BI is increasingly viewed as a necessary strategic tool for businesses who wish to "step change" their performance. As SMEs have to continuously maximise productive efficiencies just to survive and grow (otherwise they risk acquisition by larger companies) BI is becoming increasingly important to Indian companies, says Deepak Pahwa, Group Chairman Pahwa Enterprise.
Today, product cycle times are shorter and you need to be able to predict ‘situations’ as well as respond quickly to them. It is a must for all SMEs to have BI to understand market trends for their products and services, he stated.
Management based on KPI (key performance indicators) metrics is very important for SMEs. They normally have few key resources and there is a need for creating processes driven by metrics rather than needing the management resources to do micro-management all the time, said another leading businessman A Rajendran, Director, Information Services, Team Computers Pvt Ltd.
BI plays the role of a filter, which filters out the unnecessary details and "noise" and therefore highlights the most important elements needing attention at any one time. Sudipta K Sen, CEO & MD, SAS Institute (India) Pvt Ltd believes that BI enables enterprises of all sizes to break through to a higher level of understanding and establish a culture of fact based decision-making. .
Dharti Desai, Founder and President, Regency Direct Marketing agrees. She says, “These days SMEs have also realised significant survival & financial benefits of accepting this important tool and the pivotal role of business intelligence platforms.”
Sanjay Manchanda, Director of Microsoft Business Division in India said, “Though SMEs in India still have a long way to go on the IT adoption continuum compared to the large enterprises, an increasing number are beginning to see the value delivered by BI solutions, and we believe this is a trend that will continue.”
Ms Desai went further, stating that as the growth of SMEs as a whole depends on the successful implementation of BI tools, recommending them to explore the IT market fully before choosing a BI solution for their business.
Mr Manchanda advocates the need for more awareness and education among SMEs on how technologies like BI can make a real difference to businesses as well as bringing them strategic benefits. With the market expanding and the competition growing, small enterprises will aim at performance management and strategising by using the data collected by various departments and functions. One can expect more SMEs adopting BI. Because that’s the way ahead.
