Executive brief
Getting Smart about ROI Measuring the impact of business intelligence
Table of contents Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 3 Tools for evaluating business initiatives...............................................................................4 Evaluating a business intelligence solution...........................................................................4 One: Understand all the ways BI may affect your organization..........................................4 Two: Understand all the ways an initiative may affect a single area...................................5 Three: Find a way to measure the contribution of BI..........................................................5 Four: Factor in the cost of doing nothing...........................................................................6 Five: Evaluate the scope or complexity of the proposed project.........................................6 Six: Measure, and continue to measure............................................................................6 Seven: Remember to consider “soft” costs.......................................................................6 Approaches to measuring BI effectiveness............................................................................7 Conclusion............................................................................................................................8 About SPSS Inc.....................................................................................................................9
SPSS is a registered trademark and the other SPSS Inc. products named are trademarks of SPSS Inc. All other names are trademarks of their respective owners. © 2009 SPSS Inc. All rights reserved. ROIEB-0309
Introduction The magicians—those with the fancy tricks that were supposed to pull fortunes from thin air—have moved on. Now it’s back to reality. A reality that in many countries includes economic recession and, for many industries, slower growth and decreased profits. Not surprisingly, there is pressure to return to business basics. Good governance. Real revenues. Careful planning. Cost control. Profitability. Stakeholders—investors, regulators, customers, and others—are demanding it. But meeting these demands is challenging. Among other things, senior management is faced with the task of deciding which ventures and initiatives should be funded, and which should be curtailed or abandoned. There are a variety of methods for making such decisions. Because of their familiarity with these methods, financial managers are increasingly called upon for advice and guidance. For some time, financial managers’ responsibilities have extended beyond preparing financial reports and budgets to include evaluating and approving funding for initiatives that help move the organization toward its strategic objectives. These include initiatives involving information technology, such as implementing business intelligence (BI) software solutions. Business intelligence solutions are designed to help companies efficiently access and analyze data in order to operate more effectively. BI solutions can be valuable in analyzing the effectiveness of ongoing operations and special initiatives alike. And so BI can make an important contribution to better management, especially in times like these. But in the harsh light of today’s new business reality, investments in BI are receiving the same scrutiny as every other business initiative. This paper provides some approaches that will help companies evaluate BI initiatives. By doing so, they can see what value these solutions may hold for their organizations and make more informed decisions about whether to implement them, and how.
The term business intelligence was coined in the 1980s by industry analyst firm Gartner Group. In a 1996 report, Gartner defines business intelligence as “the enterprise’s ability to access and explore information (contained in a warehouse), analyzing that information, and developing insights and understanding, which leads to improved and informed decision making.”1 Business intelligence (BI) typically includes all types of software solutions used to organize, analyze, and deliver information to employees, managers, business partners, suppliers, and customers. Today, the definition of BI has expanded to include applications that provide a more holistic view of organizational performance and technologies that enable organizations to carry out predictive analytics, giving them an increased ability to use data to understand their customers and markets, and to plan for the future. 1 Data Warehousing, Data Mining and Business Intelligence: The Hype Stops Here,” by Erick Brethenoux, Howard Dresner, Kevin Strange, and Jonathan Block, October 28, 1996
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Tools for evaluating business initiatives Some of the tools used for evaluating the potential benefits of various courses of action include internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV), payback period, and return on investment (ROI). Ideally, by using such tools thoughtfully and methodically, management can compare a number of possible initiatives in terms of their potential benefit to the organization, so that the organization can choose those with the greatest likelihood of helping it achieve its objectives. IRR compares potential benefits to a company’s cost of capital. NPV and payback period analyses are somewhat different tools used in evaluating potential “investments” of resources. ROI, expressed as a percentage and typically including calculation of NPV, has become perhaps the most popular metric for this purpose, the formula being: ROI = Investment Cost—NPV of Savings Investment Cost As with most things, the devil is in the details. When comparing proposed initiatives, management must be sure that all costs and benefits are included in the evaluation process. This means not only the initial investment but also recurring costs required to maintain the initiative over its intended lifespan. Similarly, when considering potential benefits, the direct, immediate benefits must be included, as well as those that may occur as a secondary result of the implementation. And, of course,a specific time horizon must be established. This may be as brief as several months, or as long as several years. With experience, an organization may be able to arrive at a fairly accurate view of costs, benefits, and time frames. Even so, a variety of assumptions must be made. And when evaluating proposals dealing with BI, organizations face additional challenges. Because it typically supports an organization’s operations in numerous areas, the impact of implementing a BI solution—or of extending or modifying an existing one—often affects the organization in many different ways. Some of these lend themselves fairly easily to quantifiable measurement, but others may not.
