Why On-Demand BI Makes Sense
- Rapid time-to-value. Results are delivered in weeks rather than months or years, putting valuable analytics in the hands of business users who can have the greatest impact on revenue and profits.
- More affordable implementations. Results are delivered at less cost, because both the software and services components are dramatically reduced.
- Greater flexibility. Dashboards and reports can be made accessible to business users who initiate and complete their own analysis and report creation, so the system can keep pace with ever‐evolving business needs.
"On-Demand Business Intelligence" covers a surprisingly broad range of solutions when you take a close look at it, and so interested companies need to think carefully about what their needs are and which benefits make the most sense for them. Here's a summary of how Brad breaks down the three general options:
The ASP Approach. These vendors take existing BI software, develop custom solutions for their customers, and deliver it online as a service, often employing standard data models to accelerate the deployment process. This approach reduces the cost and deployment time of the solution by providing BI expertise using standard data models and absorbing hardware costs for their customers.
For customers, the ASP approach is appropriate in situations where standard functionality is desired from what is essentially a hosted version of an on-premise software solution. Customization may be limited, however, and require deployment times comparable to on-premise installations, limiting the value proposition.
Pre-built application approach. The second group of on-demand BI vendors has approached the problem differently. Instead of applying traditional tools and labor to address customer needs, they have built targeted applications for known data sources such as Salesforce.com or Oracle Financials.
These vendors aim to lower deployment time and cost by prebuilding integrated applications or sets of reports, thereby enabling multiple customers to benefit from a single application or report set. . . The prebuilt application approach can be deployed quickly, targets a key area (such as sales analytics) and meets basic needs. There are limitations regarding the amount of customization, breadth of data sources to analyze and analytical depth.
The integrated Saas BI approach. Another category of vendors has developed broadly deployable SaaS platforms that can quickly be configured to analyze any data across the organization. These vendors have created new software platforms fundamentally designed for on-demand delivery that offer speed, flexibility and cost advantages. These solutions typically have the following characteristics:
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- Built specifically for on-demand delivery (not a hosted version of an on-premise solution): one, single version that gets upgraded automatically, a single, consolidated platform (the entire software stack) and deployment methodology;
- Leverages automation for deployment and user provisioning, so deployment time is dramatically reduced;
- Handles multiple data sources and databases; and
- Easily allows customization and full analytical capability.
Integrated SaaS BI offers high value with deep customization and flexibility, and can more easily evolve and scale as business needs change and grow. If a customer’s needs are basic and strictly limited, however, this level of solution might not be necessary.
On-demand BI is gaining increasing ground as customers realize that it is a fast, affordable, and powerful way to address critical BI projects. Not just for small and midsize companies, recent events, such as RBC Wealth Management's win of the TDWI Best Practices award for its Birst implementation, show that enterprises are successfully adopting on-demand BI as well.
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