Technology

Abstract
This research paper describes business intelligence software and its capabilities.  It further discusses organizational expectations of such systems.  Even though businesses would like to develop their own business intelligence software to handle all sorts of organizational tasks, costs related to the development and installation of such software, in addition to training required by ultimate users of the system, remain as a significant deciding factor.  Businesses may choose to purchase business intelligence software already available on the market, for example, Microsofts PerformancePoint Server 2007.  Such systems may be customized to meet organizational needs.

The Magic of Business Intelligence Software

Business intelligence refers to activities undertaken by a business to gather essential information about its competitors or the market.  Business intelligence systems, on the other hand, tend to be interdepartmental information gatherers (McGuigan, 2010).  With an emphasis on speedy retrieval of information, these technologies rely on data fed into them by data gatherers to relay to departments that require this information.  The auto-dissemination function of business intelligence systems is generally used for this purpose (Luhn, 1958, 314).  But, these systems may also perform the data mining function on their own before crunching that data in a highly efficient manner.  For example, business intelligence software may be designed to gather important information about competitors (McGuigan).  Likewise, this technology makes it possible for businesses to predict scenarios from the future with predictive analytics, combining data mining and statistical analysis (Kelly, 2009).

Business activity monitoring or complex event processing, in addition to text analytics and column-based databases are additional functions of business intelligence systems (Kelly).  As incredible as these systems appear, organizations are required to weigh the costs of business intelligence software against its benefits before installing it.
   
Undoubtedly, business intelligence software is not only useful in collecting and disseminating information between separate departments, running reports, and making predictions based on past performance but also in conducting analyses of the external environment of the company, including market analysis based on latest economic trends (King, 2009).  Moreover, this technology is meant to help organizations with customer relationship management.  After all, employees using the system are able to speedily retrieve necessary information in order to satisfy customers (Jasra, 2009).

Besides, information about the external environment of the company provides ideas for new business initiatives, thereby allowing for business expansion (McGuigan).
   
The following excerpt from a report entitled Execs Take BI into Their Own Hands, published in eWeek, explains organizational expectations from business intelligence software  
       
         If you ask any given group of executives what theyd really like in a business intelligence
         product, the wish list would look a lot like the description of Cosmic AC, the universe-
         spanning computer in Isaac Asimovs classic short story, The Last Question. Cosmic AC
         contained all knowledge and could answer any question it was asked. After the first couple
         of releases, the IT department wasnt involved.
             
         And that is what the executives in many companies want-to have their business
         questions answered immediately, and without needing to involve the IT department to
         formulate the questions and provide the reports. In short, they want to be able to draw data
         from a wide variety of sources and use that data to discover relationships that were
         previously unsuspected, but which can impact their businesses, and to do it immediately by
         simply asking the right question.
             
         I think its where the whole industry is going, explained James Kobielus, an analyst
         in Forrester Researchs IT Client Group. Users want to do self-service BI. (Execs Take
         BI into Their Own Hands, 2010)

In other words, business executives are expecting magic from business intelligence software.  They know such software can support informed decision making, and increase organizational productivity as well as profits (Sekunjalo acquires control of Blue Chip Business Intelligence Software company, Synergy Computing, 2005).  However, instead of engaging IT departments for the development of business intelligence software that meets organizational needs, businesses would like to do it all by themselves.  A company by the name of iDashboards has developed a business intelligence dashboard for an insurance company in Michigan.  Another company, Pegasystems Inc. has developed special software to help businesses comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.  Likewise, a U.S.-based organization helps Indian businesses to analyze information obtained through business intelligence software (Solutions, 2006).  But, what if organizations were equipped to handle all of the above on their own  In that case, companies would not only save time but also money expended on IT departments.
   
Of course, it is entirely possible for businesses to create their own IT departments.  Yet, it is most cost-effective to purchase business intelligence systems already available on the market, for example, Microsofts PerformancePoint Server 2007, the main functions of which are monitoring, analysis, and planning.  The monitoring function of this software includes scorecards, performance indicators, and dashboards which may provide essential information about market share, inventory turnover, training, customer satisfaction and much more.  This data may be analyzed, and budgets, strategic plans and sales forecasts created with available information through the planning function (Utley, 2007).

Furthermore, this business intelligence product may be built into Microsoft Office.  In other words, users of the system would not have to learn about new software after installing PerformancePoint Server 2007 (What is PerformancePoint Server, 2007).  Thus, companies can save on training costs.  
One problem remains with the installation of the PerformancePoint Server 2007, however.

Businesses that choose this technology must also install Microsoft SQL Server 2005, a platform for business intelligence, data integration, and reporting that the PerformancePoint Server 2007 must be built on (What is PerformancePoint Server).  Although this makes PerformancePoint Server 2007 inconvenient to employ, the SQL Server 2005 by itself does not have any unusual hardware requirements.  An ordinary CD drive, a mouse, and a monitor are sufficient.  However, users of the system require some additional software, including IIS 5.0 and ASP.NET 2.0 for the reporting function of the business intelligence system (Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2005, 2008).
   
For businesses that find it expensive to create their own IT departments and develop their own software before training their employees to use the same, the SAP BusinessObjects Edge is another business intelligence system to purchase.  This system is certainly easier to install, as it does not require the organization to purchase another package of business intelligence software.  In fact, SAP BusinessObjects Edge may be installed on Windows, Red Hat, and Novel SuSE Linux Machines with little or no difficulty as the installation process is guided by the software itself.  Moreover, this product uses the Web interface to specialize in the following functions reporting, queries, and analysis.  Thus, SAP BusinessObjects Edge promises to make the decision making process easier for businesses that employ it (SAP BusinessObjects Edge A Comprehensive Solution to Analyze Your Business End-to-End).
   
Both PerformancePoint Server 2007 and SAP BusinessObjects Edge may be customized if a business would like to gather and analyze information about its external environment in addition to its own key business activities.  Another business intelligence system  the IBM Cognos 8 Special Edition  similarly promises the capability of being customized.  Reporting, analysis, dashboards and scorecards are also available on this system.  But, the IBM Cognos 8 further offers a platform for performance management to boot.  Moreover, like the SAP BusinessObjects Edge, this business intelligence software requires the organization to deploy new software or purchase new hardware.  The existing infrastructure is adequate for this system.  It may operate on Microsoft Windows, Red Hat, Intel x86, and UNIX among other platforms (Cognos 8 Business Intelligence Special Edition, 2008).
   
Clearly, IBM Cognos 8 BI Special Edition is the best business intelligence system among the three described here.  This system is not only hassle-free to install but also includes the greatest number of functions.  Of course, the other two systems may also be customized to include the performance management function.  Then again, there are many other functions that a company may like to customize the system for, including external environment analyses functions.  In fact, the sky is the limit as far as organizational expectations of business intelligence software are concerned.
   
As new developments in information technology go on attracting new users to such software, and businesses are urged to realize increasing benefits of these systems, costs related to the installation and use of business intelligence software remain as an essential deciding factor.  Undoubtedly, organizations would like to view such systems as magical machines to analyze all kinds of data for informed decision making, and they would like to do it all on their own so as to save on costs.  But, it is vital to employ IT departments  either inhouse or outhouse  to install business intelligence software to meet organizational needs, or for analyses of information obtained through this software if a company does not have trained business staff to do so.  Moreover, as our discussion reveals, it is most cost-effective to purchase business intelligence software already available on the market and customize it.  Then again, if such systems do not meet a particular organizations requirements, it would be better to have specialists develop business intelligence software for the specific purposes of the company.  Either way, it is essential to weigh the costs against the benefits of such software before deploying it.