Social Networking and BI

[Steve Bennett]

I was sent a link to a presentation on social media and BI by US/Indian company erada. They specialize in developing solutions that work in a SAP environment.

In the presentation they quote Gartner and their recent (February 2009) survey of 1,400 CEO's who reported that they did not achieve BVA (Business Value Attainment) in their BI investments  What's really interesting is that less than 9 % reached their desired BVA when they went live. BVA is broadly a measure for stakeholders of whether-or-not a good investment has been made.

What is not clear from the Gartner analysis that I have seen is why you would expect to see instant return on your investment. If you buy a truck for your company you expect it to earn a solid return for you over the future years - not instantly the day you buy it. Isn't this the same for BI (and any other software) investment. Or am I missing something?

I suspect Gartner is trying to measure the perception that CEOs have of what they are getting at launch versus what they expected to get (based on promises) when the BI investment decision was made.

This is an important point and I myself go to great lengths not to over promise to stakeholders. It's also not necessary to do so as the benefits of the BI investments (at least where I have worked) are simply massive. The trick is to use language your stakeholders understand. Delivering value also helps ...

Here is a copy of the presentation. Persist with the way the slides are built as there is some good information to learn:

Social Network BI-Outside In_sept09

I like the slide pictured above as they make a good point that just churning out reports each day does not deliver insight.

I also like the sound of their SmartCube product that (according to their website blurb) "helps in redesigning the SAP InfoCube to reduce query time, load time and footprint on BIA." Anything that helps InfoCube work faster gets my vote!.

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