Business Intelligence Software at Sysco - Essay Example

Topic: Teacher: Table of Contents Table of Contents Business Intelligence (BI) Software at Sysco 2 Introduction 2 Obstacles Facing Sysco 3 Questions Addressed by Sysco 4 Challenges in BI Implementation 5 The Software Programs of BI for Sysco 6 Conclusion 8 Works Cited 9 Business Intelligence (BI) Software at Sysco Introduction Sysco is an entrenched company founded in 1969 and for its continuous progress, the administration feels that Business Intelligence (BI) software should be implemented (McAfee and Wagonfeld 1). The administration wants to make good use of information systems within the company due to which, it regards implementation of BI software as a forward step for company’s progress. The authorities of Sysco were well convinced that BI software should be installed and have asked Twila Day who was Assistant Vice President of Technology and Applications for proceeding further for the implementation (McAfee and Wagonfeld 1). Day was required to give all the pros and cons of the implementation of the new software along with its detailed requirements. The obstacles to the implementation of new BI software were identified so that software faces no unknown resistances and obstructions. Questions were also designed for the software to answer to evaluate the efficacy of the software in terms of fulfilling Sysco’s requirements of information. Sysco has a number of companies under its governance due to which, all the steps taken by the company are required to be looked in good details. No change or development is without challenges, therefore, challenges were also identified in order to cope up with the challenges successfully. For increasing the IT expertise of the company as a whole, a data warehouse was also established. However, this data warehouse was required to be improved to a great extent as the staff and IT requirements of the data warehouse lacked competence to handle complicated IT related issues. For implementing BI software, the company required to look towards the investment that it was going to invest for the implementation of the software, the integration of the present system with the new software, acceptance of all the supervised companies and expertise of the IT staff. Obstacles Facing Sysco For implementing BI software, Sysco faces some obstacles. The company, Sysco has its own data sources that are required to be connected with BI software and for this process, IT help is required, which can be given by BI’s technical staff (McAfee and Wagonfeld 4). The company’s database needs to be attached with BI software. The company was to decide on purchasing the right amount of BI software for its information needs. Investment for BI software is also a major concern for the company. Day was fully aware that associated companies linked with Sysco were to bear the costs invested for implementing BI software due to which, there can be a problem in terms of investment approval by those companies (McAfee and Wagonfeld 11). The linked companies already have their own software solutions for information systems due to which, there were fair chances of resistance by the companies. Data warehouse started by Sysco was not fully complete and its staff lacked the necessary expertise to extract necessary data. The employees serving in the data warehouse were required to be trained better and the warehouse was itself an obstacle for the implementation of BI software (McAfee and Wagonfeld 3). Sysco lacked the essential IT competence in terms of its data warehouse and its IT staff, which is a clear obstruction. Questions Addressed by Sysco Sysco initially decided to address only two questions with its new BI software rather than use it as a more general analysis tool. The questions were ‘What additional products could we be selling to each of our customers?’ and ‘Which of our current customers are we most likely to lose?’ (McAfee and Wagonfeld 8-9). These questions were initially asked because they support the company to look forward in their future in terms of their potential customers. The efficacy of newly implemented BI software could be checked with finding answers to the two asked questions. By finding answers to the asked questions, Sysco can give attention to its customers and their requirements related to implementation of new software (McAfee and Wagonfeld 9). If the system becomes successful in answering the two crucial questions, it can be further integrated and used with much details for increasing the efficiency of the company in terms of information handling. The competence of the software will be proved with answering the two basic questions that keep profound importance for the company as a whole. Customers are the most important element of any business due to which, the business operators cannot negate their contribution. Due to this consideration and significance of customers, the two questions that are asked on initial basis regard the affect of the newly implemented software on the customers of the business. Business Objects attacks on the two core issues because of their efficacy for the business. They did not go for a more general analysis tool because it would be much detailed and time-consuming option. Business Objects analyzed the future perspectives of the company due to which, they presented an option that looked attractive to the company’s administration. As far as tradeoffs related to the presented options are concerned, Business Objects regard this as an opportunity to show the competence of the new software. They