The BI Consolidation ConundrumMarket cleansing is accelerating corporate product consolidationby Mark Smith Continued from Page 1 Partisan Product PoliticsA recent conversation with a manufacturer highlighted some of the traditional challenges faced by many of you today. This global corporation has many of the typical cultural and political issues that arise when two IT organizations from separate companies come together through a merger or acquisition. Both organizations invested a great deal of human and financial resources into their respective BI systems and vendors of choice. Their investment and expertise occurred over many years, and individuals within the different organizations developed specialized technical skills to such a degree that change created potential career crises. In this case, the merged company put just one of the incoming IT organizations in charge of determining the future of the two BI deployments — setting up a potential disaster. This company must examine the feasibility of consolidation closely, because no high-level industry analyst or consultant recommendation will be able to guide these competing IT groups intent on defending their deployments. This company needs a neutral third party to perform business and requirements analyses with independently defined rules and a comparative benchmark. Determining Next StepsThis whole process of product consolidation may seem economically sound, but cost is only one consideration. You must also examine role and use-case scenarios to determine the breadth and depth of the BI deployment. This isn't a simple functionality comparison, but a sophisticated assessment process that you must complete before considering consolidating disparate BI solutions. Product consolidation may not be feasible for every situation. Many companies have come to realize that preferred vendors can only be used for future projects — legacy systems may be best left alone. Sometimes the reality is that managing fewer vendors and reducing costs doesn't always make replacing business-critical software worthwhile. If you're considering a product consolidation project, you must audit your existing deployment using metrics such as return on investment to assess the TCO and the business value. Make sure you understand how switching to another product will affect business operations. You will have to determine which vendor's products will grow with your organization and provide long-term value across all user types. Keep in mind that one vendor may not address all your BI needs. Be realistic and ensure that internal politics and culture don't create further divides within your organization. Watch the vendor consolidation closely, but don't let it overly concern you. As with any legacy system, your existing maintenance contracts should cover most emergency issues. Do control your own destiny, manage your BI deployments as strategic assets, and always understand the full value of what you have deployed. Putting BI to work and focusing on how it can enable business performance management is critical. Your success will depend on it! Mark Smith [mark.smith@ventanaresearch.com] is the CEO and SVP of research at Ventana Research, an advisory services and research firm providing insight and education on best practices and technology in performance management. RESOURCESBrio Software Inc.: www.brio.com Business Objects: www.businessobjects.com Crystal Decisions Inc.: www.crystaldecisions.com Geac Computer Corp.: www.geac.com Hyperion Solutions: www.hyperion.com
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