Pervasive BI - The Next Step In Business Intelligence

The information supply chain is composed of three major subsystems

1. Data integration services
2. Decision repositories
3. Decision services

Data in raw form from operational systems, is transformed into a common format for central storage and access, then packaged and distributed to the business user.

Each part of the system is reliant on the other subsystems for overall Quality of Service [QoS]. Yet very few BI infrastructures have implemented service level agreements (SLAs) as part of the deployment.

Business users expect near-real-time performance of the BI capability 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Pervasive BI takes traditional BI this extra step towards provision and support of a high quality management service.

• Existing ETL tools > Data integration servers.
• Existing data warehouses are activated.
• Existing BI platforms > Decision services.

Pervasive BI does always mean immediate additional costs. What is required, is end-to-end mission-critical availability. And that means SLAs that clarify usage goals and protection mechanisms for those goals.

The gap is already showing between those organisations that make intelligent use of their BI systems, and those whom have yet to embrace the value of BI capability.

The next gap up the ladder towards excellence in corporate performance is between traditional BI and pervasive BI. It signifies that no longer does the organisation view BI as an add-on nice to have capability, instead seeing it as mission critical to the success of the company.

A recent survey conducted by IDC and sponsored by Teradata illustrates how some businesses have escalated themselves to status as market leaders through excellence in the use of BI.

Written By: Gail La Grouw is consulting director of Coded-Vision Consulting, architects of optimal corporate and marketing performance. She specialises in business intelligence and business performance technology.

FIRST PUBLISHED February 2008

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