The project is a research study conducted to get an insight into the penetration of Business Intelligence tools into the APAC region. This study focused on India, Singapore , Australia and New Zealand

1.
Business Intelligence - Trends in APAC
Research Survey Findings
Sairam Iyer
Manish Ballal

2.
About the project
The project is a research study conducted to get an insight into the penetration of
Business Intelligence tools into the APAC region. This study focused on India,
Singapore , Australia and New Zealand.
The study was designed to capture the below details.
• Expectations of the Industry from the BI tools
• Industry’s experience with the existing BI implementations
• Fitment of BI into organization’s competitive and corporate strategy
• Identification of growth sectors
• Prediction of future trends
The total sample size for the survey was 20, which comprised primarily of CIO’s, CTO’s
and BI SMEs (Subject Matter Experts). The respondents belong to organizations with
employee strength between 10 and 100,000. However most of the respondents belong to
organizations having employee strength more than 10,000. The respondents were from
Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and primarily from India.
During the course of the study, useful suggestions and comments from IT experts ,
industry leaders, BI experts, CIO’s, IT decision makers, market research analysts,
academicians and international trade associations have been incorporated.
2
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in APAC

3.
SAS and Microso
oft BI rule
e the roos
st.
44% of t CIOs an IT decision makers are partner
the nd ring with SA for BI packages or
AS
would li to set up an allianc with SAS for their fu
ike p ce S uture BI needs.
Cho
oice of the Decis
sion Makers
4
3
No of responses
2
1
0
3
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

4.
However, BI Techn
nical experts and soluti provide in the A
ion ers APAC region have a
n
different opinion. 60% of them think that Microsoft BI has an e
t 6 m t edge over o
other tools i BI
in
space.
Choice
e of BI SM
MEs
6
5
No of responses
4
3
2
1
0
4
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

5.
The Big Spenders: Retail, BFSI and Telecom.
More than 80% of the SMEs think that the Retail, Telecom and BFSI sectors would
emerge as major investors in BI in the near future. Overall, there is an alignment in the
viewpoints of the CIOs and the BI SMEs. However, the IT Decision makers and the CIOs
are bullish on the Pharmaceutical and Manufacturing sectors as well.
Growth Sectors in the Future
‐ BI SMEs
‐ IT Decision makers
Retail
9
8
Other Telecom
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Pharmaceuticals Banking
0
‐1
Media and Entertainment Manufacturing
Insurance and Financial
Educational Services
Services
5
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in APAC

6.
BI Spend­ A miniscule pie of the IT budget: Surprise Surprise!!!
The BI SMEs and IT vendors consider a very conservative budget needs to be earmarked
for a BI initiative. This understanding might stem from the fact that since it is a part of
the IT spend, the decision makers would like to be stingy with their budget. But this is a
revelation of sorts that the CIO’s and IT decision makers are ready to spend 20-30% and
some would be interested even to spend 40-50% of their IT budget for a BI initiative.
Spend on BI as a percentage of 0‐10%
overall IT budget
5
‐ BI SMEs
‐ IT Decision makers
4
70‐80% 10‐20%
3
2
1
0
60‐70% 20‐30%
‐1
50‐60% 30‐40%
40‐50%
6
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in APAC

7.
Value a
addition:
Gestation
n period­p
painfully
long, or i
is it?
Most of the CIO’s do feel that a BI Implem
d mentation does add va
alue to the organizatio in
on
a time h
horizon well below 3-5 years and a whopping 50% feel t
l g that a BI/DW exercise i
W in
their org
ganization has added t
h tremendous value in 1-3 years of its implementation, th
s hus
dashing the commo myth th the value addition g
on hat gestation time period i painfully
is y
long in a BI/DW im
mplementation.
Time Horizon
n for valu
ue addit
tion
5
4
No of responses
3
2
1
0
7
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

8.
Emergi
ing mark
kets in the
e APAC reg
gion as pe
er BI expe
erts
There is total align
s nment in the views of t BI SMEs and the in
e the s ndustry decision make
ers
regardin the emer
ng rging mark in the A
kets APAC regio Also the findings are in-line
on. ese s e
with the forecasts of the major market re
e o r esearchers s
such as IDC Gartner a
C, and
Frost&Su
ullivan.
Emergin
E ng Marke
ets in the
e APAC r
region
6
5
No of responses
4
3
2
1
0
Australi
ia India Singa
apore Malaysia Japan Other
8
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

9.
Growth
h Drivers for the Emerging
markets i
in the APA
AC region
n
The grow drivers for the em
wth s merging ma
arkets in the APAC (ex
e xcluding Jap
pan) region as
n
enumera
ated by BI experts and the Indust leaders are given b
e d try below. Aust
tralia with i
its
increasin business maturity a increas
ng s and sing accepta
ance of tech
hnology in all spheres of
business emerges as the most sought afte BI marke with Indi closely fo
s a er et ia ollowing as the
second m
most sough after.
ht
Increase in BI
n
inveestment in t SME
the
Incre
easing business
Competitiv landscap
ve pe
maturity sect driven b more
tor by
aff
fordable sollutions
Stress on Regulatory
s Improved Customer
d r Sound Finan
S ncial
Compliance
C e Centricity Systemss
9
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