Evaluating a business intelligence solution The question has been raised many times: “How can organizations best evaluate the potential value of a business intelligence initiative?” While there is no easy answer, this does not mean that companies need to fall back on “gut feel” decision making. There are definitely ways to get smarter about measuring the ROI of BI. Here are seven points to bear in mind when evaluating the implementation or enhancement of a BI solution.
One: Understand all the ways BI may affect your organization Since BI initiatives are generally linked to both strategic and tactical goals, it is important to fully understand all the ways in which a proposed BI initiative may affect a particular organization. Figure 1 shows a number of process areas—grouped under the headings Financial Performance, Customer Performance, and Operational Performance—that can potentially benefit from a BI solution. While a particular proposal may directly affect one area, it may also affect several others. For example, many companies use BI to analyze sales performance. They centralize detailed information about product sales, then generate analyses that identify which products are selling well, at what price point, through which channels, stores, or salespeople. While these reports help sales managers improve sales performance, they also could provide valuable information to other functional areas, such as marketing, production, logistics, and finance.
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Even if a BI implementation is intended for use by a single department, consider the potential benefits to other departments in the evaluation process.
Performance Areas Financial Performance
Customer Performance
Operational Performance
Process Areas
Planning & Budgeting
Business Process & Activity Analysis
Customer Performance Analysis
Supplier Performance Analysis
Production & Inventory Analysis
Financial Reporting & Analysis
Financial Forecasting
Customer Behavior & Loyalty Analysis
Fulfillment & Channel Management Analysis
Product Demand Forecasting
Sales Analysis
Fraud Waste & Abuse Detection
Product & Customer Profitability Analysis
Logistics Analysis
Human Resource Analysis
Figure 1: There are numerous business areas that will benefit from the application of business intelligence. Evaluate the impact on all areas when measuring the ROI of a BI initiative.
Two: Understand all the ways an initiative may affect a single area A BI solution enabling a sales department to move from paper-based reports to browser-based information delivery, for example, would obviously eliminate costs associated with producing and shipping paper reports. But the initiative is likely to have other benefits. Time saved in reviewing reports, for example, might enable salespeople to make additional sales calls, and easier access to more detailed information might allow them to quickly identify up-sell or cross-sell opportunities, resulting in increased revenues. To evaluate the true impact of a proposed BI initiative, include its potential not only for cost savings but also for revenue generation—in other words, its impact on overall profitability.
Three: Find a way to measure the contribution of BI In most organizations, several initiatives are under way at any given time, each playing a role in improving the performance of particular areas or processes. Allocating a fair share of improved performance to each effort gives a truer picture of their respective value to the organization. By using a BI solution, a supplier may be able to save a significant amount of money for a customer by eliminating excess inventory. By demonstrating its efficiency, the supplier may gain additional business from that customer. Although the sales organization will rightfully claim credit for some of the extra revenues, part of the credit should also go to the BI solution for providing information that enabled the company to provide added value to the customer.
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To understand the true value of a BI initiative, look at the role it plays in supporting other business initiatives.
Four: Factor in the cost of doing nothing Another factor to consider is the effect that denying or postponing funding for an initiative might have on the company’s competitive position. An organization might be aware that its competitors are providing order-status information online to their customers. Failing to provide the same convenience could mean a lower level of customer satisfaction and, potentially, lost business and market share. Include the “cost of not doing” in any analysis of BI.
Five: Evaluate the scope or complexity of the proposed project When considering the time frame of a BI project, factor in both the scope and complexity of the initiative and the degree of experience the organization has with such efforts. For organizations with little experience in BI, the services of a consultant to help develop a realistic time frame may be extremely valuable at this point. A project involving several different departments or regions likely will require more time to implement than one involving a single area. While a company’s first project might require more time to implement—perhaps due to issues with the quality of its data, or the time needed for staff to acquire skills in using BI tools—subsequent projects are likely to be require somewhat less time. Also, a company-wide initiative such as improving customer relationship management (CRM) may take time to show results, particularly in organizations with lengthy sales cycles. For a more accurate ROI calculation, be realistic about the amount of time an initiative will require both to implement and to achieve results.
Six: Measure, and continue to measure Compare the expected return to the actual—then keep on measuring. By systematically evaluating the impact of completed BI implementations, an organization learns to more accurately predict the impact of new proposals. New applications of BI technologies can actually help companies more accurately measure the results obtained from various business initiatives—including BI implementations. For example, applications that support activity-based costing efforts give companies a more accurate view of the cost of the numerous processes behind their operations. This helps them understand more clearly what they save when those processes are made more efficient. Refining the techniques used to measure ROI can help companies predict ROI more accurately.
Seven: Remember to consider “soft” costs A final challenge to properly evaluating BI initiatives lies in the fact that it can be difficult to quantify some costs and benefits. While it’s generally easy to quantify the cost of purchasing additional hardware and software, and even the cost of staff time for programming and for upgrading from existing systems, it can be less easy to quantify the impact the new system may have on existing processes. A company that has implemented BI in one area of the organization may find it hard to quantify the benefit that its managers and executives receive, now that they have faster access to more detailed information to support decision making. The company expects that extending the solution to other areas would have a similar beneficial effect, but don’t know how to quantify it.
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In making evaluations, it may be desirable to create a weighting system to provide a way to include hard-to-quantify costs and benefits in the evaluation. To sum up, there are several critical questions to pose when developing an ROI analysis for a BI initiative:
What are all the ways that this initiative will affect our organization?
What kinds of costs will be associated with the implementation?
When do we expect to see results?
What measures should we use to evaluate results?
Approaches to measuring BI effectiveness Organizations implement BI solutions for a wide variety of reasons. Some do so when facing a specific problem or inefficiency, such as controlling inventory costs, using vendors more effectively, or improving the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts. Others turn to BI to solve strategic issues, such as facilitating the coordination of their efforts enterprise wide, improving customer retention, or increasing revenues and profits. As previously mentioned, it is important in any situation to determine beforehand just what problems the BI solution is expected to address, what degree of improvement is expected, and in what time frame. Then, measure the results. To do this, companies may employ:
Quantitative measures, such cost, time savings, increased revenues, or increased profits
Qualitative measures, such as improvements in the quality or usability of information
A combination of both
Some quantitative measures will be specific to particular industries. For example:
A European trucking company selected a BI solution to analyze the “load factor” of its fleet, including details on each vehicle’s destination, mileage traveled, amount of goods carried, time spent on the road, and more. By improving routing to minimize partial loads, within two years the company saved more than 20 million on an initial BI investment of ¤150,000.
A leading U.S. textile manufacturing company spent 10 months implementing a BI solution to support quality-control efforts. Almost immediately, the new system resulted in a 50 percent drop in reported product defect levels, saving the company’s customers millions of dollars per year
A French real estate management company managing more than 90,000 apartments monitors the number of days the apartments are vacant. By using a BI solution to decrease its average vacancy rate by a single day, the company realized savings of several hundred thousand euros per year.
Other quantitative measures—such as time and costs saved—are similar, regardless of industry.
A U.S. manufacturer deployed a BI solution costing less than $800,00. Within 90 days it identified process efficiencies that saved one of its customers $1.5 million. Additional savings identified for other customers further increased the ROI of this implementation.
Another American manufacturer deployed a BI solution that cost approximately $600,000. Within two months, it was able to control its excess inventory by 1 percent, for a savings of $2 million.
A company invested $500,000 in a BI solution. The company saved $3.5 million in shipping costs alone in the first year, because the new system allowed it to deliver reports electronically to managers throughout its operating area.
