Many fail to achieve BI ROI: NCC IT decision-makers survey

Posted by: Yellowfin Team

Something’s rotten in the state of Business Intelligence (BI). According to the National Computing Centre’s (NCC) latest survey of IT decision-makers, organizations are failing to generate expected results and Return on Investment (ROI) from their BI deployments.

Business Intelligence deployments not delivering

A concerning 53 percent of respondents rated the ability of their BI and data warehousing programs to achieve and deliver on business objectives as ‘average’. A mere six percent said their reporting and analytics programs have met expected objectives ‘very well’, with 13 percent saying goals had been met ‘well’. Conversely, six percent believe their analytics programs are ‘very poor’, and 16 percent ‘poor’, when it comes to delivering expected results.

Problem one: Dispersed corporate data

The NCC BI survey identified the dispersal of corporate data assets across multiple systems as a major issue affecting back-end cohesiveness, and the ability to collate and analyze data, to deliver actionable information in a timely manner.

Problem two: Data quality

Multiple data sets of an inconsistent and conflicting nature were also listed as a chief grievance, leading to “multiple versions of the truth”. Other data quality issues cited included inaccurate, out-of-date and incomplete data, inhibiting the ability of front-end tools to deliver relevant information to decision-makers.

“While the research showed that there had been improvements in data quality, it is evident that organisations still need to improve their data management so that critical business information can be accessed more effectively,” said NCC Director, Steve Fox.

Problem three: Traditional Business Intelligence tools too complex and exclusive

Front-end issues, relating directly to an organizations’ BI solution, included frustration with small deployment sizes, in addition to the innate complexity of the BI tool – complexity that restricts the ability of personnel from outside the IT department to independently access information.

Conclusion: How do you enable your Business Intelligence deployment to achieve business objectives and deliver great ROI?

So what are the three enablers to ensure your BI program delivers? Make sure that your:

  • Data is effectively and consistently gathered in a single system (or as few as possible)
  • Data is managed properly to ensure accurate, consistent and up-to-date information
  • BI solution is easy-to-use to enable widespread self-service deployments that empower all relevant stakeholders with the timely information they need to capitalize on emergent opportunities and make better decisions

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