10.
Most sought after improvements in BI packages
This question was posed to both the BI experts and the Industry decision makers to
ascertain the most sought after improvements according to them. Though there was
agreement on most of the parameters, on close observation it becomes clear that while
the IT decision makers demand a much more easier to use interface than that provided
by current BI packages, which can thus be levered to deliver “pervasive BI”, the BI
experts and BI vendors give much more importance to providing better documentation
to understand the complex features. This can be highlighted as one of the most
important findings of the research survey.
Improvements sought in BI
packages
BI SMEs
Faster Implementation IT Decision
time makers
8
7
6
Other Easier to use interface
5
4
3
2
1
0
Enhanced search
functionality to enable Better support from
package providers
users to conduct free‐form
searches
Better services for partner
Better documentation to
network or other BI
understand all features
consulting companies
10
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in APAC

11.
Evalua
ation of a B
BI implem
mentation
n­ No Usage=Failur
re
This was one of the most impo
s e ortant questions of the survey, to ascertain th various
e he
methods adopted by the Indus
s b stry decision makers to evaluate t success of the BI/D
o the DW
impleme
entation, an it did thr
nd row up som fantastic revelations Some of t respons
me s. the ses
did men
ntion conven
ntional met
thods of pro
oject appra
aisal and dif
fferent finan
ncial metho
ods
such as N present value, RO etc. But s
Net t OI, surprisingly most of th
y hem gave m
much more
importan on the pervasive u of BI an thus one of the vital success ev
nce use nd l valuation
criterion was usag pervasive
ns ge eness, i.e. th number o business users as a p
he of percentage of
total em
mployees. A critical equ
uation that could sum
mmarize this factor wou be “No
s uld
usage of BI=Failure the level of user acc
f e”, l ceptance an pervasiv usage is t
nd ve thus the onl
ly
real mea
asure of BI success.
Conv
ventional l
Project
P
User
U
Apppraisal
Acceptance
metthods e.g.
ROI
Met
trics and
Usage
U
Miilestone
Perva
asiveness
Analysis
11
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

12.
Is Infra
astructure a major
r bottle­neck ?
Accordin the BI ex
ng xperts, infr
rastructure can act as a show-stopper for a su
uccessful BI
I
impleme
entation. 70 of the B experts fe that tack
0% BI elt kling infrast
tructure iss
sues is the
burning need. The CIO’s view this otherw and ne
g wise early 60% of them feel that
f
infrastru
ucture issue can alway be resolv and the do not ac as major bottle-neck
es ys ved ey ct ks.
70
60
50
40
IT SM
MEs
30
IT Dec
cision Makers
20
10
0
YES
NO
12
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

13.
Can Saa
aS offer a
a better bu
usiness p
propositio
on?
If there was one po on whic the BI ex
oint ch xperts and t CIO’s to
the otally agree then it h
ed, has
to be the Software as a Service (SaaS) app
e a e proach to BI applicatio All the BI experts who
I ons.
were pos this que
sed estion gave a thumbs-u in uniso and nearly 75% of th CIO’s vo
up on he oiced
the same opinion. The ones wh were ske
e T ho eptical abou the SaaS approach w
ut were concer
rned
about th data secu
he urity issues that could arise from its usage. T
This was also dealt with in
h
the surv
vey.
100
90
80
70
60
50
IT SM
MEs
40
IT Dec
cision Makers
30
20
10
0
YES
NO
13
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

14.
What’s
s stopping
g a SaaS b
based app
proach for
r BI?
Though the SaaS based approa does se
ach eem to gene
erate intere for the B experts an
est BI nd
the CIO’’s, it definitely cannot be a panace The maj hurdles enumerate by the
ea. jor s ed
experts a data sec
are curity, respo
onse time o the applic
of cation, avai
ilability of t applicat
the tion,
and effic
cient delive of the ap
ery pplication. D
Data securi occupies the mind-space of all the
ity s l
CIO’s as a major pa point for SaaS base approach for BI. Eff
ain ed h ficient hand
dling of the
security concerns can open up a blue oce of oppo
c p ean ortunities fo the BI ven
or ndors.
Data security
a y
Respo
onse time
e
Ava
ailability
14
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

15.
Possible breakt
throughs
in BI tech
hnology (A
According
g to SMEs
s)
BI has been evolvin over the years and h been ac
ng has cting as a br
reeding gro
ound for ne
ew
and eme
erging brea
akthroughs in technolo
ogy. Some o these hav been enu
of ve umerated b
by
the Indu
ustry and BI experts. T
I These will ac as the pla
ct atform for b
building th next wave of
he
BI/DW a
applications
s.
Handling
H g
Improved Enhanced M
Master
unstr
ructured data
Visual
lisation Dat Manag
ta gement
quot;On the Movequot; BI
n
Embeddding BI in
n
Fa
aster Clou
ud e..g. Dashboard
exis
sting
Computing
C delivery on
applic
cations
MobileP
M PDA
15
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

