Is BI back in business?

The face of BI (Business Intelligence) software is changing

In the past Business Intelligence has been slow to set up, expensive to install, pricey for organizations running it long-term and too complex to push out to regular managers in the business. Often the tools were bolted to already complex ERP systems, making them hard to navigate and often unused.

Luckily this is changing, because the benefits of BI are vast.  It helps to make better business decisions quickly, synthesize valuable information easily, and, added to this is a whole swath of data analysis, reporting, and query tools.

The explosion of social media and the development of cloud computing in the last five years have redefined the market…  BI software can be placed in the cloud, making it easily accessible to business, and in general, removing the need for costly on-premise systems.

Social media and the analytics tools that come with it – have forced companies to step up their game and the solutions offered. If sites like Facebook can help marketers, for example, understand human behavioural patterns, in turn providing the tools to mine that data for business development then BI software should be able to do the same.

Added to this are the huge range of mobile devices that have emerged since BI first came onto the scene.  BI tools need to be flexible enough to be deployed on these, regardless of whether the user is in the office, or working remotely.

There was therefore the need to revolutionize BI tools, before it became confined to the waste pile of outdated software.

Business Analytic Apps are UNIT4’s first foray into the market, and we’re doing so with a totally different approach to systems of the past- offering a pay as you use approach.  This reduces the risk for businesses, allowing them to gain all the benefits of BI, with a limited outlay. Indeed, our apps, are dollars a month, on a subscription basis, in the cloud. This means users aren’t tied into a cumbersome system for years on end, whilst more technological advances pass it by; they can stay up to date, using the apps that will profit their business and move flexibly as their demands change.