Significance of Implementing and Adopting the Right Business Intelligence Solution - Research Paper Example

?Business Intelligence Lessons to Be Learned From the Clinic and Resort Cases about Creating, Implementing, and Using Business Intelligence Electrosmart Ltd (2011) defines business intelligence as the business’ ability to extract actionable insight from market data and business to support improved corporate performance and better decision making. Business intelligence (BI) is regarded one of the most sought technology by businesses in the world. In spite of the adverse effects of the economic downturn, business intelligence is still the most needed business capacity (Electrosmart Ltd, 2011). There are several lessons to be learned from the various case studies about the creation, implementation, and using business intelligence. In this case, the Marshfield Clinic and the Exclusive Resorts, LLC case studies will be explored based on various elements of business intelligence. From these case studies, it is evident that there must be a drive or an instigating factor to pursue BI solutions, it is important to choose the right BI software, there are barriers to the adoption of business intelligence solutions, and the system must be able to integrate all the applications in the company. However, some of the BI solutions are complex and costly. Therefore, it is important for the business to perform enough research before settling on a final BI solution. The Marshfield Clinic Case Study The Marshfield Clinic has more than 50 regional locations with over 800 physicians and 6,500 healthcare and administrative workers. The clinic efficiently manages more than 375,000 patients each year. For example, the management team made an investment in electronic patient records. To facilitate it, the clinic offered its staff with electronic tablets for purposes of history taking which would be automatically populated in a centralized patient data warehouse. All the clinical care and financial information of each patient is safely kept, constantly updated, and ready for reporting and analysis. The clinic constantly innovates to be in line with the industry change (Cummens and Konitzer, 2011). Recently, the clinic utilized SAP Business Objects solutions to observe the quality metrics as it implemented enhancement initiatives. The clinic has an efficient system for collecting patient care information but it requires the appropriate analytics tool to improve patient care metrics and also provide user-friendly reporting for the physicians’ desktops in order to give support to real-time decision making. Initially, the clinic used sophisticated ad hoc query tools before acquiring SAP BusinessObjects for analytics and reporting, however, this method required the users to undergo extensive training. The clinic utilized train-the-trainer approach to train the end-user. The SAP BusinessObjects was the best fit for the clinic. This is because the management team required software that non-IT individuals (particularly the doctors) could use without any problems (Cummens and Konitzer, 2011). The rolling out and adoption process was quick and smooth. However, there were challenges such as converting the 60 Cognos catalogs of the clinic into novel semantic layers that functioned with SAP BusinessObjects software. The whole process tool close to nine months and the software has enabled the clinic to meet its goals from the perspective of reporting and analytics (Cummens and Konitzer, 2011). There are a number of lessons to be learned from this case study. First, there must be a drive or an instigating factor to pursue business intelligence solutions. Though the clinic had an efficient system, it still needed software that will keep then up to date with the ongoing healthcare industry changes. Electrosmart Ltd (2011), states that drivers of BI include rapid change, governance, stakeholder demands, expanding on ERP (enterprise resource planning) and data availability. In the case of Marshfield Clinic, data was readily available and there was need to be in line with the health care industry. Second, it is important to choose the right BI software. The clinic had several choices but it settled on SAP BusinessObjects software because it met the goals it wanted to achieve. Business intelligence tools and applications are distinguished by the solution model, solution purpose, bundle components, and solutions by the vendor. Clinic’s choice of SAP BusinessObjects was based on these parameters (Electrosmart Ltd 2011). The clinic did not think in terms of business intelligence programs that are technology driven, but it thought based on a program that acts as a performance management program (Electrosmart Ltd 2011). Third, there are barriers to the adoption of business intelligence solutions. Although the clinic has not mentioned anything related to cost and complexity of the solutions provided by business intelligence, it is estimated that over 30% of respondents suggest that the business intelligence