have left no chance for the Sysco’s administration to reject the notion of implementation of the new software as they attacked on the core issue of the business that was quite inspirational for the administration. Business Objects also felt that with the presented options, not only would they be able to trade their created software but also make a market reputation that would support the company to move forward in future. Challenges in BI Implementation The challenges identified by researchers in BI implementation were budget constraints, data quality, managing user expectations, culture change, time required to implement, data integration, education and training, ROI justification, business needs analysis and management sponsorship. Most important challenges from the perspective of non-IT managers were budget constraints as they would be interested in company’s investment. They would also feel that the implementation would bring a major change in the organization that can meet with resistance by the employees of the organization. To make the supervised companies to agree to the investment proposal for the implementation of the BI software can also be regarded as a challenge for non-IT staff. Non-IT managers can also regard the BI implementation as an investment that should be given negligible importance. As far as IT-managers are concerned, they would be concerned about education and training of the IT staff in order to understand the working of the new system. They must be worried about their own understanding and comprehension of the new software as they would be well equipped with the old system. Therefore, to make people accept the change is a major challenge for Sysco. Investment and obtainment of future profits is also a challenge considered by IT-managers. IT-managers would also be concerned about the information retrieval and data quality provided by the new software as a major challenge. The Software Programs of BI for Sysco Sysco has three options to choose from in this project of implementation of new BI software. The options of types of BI informed are ‘Bare Bones’, ‘Middle of the Road’ and ‘Volume Discount’ (McAfee and Wagonfeld 19). Sysco is most concerned with implementation of BI software as an information system to keep a check on its potential customers. Business Objects have given three options to Day. ‘Bare Bones’ is an option that is most cheap at this time because it involves only the initial costs in the development of a mini-software that can be improved further in case the company requires. In this option, 254 licenses will be bought (McAfee and Wagonfeld 19). According to Day, ‘Bare Bones’ is a good beginning for Sysco but higher costs will be involved in purchasing future licenses for people, which would be a bad option for the company (McAfee and Wagonfeld 10). The second option given by Business Objects is ‘Middle of the Road’. In this option, 425 licenses will be bought by Sysco (McAfee and Wagonfeld 19). For this option, the software will be of larger size and will have broader access to the company. This software will work for the company foe the next 9 to 12 months according to Day (McAfee and Wagonfeld 10). After the mentioned period, additional licenses would be required by the company. The third option provided by Business Objects is ‘Volume Discount’. In this option, 684 licenses will be bought by Sysco (McAfee and Wagonfeld 19). This option will be enough for two years with low costs for the new software (McAfee and Wagonfeld 10). The software will cover a lot many features of the company and will be more supportive. However, with all the options, there are merits and demerits attached. The new software needs to be integrated and connected with the current system of the company that is not a negligible issue. Day has to select from these options. According to my understanding, Day should go for the middle option that is ‘Middle of the Road’. The software will be able to checked and integrated in a period of 9 to 12 months. In this period, not minimum and not maximum number of licenses will be bought but a middle approach will be used that would be suitable for the company. As far as I am concerned, I feel that BI will be a competitive differentiator for Sysco, as Sysco seems interested in gaining further market in future. The company gives value to its future progress and potential customers. The company also shows interest in new technology acquisition, which is indicative that the company is concerned about its future growth and success. The installation of new BI software will work as a tool for the company’s success and with correct implementation and attachment, the company is able to prosper and develop not only in terms of business but also in terms of technology. Conclusion After considering all the issues related to implementation of new BI software, it is quite clear that Sysco is very much interested in enhancing its technology with the help of new BI software. However, there are certain obstacles and challenges that are required to be evaluated. They cannot be ignored and should be resolved before going towards any kind of transformation. The company needs the implementation for its future success and expansion technologically and financially. The company should opt for ‘Middle of the Road’ as it is the option that suits the company’s procedures and choices. Works Cited McAfee, Andrew and Wagonfeld, Alison Berkley. Business Intelligence Software at SYSCO. California, Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2006: 1-19. Read More