december 16, 2022
How to choose a platform for a BI system?
Today’s information technology market offers many BI tools, capable of meeting virtually any requirements and desires of a company, that has the determination to implement analytical tools and make its data work. The Gartner Magic Quadrant for BI & Analytics Platforms which is an annual ranking of BI industry leaders, has 25 vendors in the list alone.
Choosing a platform for BI
Given that an analytics project is always a strategic investment which influences the company’s future development, the choice of a platform should be considered with care.
Here are a few tips from us on what to look out for when choosing a BI platform:
Adherence to functional requirements
The first thing to consider is whether the platform can meet the requirements for an analytics system for your company. Is it capable of handling your volumes of data? Can it produce those wonderful dashboards and indicators that your management team always dreams about? Will it enable your analysts to build the most amazing reports and queries themselves? Can it provide access for mobile devices? All platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, and it is possible that none of them will satisfy all your needs, but it must meet the key, as well as high-priority requirements.
Integrativeness
When choosing a platform, there is a big advantage in having the native, integrated components required to build a BI system, such as:
- Development tools
- ETL tools
- Data warehouse
- Meta-data
- Administration and access management tools
- Visualisation tools, etc.
The more «complete» a platform is, the more solid and reliable the solution will be.
The presence of qualified professionals
The effectiveness and efficiency of using an analytical system in a company depends not only on successful implementation, but also on further maintenance and development, and keeping it up to date with business requirements and the company’s infrastructure. An adequate number of qualified specialists on the market will allow you to take the most advantageous position when choosing a service provider and not make you dependent on a single partner. What’s more, the departure of a few in-house employees, who had the sacred understanding of how your system worked, will not be the end of the world for you.
Availability of industry-specific solutions
The availability of off-the-shelf partner and industry solutions can greatly reduce implementation time and development costs. In reality, 90% of the basic functionality of an analytical system is determined by the industry in which the company operates, so in order not to waste time on reinventing the wheel, you can opt for a ready-made solution and develop it in accordance with the company’s priorities.
The total cost of ownership
Perhaps this point does not require elaboration. In any case, any choice is made with limited resources, and money is not the least of these. When estimating the cost of ownership, you should consider not only the cost of implementation (labour, software, server hardware), but also the cost of further development, scalability and staff training.