vendors are not capable of demonstrating the benefits of business intelligence to internal stakeholders (Electrosmart Ltd 2011). The Exclusive Resorts, LLC Case Study Exclusive Resorts, LLC, manages close to 350 high-class private residences around the universe. It serves close to 3,300 members and it experiences a constant flow of new participants. The resort offers high-quality member services. Initially, the company chose Oracle software was its ERP and financial management solution. It also chose Salesforce.com and developed ER Compass®; however, there was no combination between the three systems at that time. As the company expanded, it became very challenging to customize Oracle system to meet its sophisticated business requirements. The company also incurred significant licensing fees of the complex cost structure of the Oracle system (Microsoft Inc., 2011). After a while, the company decided to seek another ERP system that could incorporate its existing technology and assist it to boost the competitiveness and quality of member services and at the same time supporting membership growth. Exclusive Resorts finally settled for Microsoft Dynamics AX to meet the company’s present and future needs. Unlike, the previous solution, Microsoft Dynamics AX offered great flexibility and ultimately minimized application fragility, effort and cost linked with upgrades, customizations, and updates. The software also integrates all the company’s key applications. The company finds the Microsoft Dynamics AX to be a perfect combination of extensibility, scalability, and reliability. The installation and adoption of the system took less than 12 months. There is an important lesson to be learned from this case study about business intelligence solutions. The implemented and adopted system must be able to integrate all the applications in the company. It is also a BI best practice to automate all the ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) processes. The initial solution system adopted by Exclusive Resorts could not integrate all the company’s applications. Thus, it made it difficult for the company to meet its business requirements. Electrosmart Ltd (2011) suggests that a total BI solution capability needs BI visualization tools, BI software applications, data warehouse, date warehouse management system, data warehouse platform, data tools, integration tools, and BI program & processes. As an integrating tool, the software must be capable of connecting applications and platform components (Electrosmart Ltd 2011). Conclusion The two cases show the significance of implementing and adopting the right BI solution. Each solution has its own characteristics and it is up for the business to decide which solution best fits in the company. It is clear from the case studies that a drive must exist to push the company to pursue BI solutions, the right BI software must be chosen, there are challenges to the adoption of BI solutions, and that the software must be able to integrate all the applications and platform components of the company. For instance, Marshfield Clinic was pushed to enhance its BI software because of the consumer needs and the changes happening in the health care industry. On the other hand, Exclusive Resorts was forced to choose BI software because its previous software could not integrate all the applications in the company. Another important lesson is the hidden cost and complexity of the BI software. A number of clients have admitted that some of the BI vendors cannot account for the benefits of the solutions they provide. References Cummens, M. & Konitzer, K. (2011). Case study – Using analytics to improve patient outcomes and billing accuracy at Marshfield Clinic. Retrieved from http://tdwi.org/articles/2011/07/11/case-study-using-analytics-to-improve-patient-outcomes-and-billing-accuracy-at-marshfield-clinic.aspx Electrosmart Ltd. (2011). Barriers to business intelligence. Retrieved from http://thebusinessintelligenceguide.com/bi_strategy/Barriers_To_BI.php Electrosmart Ltd. (2011). BI best practices. Retrieved from http://thebusinessintelligenceguide.com/bi_strategy/BI_Best_Practices.php Electrosmart Ltd. (2011). Business intelligence program. Retrieved from http://thebusinessintelligenceguide.com/bi_program/index.php Electrosmart Ltd. (2011). Business intelligence software. Retrieved from http://thebusinessintelligenceguide.com/bi_solutions/index.php Electrosmart Ltd. (2011). Drivers of business intelligence [BI]. Retrieved from http://thebusinessintelligenceguide.com/bi_strategy/Drivers_Of_BI.php Electrosmart Ltd. (2011). The business intelligence guide. Retrieved from http://thebusinessintelligenceguide.com/index.php Microsoft Inc. (2011). Exclusive Resorts, LLC: Destination club generates rapid ROI, enhances services, takes control of business. Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-Dynamics-AX/Exclusive-Resorts-LLC/Destination-Club-Generates-Rapid-ROI-Enhances-Services-Takes-Control-of-Business/4000009718 Read More