4 Things IT Managers Should Know About the Changing World of BI

In an increasingly self-service world, people want and expect information of all kinds to be easily attainable. Fifteen years ago, if you had a question, you placed a phone call. Today, instant availability of answers via search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! has led business users—whether analysts, sales teams, or c-suite executives— to expect the same kind of fast access to their business data. More and more, users expect the ability to access data directly, play around with the data, and create custom dashboards and reports—all in a browser-based, user-friendly environment.

The growth of mobile devices in particular has drastically impacted users’ expectations. With email, the weather, and social media at a user’s fingertips, why wouldn’t sales order data and profit margins be available, too? The modern business user wants to enter a customer meeting equipped to answer any data-related questions, whether by pulling up last month’s sales order on his/her smartphone or tablet, or confirming year-to-date spending in a recent report. Without on-the-go data access, someone back in the office ends up having to pull the data, creating a lag to answer customer questions and consuming more time and resources.

With the growing availability of business data, inevitably, competitors are using that readily-available data to drive more and more business decisions and strategy—so many executives seek to stay competitive by increasing their own reliance on data. To do so, they’re making increased, often harder demands of IT: more frequent reports, big-picture reports, and even real-time reporting on operational metrics.

For IT managers who oversee access to an organization’s data warehouses, meeting these growing expectations can prove challenging. From fighting fires when technology goes down or applications don’t work to responding to user requests, the typical IT team juggles a variety of crucial responsibilities, often with limited resources and time. Pulling extra reports, while important from an operational standpoint, takes IT away from other critical responsibilities.

When IT serves as the gatekeepers of an organization’s databases, everyone’s desire for data access can present logistical and security challenges for IT managers whose technology applications are not set up to accommodate for greater data access.

For one, data is complex. Even though putting data into the hands of users presents many benefits, database environments are not always built to be queried, and accessing a large database without the right tools could be frustrating for the non-skilled user. Until end-users become self-sufficient, making business intelligence more readily available may mean IT managers must provide increased support and training to end-users in the short term, or invest in new user-friendly tools so users can find and understand the data in a way that is meaningful to them.  

IT management may also experience challenges ensuring the appropriate security protocols remain intact. An organization may want to provide limited data access to users but restrict certain sensitive information to ensure the integrity of the data and prevent any risk of user error. Setting up these restrictions can be a challenge, particularly for applications without that kind of granular level of security permissions. Financial and healthcare organizations who must comply with government regulations around data access may also experience challenges balancing audit requirements with internal requests.

Giving quick, easy data access to end users requires technology capabilities beyond the traditional tools IT has used. Historically, many organizations running IBM i systems have used Query/400 to analyze their data, or written RPG code to create reports on an ad hoc basis.

While these methods worked in the past, these tools are not right for the job anymore because they are:

1. Not mobile-enabled—so users can’t leverage the data from an iPad or mobile device.
2. Not scalable—coded RPG reports are static and include specific parameters, making it difficult to reuse or repurpose reports.
3. Unable to handle data from other databases—meaning Query/400 cannot interface with other databases like Microsoft SQL server, Excel, or other remote databases.
4. Time-consuming—as IT balances multiple priorities with limited resources, delivering coded reports or using RPG to pull data from multiple databases takes time.
5. Expensive—often, using RPG code requires additional time and hiring more programmers, which becomes expensive.

By contrast, a modern tool like Sequel Data Access:

• Empowers users to access data on the go
• Enables users to create dashboards, reports, or charts in the way they want to view the data
• Frees up time for IT staff, users, and executives
• Controls critical BI and ensures security protocols are met
• Provides rapid return on investment

With Sequel, IT managers can get up and running within an hour. Business intelligence can be accessed via a standard graphical interface, web-based interface, or the traditional IBM i green screen. The user-friendliness of the software means users have the quick, easy data access they crave.

As the gatekeepers to data access, IT must meet changing user expectations, help executives use data to remain competitive, and manage the challenges of increasing data access to end users. Modern data query tools, like Sequel, can help IT keep up with requests and demands—and meet the challenges of a changing world of BI. 

Sequel gives end users confidence to quickly and easily create dashboards and pull custom reports, lightening IT’s load. As end users become more comfortable with self-service data access, the role of IT may shift—giving IT more time to tackle their other tasks. 

For now, as data grows and demands around data access increase, the challenges surrounding BI will only continue to grow. As a result, IT managers like you will need the support of modern tools to address growing demands in the changing world of BI.