Points to look for when buying a BI Solution, Jit Goel, XCEL Corp Jit Goel

How to Choose your Business Intelligence Solution?

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Business Intelligence provides your organization with actionable insights, to help improve the performance of your business on many fronts. BI solutions could be expensive and sometimes could set you back by several thousand dollars. So, it is vital that you understand the solution or product first hand before you purchase it.

Over the past decade, many businesses have understood the importance of Business Intelligence and the benefits it could bring to an organization. This has also increased the competition among BI solution providers who sell fixed and customizable solutions on a fixed price and yearly subscriptions. It is very important to understand various aspects of BI solutions to select a product that is best suited for your business.

1. Visualization:

A BI solution collects data, analyses it depending on the request and provides visual insights. These insights are understood by the stakeholders in a business to make well informed decisions. Hence, visualization of the insights is the primary function that a BI solution should provide. The visualization of insights should also be simple and understandable for everyone within your organization and should also be in a presentable format. You can’t take insights and later convert it into relatable presentations to show your audience. Visualization and presentation is a vital aspect while choosing your BI solution.

2. Scalability:

Scalability is a pivotal aspect while choosing your BI solution. Many businesses, when they are looking for BI solutions choose one that fits their current needs and do not take the future growth into account. This leads to unwanted expenses in the future when your organization grows and your BI solution is inadequate to meet your requirements. While purchasing your BI solution make sure that it could be scalable as your needs increase.

3. Mobility:

Your business intelligence should be available to all your employees and decision makers on the go. What is business intelligence if it is not readily available wherever you may be. Mobility features are irreplaceable if you are a company with on-site workers, board members, and partners who need to be regularly updated about the business. While looking mobile integration, also ensure if you can access all the features of the solution from your mobile phone. Some solutions only offer visuals but creating reports and sorting data is also equally important and users should be able to create them on the go as well.

4. Costs:

When you are looking at the expenses of your BI solution, it not right to choose the one that costs the least. There are several factors as part of the costing including Subscriptions, Scalability, and Hidden Costs. When BI marketers sell you their product, they only give you an overall pricing to make it appear that their solution is the most cost effective. As your business grows, so will the features of your BI solution. So, it is important to consider all these factors while deciding on the price of the BI solution you are about to purchase.

5. Training:

Generally, you should choose a BI solution that is easy to use for everyone within your organization. There is no value in buying a solution that is used by nobody. Even when your BI solution is user friendly, there should also be a training program so that all your employees learn the solution and are knowledgeable to take advantage of all the features your BI solution has on offer. Some vendors also charge extra for training and some price it along with the implementation; choose the one that covers training as part of the implementation. Also, it is good ensure that their training program is comprehensive and valuable.

These are some of the basic features you should look for when you are purchasing a BI solution. However, there are other aspects which should consider as well including, implementation time-frame, IT support, integration, Security, and databases. For complete information on choosing the BI solution it is mandatory that you seek professional help.

At XCEL Corp, our BI solutions are powering some of the most successful organizations around the world. BI experts at XCEL Corp possess extensive knowledge and we specialize in creating custom BI solutions that are tailor made for each business. Our solutions have been proved to deliver valuable return on investment.
Get in touch with XCEL Corp today; visit our website now!

Author: Jit Goel  ( President/CEO )



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