A U.K. based high-tech manufacturing and services organization saved 14 person-days of data entry and report preparation time by implementing a centralized BI solution for its finance department
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A European fashion retailer used BI to improve the efficiency of its order analysis, and realized a time savings of
80 percent An entertainment company used a BI solution to consolidate monthly financial statements for a time savings of
90 percent A British telecommunications company made use of BI’s predictive analytics capabilities to more clearly understand the
target market for a particular campaign, and saw the response rate improve by 100 percent Quantitative measures like these tell only a part of the story, of course. In many cases, the immediate perceived value of a BI implementation is the improvement in the quality and timeliness of information available. For example: A Fortune® 500 business-to-business seller of technology products uses a daily “flash” report to monitor sales of
thousands of products through multiple channels. These reports, delivered through a company intranet, enable management to quickly spot and respond to trends in product sales and customer requirements.
A U.S. vehicle processor, upon first deploying a BI solution, saw the efficiency of its data preparation increase ten-fold but was more impressed by the fact that reports contained more detailed information, in a format that was useful in supporting decision-making at all levels. The company expanded operations, confident that it could do so profitably.
A U.K. company made its budgeting process far more efficient with a BI solution that provided a single source for data. By using this solution, all budget owners knew they could rely on consistent terminology and assumptions.
When using a blend of quantitative and qualitative measures, companies are likely to concern themselves with questions such as how the solution has improved their ability to be responsive to customer needs, or act with greater coordination and economy of effort. Then there’s the basic question: “Are the end users of information satisfied with how the solution helps them do their jobs?” For example:
A vehicle manufacturer’s sales organization wanted to be able to give managers in the field the ability to compare a dealer’s performance to its competitors, so the company turned to a BI solution to achieve this goal
A European manufacturer, by giving employees the ability to interact with reports through a Web browser, saved a significant amount in software and IT staffing costs and also enabled customer-facing staff to be more responsive to customer needs
An American chemicals manufacturer used a BI solution to make its budgeting process more efficient. The solution enabled the company to complete its annual budget one month earlier than in previous years. This gave managers time to develop “what-if” scenarios, which increased their understanding of what actions the company might want to take, if certain market conditions occur.
A real estate management company not only immediately improved its bottom line through BI but also improved customer satisfaction with the level of staff responsiveness to customer inquiries
Conclusion BI solutions, as the examples included in this piece have shown, can play many roles in business organizations. They can be used to help companies analyze and optimize their supply chains. To improve sales and marketing efforts. To manage operations more efficiently, develop budgets, and forecast financial results more accurately. BI solutions can also help companies manage customer relationships for greater profitability and keep the entire organization moving in the same direction, toward the same goals.
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It should also be apparent that organizations use a variety of methods to measure their BI results. Using a consistent method to compare expected and actual results is important in understanding the true value of a BI solution. But the method that works for one organization may not be entirely appropriate for another. So, after selecting and applying measurements meaningful to your organization, the final decision may come down to a single question. And that question is not, “What is the perfect way to evaluate a BI initiative?” Rather, the question is, “What is the best way for our organization to evaluate whether a BI initiative can help us identify and move more toward our goals more rapidly or with a greater likelihood of success?” Obtaining that answer is the final objective of an ROI evaluation, whatever method an organization may use to calculate it.
About SPSS Inc. SPSS Inc. (NASDAQ: SPSS) is a leading global provider of predictive analytics software and solutions. The company’s predictive analytics technology improves business processes by giving organizations consistent control over decisions made every day. By incorporating predictive analytics into their daily operations, organizations become Predictive Enterprises— able to direct and automate decisions to meet business goals and achieve measurable competitive advantage. More than 250,000 public sector, academic, and commercial customers rely on SPSS Inc. technology to help increase revenue, reduce costs, and detect and prevent fraud. Founded in 1968, SPSS Inc. is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. For additional information, please visit www.spss.com.
To learn more, please visit www.spss.com. For SPSS office locations and telephone numbers, go to www.spss.com/worldwide. SPSS is a registered trademark and the other SPSS Inc. products named are trademarks of SPSS Inc. All other names are trademarks of their respective owners. © 2009 SPSS Inc. All rights reserved. ROIEB-0309