Users Describe the Battle for BI

NEW YORK -- CIOs and data managers face an uphill struggle to get their business intelligence (BI) efforts off the ground, according to IT pros attending an event today.

BI is the software that's promoted by a number of vendors, including IBM and SAP, to extract data from various back-end systems and databases containing info on HR, financials, customers, and the like. The idea is that data can then be searched and sifted to identify new market opportunities and improve efficiency. (See IBM Extends Biz Intelligence, Iron Mountain Uses Business Objects, SAP Acquires Khimetrics, and BEA Acquires ConnecTerra .)

Users have already started to deploy BI offerings with some citing significant returns on their investment. (See SAP Powers Munich Airport, EqualLogic Customer Buys More, and Kane County Consolidates.) But just getting to BI first base may be easier said than done, warned execs today.

"I have had to struggle to constantly reinforce the value of what I do," said Jonathan Rothman, director of data management at Emergency Medical Associates, a healthcare specialist providing emergency services to 17 hospitals in New York and New Jersey. "You would think that people just get it, but they don't."

During a panel discussion, Analyst Maureen Fleming, program director of IDC's business process integration division, explained that BI users are now vying for the same dollars as higher-profile projects within their organizations. "If you look at the investments in storage that have happened since 1999 and, even more, the investments in security -- you're competing with core infrastructure."Fellow panelist Steve Phillips, chief information officer of electronic components supplier Avnet, admitted that security is his top priority in the current climate. "Security is first and then, after that, business intelligence," he said. "Guaranteeing and looking after the data of our systems always gets priority."

But another panelist, David Hummelberg, managing vice president for IT at Capital One, said that BI is not necessarily in direct competition with storage and security. "I have never seen a trade-off versus a BI project."

Phillips told Byte and Switch that Avnet uses a total of 280 different BI applications, most of which are custom-built, with the remainder off-the-shelf packages such as IBM's WebSphere and offerings from SAP and Tibco.

He also says storage is an underlying concern for BI implementation. "The biggest storage challenge is accessibility of the data across the different applications."

Avnet is using a Web-based Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to share its BI data and has recruited a team of data architects to ensure access. (See Users Cite SOA Savings, Wall Street Eyes SOAs, and SAP Unveils SOA App.)Integrating data from multiple systems has been a challenge for Rothman of Emergency Medical Associates. He told Byte and Switch that he has deployed software from Business Objects and Pervasive to bring his data together.

This kind of nuts-and-bolts detail is apparently the least of Rothman's worries. "An even bigger challenge is getting people to use the tools that have been developed," he said. "You have got to sell. You have got to convince people."

The BI sales pitch could be worth the effort, according to Wayne Sipperly, manager of energy markets analysis at the New York Power Authority, which provides a quarter of the energy in New York State. Back in 2004, he said, the Authority started using BI technology from Tibco to build a portal providing critical data to its energy traders. This includes information on the likes of fuel pricing and energy plant performance.

Now, Sipperly estimates that the portal is saving the Authority up to $1 million a year. Traders, he explained, are reaping the benefits of regularly updated energy data, which, in turn, has improved their bidding strategies.

James Rogers, Senior Editor, Byte and SwitchOrganizations mentioned in this article: