The term “Business Intelligence” and its acronym “BI” are sopervasive in today's data-intensive lexicon that it's a challengeto know just what to make of it. If you add in all the new trendyterminology such as business process management (BPM), data mining,data warehousing, business process automation, decision supportsystems, query and reporting systems, enterprise performancemanagement, executive information systems (EIS), business activitymonitoring (BAM), modeling and visualization, and so forth, yourhead can start spinning.

Here is a workable definition of BI that was provided in aTechnology Evaluation report from a Jan. 10, 2005, TechnologyEvaluation Centers article by Mukhles Zaman titled, “BusinessIntelligence: Its Ins and Outs”: “BI is neither a product nor asystem. It is an umbrella term that combines architectures,applications and databases. It enables the real-time, interactiveaccess, analysis and manipulation of information, which providesthe business community with easy access to business data.

Given this modest objective, SMB companies must filter throughthe hype emanating from many BI application vendors who claim thatthey should invest in higher-priced, industrial-strength BIsolutions to achieve their goals. Below, we will attempt to dispelsome of these myths and offer some guidance on how to make theright purchasing and implementation decisions for yourbusiness.

Myth #1 – You really need a “cube-based” OLAP BIsolution

Many vendors want you to believe that in order to make the bestpossible business decisions; your small to mid-sized company needsa full-fledged cube-based OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) BIsolution that delivers real-time, up-to-the-nanosecond data.

Sure, this makes sense if you are a Fortune 1000 company withnumerous divisions and databases and highly complex reportingrequirements. Oh, and you've got mega-bucks to spend on trying outdifferent BI solutions that will take a long time to implement andmuch more time to learn and use. We know that a cube-based OLAPtool does enable end users to slice and dice their data, performmulti-dimensional analysis, present information in graphs andcharts, and more.

However, there is a high cost associated with maintaining thesecube-based systems. For example, every time a new dimension isadded to a multi-dimensional analysis, one has to make changes toall cubes that would use that dimension. Of course, one needsaccess to very high-level programming skills to do that, not tomention the budget to support this approach.

Myth #2 – You really need expensive, industrial-strengthanalytics to make informed business decisions

Make no mistake — having access to an analytics tool can be avery powerful component of your BI plan. Analytics enable end usersto transform data into information and then get that informationinto the right hands and in the correct format to facilitate timelydecision-making. This can help companies increase customersatisfaction, decrease costs, and increase revenues. However, thereis a misconception that SMB companies must invest a small fortunein industrial-strength analytics. In reality, these companies aremore interested in the macro view of their business (which BI candeliver), rather than getting so close to the actual transactionsthat you lose the departmental or company-wide perspective (neededfor smarter decision making).

Myth #3 – You need to toss out all yourspreadsheets

With all the high-priced applications now available in thefragmented BI marketplace, it's easy to see why many vendors wouldscoff at the idea that your basic Microsoft Office Suite is quiteadequate as a key component of your BI solution. They don't wantyou to know that the most widely used BI tool today is an Excelspreadsheet. Almost everyone in the corporate world is familiarwith Excel, its minimal learning curve, and the fact that theapplication leverages a company's existing software solutions.Excel is often used to track expenses, create budgets andforecasts, and create reports from that data. Plus, Excel toolsoffer many useful features such as graphing, charting and pivotingthat can assist decision-making.

Myth #4 – You really need to invest in a BI solution toachieve airtight compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley

The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Actof 2002 (also known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002) was passedby U.S. lawmakers to reinforce honest and transparent corporatepractices in the wake of various public accounting scandals andcorporate failures. As with any far-reaching legislation of thismagnitude, there is plenty of hype that has emerged in connectionwith this law. Let's clear up the picture as it relates to BIsoftware and compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley.

For starters, here are two facts to consider: 1) The Act appliesonly to U.S. public companies and, 2) There is no softwareapplication certification provided under the Act. This means thatyou can't achieve compliance with this Act by simply buying some BItool. If you are concerned with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance or wantto tighten your internal controls as a result of renewed focus onthis area, there are software tools that you can utilize in concertwith proper management of your internal processes for reporting,auditing and disclosure. In general, well thought-out applicationscan help you in your compliance efforts by making information moreaccessible and more transparent, and by highlighting anomalies.

A combination of accounting and BI-related reporting tools canserve as a vital part of your overall internal control compliancestrategy. As you determine how to respond to the new challengesimposed by Sarbanes-Oxley, there is little doubt that much of yourattention will be focused on managing, protecting and reporting onthe data that at some point passed through your accountingsystem.

Jean Huy issenior director, Product Marketing, for Sage North America in Irvine,Calif.