch? For starters, this would require you to have a reliable internal IT team with advanced technical skills.
Can your team develop a system that’s complex enough to explore every data area within your business and user-friendly enough to be utilized by everyone from the CEO to the sales representative, customer service agent, or inventory stock associate?
Is your team well equipped to handle the maintenance of such a system and address any unforeseen problems that may arise? Is your company prepared to absorb the ongoing fixed costs associated with hosting a platform like this?
If you’re intent on developing a best-in-class platform yourself, there are certainly some benefits that can go along with that. Just make sure that you’re in a position to not only build your platform but to be able to sustain it as well.
While development may be a one-time activity, maintaining and upgrading the system is an ongoing task. This would require constant investment of time, people, and money. It may also distract from your core business objective.
Buy Business Intelligence Software
What about purchasing an existing third-party business intelligence and analytics platform?
One instant advantage of choosing an already-established data analytics software solution is that it will save you all that research and development time and should help eliminate many of the concerns about needed staffing and equipment.
The cost of ownership and maintenance is also considerably less than developing a solution in-house. Then, if you were to manage that in-house, as well.
At the same time, not all BI software solutions in the market carry all the same functionalities your business may require. For example, some may have limitations on the number of customization options and expandability.
It’s also important to do your homework and ensure you’re doing business with a provider with a proven track record of delivering the results their clients seek.
A Good Business Intelligence Platform Needs to Be Capable, Customizable, and Scalable
Whatever BI platform you choose (whether you build it or buy it) must be capable—in other words, it must be able to do what you need it to!
Some features that make a BI platform truly capable include the following:
- Ability to function as a stand-alone system, as well as the possibility for embedding into other applications
- Powerful enough to derive meaningful insights from the various sets of data that drive your business
- Ability to perform predictive analytics
- Robust reporting and sharing capabilities
- Versatile dashboard customization options
- The easy-to-navigate user interface, including drag-and-drop functionality
Then there’s the question of scale. Scaling up to accommodate growth in numbers is not just about scaling to diverse communities, user types, and deployment models within your organization.
Is the BI platform meant to be used solely as an on-premise, stand-alone program, or does it also need to be able to integrate with the cloud or other hybrid systems?
Would you benefit from having BI tools that can be embedded into native applications, especially those that users in your organization are already leveraging regularly?
Why Partnering with the Right Third-Party BI Software Vendor Makes Sense
The reality is that it’s just too much work for a company to build its analytics solution from scratch, much less host it, maintain it, integrate it with other in-house systems, and sustain it over time.
While there are some advantages to building a custom platform from the ground up, this option also comes with many liabilities.
For most businesses, partnering with a BI software provider to provide a fully developed, already functional turnkey solution is a smarter choice.
Such a provider should include a dedicated team of specialized developers and analysts to help you integrate with your other pre-existing solutions and tap into all your identified data sources.
A capable provider should also come with its customer service and training departments to help ensure smooth adaptation for your enterprise and be there for you when you need help.
Author Bio:
Intellicus is a business intelligence system provider that meets the needs of businesses like yours. They provide enterprise BI, embedded BI, and cloud BI solutions and offer full embedded analytics capabilities to work within your existing products and applications. If you’re ready to learn more, contact the capable team at Intellicus today!
