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April 3, 2010
Business Intelligence is Transforming Data-Intensive Industry
It has been several decades since most major industries such as medical, pharmaceutical, and chemical operations began harnessing the power of computers to streamline their operations and manage their businesses. These industries, in particular, deal with large amounts of data that must be collected, organized, and retrieved.
Over the years software suppliers such as SAP and SAS have provided advanced solutions designed to answer each industry’s specific needs. These ERP software suites are installed and maintained on the corporate server by a staff of dedicated IT personnel. They require not only a large capital expenditure, but intensive user training in order to incorporate their full functionality in the areas of operations management, inventory, supply chain, transportation and logistics.
While there is still a market and a need for such ERP software, the modern company is best served by using a complementary software solution to provide automated, instant Business Intelligence (BI) to quickly prepare queries and reports using real-time data.
Complementary BI solutions allow companies to integrate existing systems with the fuller capabilities and functionality of a program that can take those voluminous amounts of data and turn them into usable information. Data itself is not an asset, only when it is transformed into information can be it used to a company’s advantage and this is where BI comes into play.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of using modern BI solutions is that they can be purchased as Software as a Service (SaaS) systems. This refers to the way the software is accessed; instead of residing on a local network, the program is stored on a cloud platform and accessed by a large number of users. This is a very affordable option since the end user need not pay for the software itself, its maintenance, upgrades, or storage; instead they merely pay an access fee to utilize the immense power of a BI solution.
Security is not a concern. The software vendor provides intensive security measures to keep reports residing on the cloud platform safe from unauthorized users. Administrative controls allow the customer to provide access limited by the user’s authorization status.
For many large companies such as hospitals, drug manufacturers, and chemical suppliers, access to data and real-time reports is limited by network architecture, expertise, and time constraints.
With SaaS BI solutions, all users can access a configured dashboard and easily create reports and queries as needed. Each department, from Accounting to Purchasing, is given the ability to develop their own data analysis, reports, and visualizations. Because the data being analyzed can be pulled from existing software platforms and integrated into the BI program, the implementation is seamless; it is also fully scalable and adaptable to meet very specific needs.
As technology advances, the competitive company needs to advance with it. It is necessary to monitor performance, identify trends, and measure results. The perfect solution for any industry is data analysis and BI provided by SaaS applications for an affordable method of obtaining real-time information.
Posted by Sasha Grebenyuk at April 3, 2010 9:15 PM
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