"Galaktika": on large enterprise a BI system is irreplaceable

TAdviser: The Galaktika company usually is associated with the end-to-end system of management of the same name (ERP). What place in business of the company is taken by the BI solution? How many clients use it?

Alexander Tsarev: The complex of the applications "Galaktika of BI" in relation to the integrated Galaktika ERP system is "superstructure" on the relation to "basis", it is the following, higher level of automation for our regular customers. Still not all domestic enterprises managed to reach this level – therefore a ratio of the sold ERP and BI licenses while, naturally, it develops for benefit of the first. But everything is good in its season. There are specialized developers of BI systems. For them demand in the market of a business intelligence – a matter of life and death. It is more important for us that our clients realized the sharp need for means of the business analysis for effective solution of managerial tasks. Executing projects of automation on implementation of the modules "Galaktika ERP", we purposefully work with clients on promotion of BI solutions. Showing on real operational these clients what tremendous opportunities the integrated solution gives, we push the client to make a choice in its advantage. Not without reason the largest world developers of corporate systems: IBM, Oracle and SAP – considered necessary to fill up the product line due to purchase of the leading players of the BI market. What is especially important for our company: the solutions "Galaktika ERP" and "Galaktika of BI" are very well integrated, and it gives all opportunities for fast obtaining result.

TAdviser: By the way, how long the BI direction began to develop in the companies? What factors affected it?

Alexander Tsarev: In 1997 the Galaktika corporation developed the Executive information system program. And three years later we created the Consolidation of Accounting Records system based on Microsoft SSAS. Besides, the corporation has a considerable experience of accomplishment of BI projects based on the Panorama and Cognos platforms. All these practices also formed the basis of the independent solution "Galaktika of BI" which was submitted to the market in 2005.

Entering the Business Intelligence market, we first of all aimed to reduce costs of our customers for implementation of BI products (including the cost of licenses, maintenances, consultants, etc.). Besides, our first clients who worked on the Galaktika ERP system decade managed to save up big databases and began to ask a question: what with them to do? Whether it is possible to use them for the profound analysis of trends of development of the enterprise for many years? Of course, such opportunity is seductive for any director, but effectively it is impossible to implement it based on the ERP system: its architecture is expected preparation of the standard business reporting on the basis of the current information. It does not allow to process huge data arrays and to issue interactive analytical reports – in real time and a type, convenient for perception. The system of the class Business Intelligence with its multidimensional OLAP cubes, data warehouses, etc. is for this purpose necessary. As soon as the interest in such instrument of business was declared by the critical number of our clients, we also were engaged in its development.

TAdviser: What problems does Galaktika of BI allow to solve? Whether this solution is a part of ERP – or it can be implemented as an independent product in the companies which are not using "Galaktika ERP"?

Alexander Tsarev: Today the complex of applications includes the Galaktika of BI It Is Sold system and its expansions "Galaktika of BI Stocks" and "Galaktika of BI Supply" and also the Galaktika of BI Finance and Galaktika of BI Personnel system. Each of these products is already integrated with "Galaktika ERP" and, thanks to the service-oriented architecture can be rather easily integrated as with "Galaktika ERP" with the accounting system of any other developer. Are a part of BI: unloading, storage and vtrina of data, dashboard-a and reports. Our BI-applications are prisustvut by all usual fukntsionat for BI products, such as ad-hoc the analysis, drill-down, modeling (writeback).

A system supports the different types of the analysis allowing to reveal trends of development of the enterprise, to predict future periods and stability of business processes, to define among partners of leaders and outsiders in importance degree for the enterprise, to group goods in extent of influence on profit, to conduct monitoring of plans and to create the client's portrait reflecting all parties of relationship with it. A system includes a huge number of types of the indicators, diagrams and charts working in an interactive mode. For example, the user can visually expose on the diagram of so-called border of trust, select orders, similar on characteristics, find associations between two clients, etc.

