Many companies and organisations assume that business intelligence software and platforms are costly to buy and difficult to use, but like many things in life, there’s no one single cost that can be dangled in front of customers. Your initial BI software costs vary greatly from platform to platform, from seller to seller, with further expenses coming through the deployment of the software and training users.
Sometimes it can seem that the more options you look at, the more confusing the whole scenario becomes, especially when it’s considered that many of the decision-makers aren’t experts in BI and often won’t even be the end user of the information. While the topic of data grows with importance, so does our need to understand and use it.
Collecting data can be the easy part of that process, but understanding it is a whole different game.
So, it’s necessary to invest in a good business intelligence solution. The fear of the cost is what often stops companies from getting started!
1. Upfront Cost of Software
The initial cost of BI software is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to implementing a new BI solution. As off-putting as this can sound, don’t let it put you off as the long-term payback can lead to savings for your company. When buying software, be clear if additional licenses are needed, but also keep an eye out for those offering flexible pricing and scaling with your company as it grows.
2. Deployment Cost
Most companies’ decision makers aren’t involved directly in their organisation’s IT, so lack the understanding of deployment costs. Frequently more money is spent on BI deployment than has been budgeted for. With many traditional BI solutions there’s a need to hire the seller or one of their partners to install it; an option that’s rarely cheap. Even without this expense, with an in-house deployment take into consideration the expense in taking your IT team away from their regular functions.
Before settling on a solution, bring your IT team into the process to gauge if the software can easily integrate into your system.
If it can, this can save time and money. If not, then maybe you should look elsewhere!
3. Project Management Life Cycle Cost
If you’re not using the right BI tool, project management lifecycle can greatly impact the cost to you.
Be cautious of slow and expensive traditional project management methods.
Look for software that uses a streamlined implementation strategy, incorporating user feedback and swift deployment.
4. End User Training
Among the costs that are frequently underestimated is user training. While expensive, it’s an investment in your staff making the most of the system, as a BI platform that can’t be used or isn’t adopted by staff becomes a waste of money. Systems like Viur, with an intuitive interface and self-service tools, can minimise the cost of user training and increase adoption rates.
5. Administration
Traditional Business Intelligence administration has had a hugely negative effect on ROI, due to poor integrations making them difficult to administer. Costly and specialised training was needed, taking the administrator away from their regular responsibilities. As newer systems become smoother to operate and more intuitive to use, the need for specialist administrators with traditional training has greatly diminished.
6. Operations and Maintenance
The expense of operating and maintaining your BI platform can be frequently overlooked and can increase further, particularly if your chosen solution requires your IT team or an external consultant to build or change reports, customise settings and work on privacy and security issues. Without the foreknowledge of what’s required it can make budgeting impossible.
This bloated and antiquated maintenance and customisation of your system is simple to bypass.
At Viur we believe our platform should grow with you, and around your needs and processes. It’s simple to customise your dashboard to make the most of your BI, and we work with clients to improve our platform based on their feedback, meaning you don’t need to pay for costly external customisation and maintenance.
7. Connecting different platforms
With so much data at our disposal, and so much delivered into our BI world, it pays to find a platform that interacts directly and easily with a whole host of analytics feeds. It saves further costs and hassle, especially a dashboard that grows with the industry and with your specific needs.
8. Internal v External costs
While seeming pricey to set up, by bringing your BI management in-house you can reduce your internal costs thanks to becoming self-sufficient at managing your system, and by creating reports tailored very specifically to your team’s or department’s needs. It becomes more efficient than employing an external agency, not to mention cutting out a potential leak of confidential information plus the huge savings.
Today, Business Intelligence systems and dashboards are designed so everyone in your company can create their own charts. Viur is an easy to install cloud-based system that connects to your data sources in just minutes, saving you time and expense.
In no time, you’ll be working with real data, optimised for your needs in a simple-to-use, flexible and easily customisable platform. Try it free today and discover the real cost of BI with Viur.