16.
“BI for
the mass
ses” or “Pe
ervasive BI” ­ Myth
h or Reali
ity
Since the true success of BI lie in the lev of user a
es vel acceptance and its perv
vasive usag
ge
across th organiza
he ation, we ask the exp
ked perts on the views on how to ach
eir n hieve this g
goal.
Though it does look a bit far-f
fetched con
nsidering th present sc
he cenario, som of the b
me below
approach can lea us to the elusive goa of BI for the masses according to the indu
hes ad al s ustry
experts.
Employi a Top-D
ing Down
Inte
egration of BI with
f Approach to help BI
p Usage of Plu and Play
U ug y
Enterprise Portals
E P Softwware
trickle down to t
e the
entire or
rganisation
Sim
mplicity of Design
Ex
xtensibility Reduce Cost
ed
an User Int
nd terface
Pre-P
Packaged BBI
Ap
pplications
16
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

17.
What d
does BI m
mean?
As was p
pretty obvio 63% of the CIO’s c
ous, f consider BI to be a gro
owth strateg Also
gy.
different organizati
t ions did con
nsider it to be serving the purpos for which they had
se h
impleme
ented BI.
What
t does BI mean t
to the Decision Makers?
?
5
No of responses
4
3
2
1
0
A competitiv
ve A gro
owth strategy Custoomer For Benchmar rking
advantage
e Orientatio
on strategy internal efficie
ency
17
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

18.
BI is ju
ust for the
e Big Fish­
­Think ag
gain!
It has ge
enerally bee regarded that BI ca only help the bigger organizat
en d an p tions achiev
ve
their goa The sm fry’s hav something to cheer about, sinc accordin to the
als. mall ve r ce ng
experts, BI can help the small and mediu enterpri
p um ises (SME’s) achieve th goals in a
) heir n
better w than the bigger counterparts From identification of the stron
way eir s. ngest sales
channels to intellig
gent resourc allocatio the smal enterprises are bette suited to
ce on, ll er
leverage BI due to their uncom
e mplicated u
underlying structure.
Idenntification
n
Compettitive
of S
Strongest
Advant
tage
Sales Channe
s el
Smartter
Decision
Resourrce
Su
upport
Allocat
tion
18
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

19.
Major H
Hindranc
ces in Imp
plementin
ng BI
The Indu
ustry exper mention that during the initia implemen
rts n al ntation, em
mployee
acceptan was the major issu but after going thro
nce e ue, r ough that p
phase, maintaining clea
an
data, int
tegration of the BI tool with stand
f l dard databa
ases, interfacing to pus the BI da to
sh ata
database were som of the iss
es me sues being f
faced. Data Governanc and corp
ce porate cultu
ure
also play a vital rol since most of them o
y le opine that t technol
the logy is the e
easy part, bu
ut
the polit that goe around it is the mos complex and time c
tics es st consuming.
Da
ata Corp
porate
Gover
rnance cul
lture
Integ
gration
Empl loyee with
w
accep
ptance stan
ndard
applic
cations
19
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

20.
Has BI
help you
overcom
me a bottle
e­neck?
Though as part of the survey w wanted j
t we just one bo
ottleneck that BI has he
elped the C
CIO’s
resolve i their org
in ganizations we were ple
easantly su
urprised to r
receive mul
ltiple problems
that BI h helped to resolve in all the or
has t rganizations that respo
s onded. Thes involved
se
effective planning, performan manage
e nce ement, cont
tinual improvement, d
data oriented
work for amongs others.
rce st
• Internal re
eviews • Data ooriented work
k
by employees force
• Continual • Decenntralized
improvement decisi making
ion
tracking
mechanism ms
Pe
erformance
e Deci
ision
Mgmt. makking
Resource Opera
ations
allocation
a Mggmt.
• Effective man
m • Prod
duction line
power usagge plan
nning
• Planning and
a • Cost centre
t
forecasting
g iden
ntification
20
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC

21.
Conclu
usion
As evide from the above res
ent sults BI has emerged a a driver to be succes
as ssful in the
current dynamic bu
usiness ecos
system in th APAC re
he egion. CIOs and BI exp
s perts believ
ve
that BI c empower employe to make decisions. Incorporati a SaaS b
can ees e ing based appro
oach
to delive BI solutio can create a win-w situation for the org
er ons win n ganizations as well as the
s
BI vendo provided they offer better dat security a an easy to use inte
ors r ta and y erface.
About
us
Manishh Ballal: Man
nish is a man nagement st tudent at XLR
RI, Jamshedp pur
majorin
ng in Marketting and Info ormation Sys stems. He haas 5 years of
fexperience
working with Infosy
ys for global l clients in USS and Austra
alia. He can be reached
at g080
019@astra.x xlri.ac.in or +
+91‐9921066 6499.
Sairam
m Iyer: Sairamm is a managgement stud dent at XLRI J
Jamshedpurr majoring
in Markketing and SStrategy. He has worked as a ERP/CR RM Consultant with
Infosys for 5 years a
and has assiisted end to end implem
mentations in
n North
Americca and Europ pe. His coord
dinates are g
g08034@astra.xlri.ac.in o
or
+91‐90006900883.
21
Business Intelligence ‐ Trends in A
APAC