Translating a Business Intelligence Warning
April 21, 2010
An azure chip consultant, according to the prolific Intelligent Enterprise publication, has issued a business intelligence warning. The write up “Gartner’s BI Summit Warning: Buyer Beware” is one you will want to read to make sure I am translating the message correction. The idea is folded within a number of buzzwords and hot sounding terms; for example, megavendor, stack centricity, BI, and similar code words.
The idea is that an azure chip consulting firm has alerted its customers to avoid the big outfits in the business intelligence sector. I think of Business Objects (now part of the challenged SAP), IBM’s bevy of business intelligence companies, SAS, and, if I am broad minded, Oracle. The consulting firm suggests that big outfits sell companies too much so money is wasted. In short, buy what you need. Save money. Live long. Prosper.
Okay.
First, I think that the consulting firm may be revealing unintentionally that some big outfits are not ponying up significant consulting contracts. The consulting firm’s advice is preparing the ground for smaller vendors to take buy some of the consulting firm’s expertise.
Second, I think that business intelligence like military intelligence are often oxymoronic. In my opinion, companies need timely, operational information; that is, facts directly related to making a sale, solving a problem, or figuring out whether to zig or zag. This more prosaic view of information is too much steak and not enough sizzle, so we get glittering generalities. The need for some words that make sales is increasing. Rhetoric is in. Basics are out perhaps?
Third, notion that a fuzzy concept like business intelligence presented as a cure all is a very popular and facile marketing method. I know a West Coast consultant who overpromises and tries to over deliver. The clients are usually disappointed in my experience. The client remembers the hyperbole and forgets the difficulty of providing solid information in a fluid, unpredictable business environment.
My hunch is that the general advice of “buyer beware” is like one of those Chinese proverbs. Those proverbs sound so darned meaningful. How many situations exist where the buyer does not know enough to be aware? How many buying situations are rubber stamp deals where the old vendor gets the new job auto-magically?
In short, cautions in today financial climate are, in my opinion, not really needed. Example range from Enron to Lehman Bros. My take is that silver bullets whether shot from azure chip consultants’ laptops or vendors’ PowerPoints have one goal: generate cash.
Caveat emptor! Absolutely. And the advice applies to consultants, vendors, and information disseminators as well.
Stephen E Arnold, April 21, 2010
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