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November 3, 2009
What are the Key Points of SaaS Business Intelligence?
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a key part of modern business intelligence (BI). On-demand software, architecture, and applications allow a company to access the necessary information provided by business intelligence at a fraction of the cost while keeping it highly accessible and secure. The benefits of SaaS BI are many.
For one, the platform is located entirely on a secure server outside the organization. This costs the company outsourcing business intelligence far less, while meaning that it does not have to maintain the software, or expand its network capabilities to absorb the increased data storage requirements. This also eliminates the need for increasing network security at the organizational level.
The SaaS platform can include such applications as customer relationship management, supplier relationship management, and marketing relationship management software as well as product, sales, and customer analytics. This data system integrates several key departmental areas while allowing authenticated, permission-based access on demand.
The possibilities are nearly endless. Some SaaS providers even allow for the customer’s own custom applications to be integrated into the platform. By outsourcing BI on a SaaS platform, organizations can use the most advanced, most powerful computing available to receive high-level analytics based on the most applicable data.
Key Points for Successful SaaS BI
How successful an organization can become using SaaS business intelligence is largely based on four factors; these are simplicity, focus of applications, power of the platform, and the provider’s focus on the customer’s success.
Simplicity is important, particularly when there are a large number of management team members who must access the data and analytics. In order for BI to be used effectively, it must first be accessed. User friendly products are vital; feature-rich applications not necessarily so. Too often software that comes with all the bells and whistles only has a fraction of its capabilities ever used. This wastes not only time (in training), but money. Simplicity extends to initial set up, use, and subscription or leasing options.
Applications should do more than compile data and analyses; they should help guide the management team in making decisions to improve the company’s performance and optimize its processes. BI is ineffective unless it provides a clear way for an organization to change its focus. It’s not the amount of tools you use that is important, it’s the results that come from using one that is valuable.
The platform of SaaS BI, as discussed previously, is off premises, providing a number of benefits. But even though it is not based within the organization, its power is a vital component. The right platform will measure the right metrics, provide the right analytic application, and use data from more than one source which varies dependant on the desired information.
And finally, the success of SaaS business intelligence is also part of how high your company’s success ranks in the provider’s hierarchy. As the vendor institutes modifications and updates, the value the customer receives should provide the primary impetus for change.
Business intelligence provided through a SaaS platform is not the wave of the future. It is being utilized now, by some of the world’s most innovative and successful organizations. It provides a real competitive edge that is no longer an option in today’s global economy.
Posted by Sasha Grebenyuk at November 3, 2009 3:15 PM
