Business Intelligence and Analytics for ERP Programs like Microsoft Dynamics AX and others are on prime of the precedence listing for many CIO's in line with a latest study.

Nevertheless, budgets are tight and a BI solution inclusive implementation with the traditional Business Intelligence vendors nonetheless value well in the 6 digit figures.

The IT market is exiting its worst year ever. Its spending has declined in all markets and segments like hardware, software, telecommunication and IT services. The drop in IT spending in this financial disaster was more substantial than at the last financial crisis in 2001.

Global GDP is forecasted to develop 2.2% and IT spending in 2011 will develop to 2.3% in response to Gartner. Nonetheless, for about 50% of firms, the IT funds will likely be less in development and it'll solely slowly recover in 2012.

Then again, CIO's and their IT-departments are pressured to ship higher and quicker info to management, correct and well timed data is not a luxurious anymore, it might truly determine if a company survives or not.

My advice for IT administration is to consult your finance and sales and marketing division and see when you can share the price for a brand new or revised Enterprise Intelligence Solution and introduce a Information Warehouse which is an important a part of any Enterprise Intelligence Solution. Some key parts to make this strategy profitable:

- the BI tool must be of top quality

- the price per division should not be higher than $25,000

- the implementation time needs to be beneath 2 weeks

- start with one key space (in most firms this shall be sales analysis)

- search for a BI vendor who affords a free POC (Proof of Concept) and contain the relevant manger of the department.

You could be surprised how prepared your sales or finance department could also be to share value in the event you can show them the worth of a BI solution.

Microsoft Dynamics AX provides some built-in Business Intelligence, however lacks integration to other information sources and doesn't embody a true information warehouse. As mentioned above, the info warehouse is the essential "back-bone" of any profitable Enterprise Intelligence and Reporting Solution. (as also talked about by Cindi Howson in her guide "Profitable Enterprise Intelligence", published by McGraw Hill).

Don't fall for the false promises of the classic BI distributors providing their "downgraded" versions. The TCO (complete price of possession remains to be extraordinarily high). Look for an information warehouse instrument which lets you construct the information warehouse and OLAP cubes inside hours, utilizing a easy drag and drop user-interface, however do not purchase a instrument which "forces" you to make use of their specific entrance-finish tool. An information warehouse instrument needs to be entrance-finish agnostic, so that you've got the freedom to choose, and should even start with Excel as the initial entrance-end device and then add extra refined Evaluation and Dashboard tools later.          

MF