TAdviser: In what do you see the main advantages of this solution? Whether only close integration with the ERP system and an opportunity to receive the complete solution from hands of one vendor? Or there are some functional advantages distinguishing a system from her competitors?

Alexander Tsarev: Let's begin with the fact that Galaktika of BI is under construction on the advanced instrumental Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Silverlight platform. In this complex of applications the most advanced managerial technologies, in particular, a possibility of modeling of different situations by the principle "that if" using mechanisms of reverse notation in a cube, etc. are implemented. Therefore in general Galaktika of BI corresponds to the international level, advancing the competing solutions in something, and conceding in something to some of them. But I would shift focus: our advantage is that we deeply studied needs of our clients and feature of information environment at their enterprises. We "sew up" our knowledge gained from the enterprise client at an ERP project stage in an OLAP cubes and other BI tools – and therefore our solution works effectively.

I consider that the IT consultant who works with the enterprise constantly will always have odds before the specialized developer of BI solutions. So, at their implementation specialists of our corporation as much as possible adapt the drawing solution to conditions of the specific customer, considering all subtleties of setup of "Galaktika ERP". At last, the profound knowledge of business processes of the enterprise customer received at an ERP project stage often allows specialists of Galaktika to carry out the BI project far off. For the customer it develops into significant overhead reduction – and the quality of system implementation at the same time does not suffer.

TAdviser: Analysts predict that in the closest years of BI technology they will be integrated more closely into ERP, CRM, SCM solutions. By your estimates, what companies it makes sense to use independent BI solutions and what enough those opportunities, which are included in functionality of the normal transaction systems? Whether it depends on the business volume (large volumes of data, a large number of users), on specifics of the industry, or on specifics of business of the specific client?

Alexander Tsarev: As I already spoke, the BI technology, first of all, is interesting to the enterprises old residents which accumulated large volume of information. But, on the other hand, it can bring benefit and to the enterprise which only started complex automation: well worked structure of an OLAP cube, carefully thought over score card of KPI, etc. initially will prompt to the customer the correct system architecture of document flow, will point to indicators through which it will be possible to manage effectively the enterprise in general. Certainly, making the decision on implementation of BI, it is necessary to consider also the amount of business. The prize for the small company – is doubtful as it will be limited generally to increase in visual quality of reports. On large enterprise where the analyst is not able "catch" manually a trend in a big information stream, a BI system will be irreplaceable.

TAdviser: The economic situation forces many companies to look for different ways of cost reduction. For example, at implementation of any systems clients will prefer the set-up industry solutions (for example, for retail, insurance, medicine, etc.) or highly specialized solutions (for example, demand forecasting). Whether Galaktika has such solutions in the field of BI, or you see advantages in universality?

Alexander Tsarev: We have industry solutions, for example, for the same retail, the food industry, the industry of building materials, etc. For example, we together with Ukrainian Perspective group (www.perspective.kiev.ua) developed powerful industry solution Galaktika Insurance. The technology party of the project was provided by Galaktika corporation, ideological – Ukrainian Perspective. It is necessary to be swept aside that insurance business is considered one of the most difficult in comparison with other types of business. The Galaktika Insurance system allows to automate business processes of all types of insurance and supports business logic of property insurance, liability insurance and personal insurance, including individual, collective agreements of insurance. Reduction of number of the small companies with a simultaneous growth large became a top trend in the market of insurance for the last year. At the same time large players came to a clear understanding: it is necessary to optimize business processes, to raise a business analysis role. And "Galaktika of BI" effectively solves these problems.

TAdviser: What tasks in the field of the business analysis were is paramount important for your clients in the recent past what – now and what, in your opinion, will become relevant in the nearest future and in more long-term future?

Alexander Tsarev: Initially at the enterprises interest in analytical instruments of support of sales management was especially big: not without reason we began with development of this solution. Today this interest reached apogee: crisis forces the enterprises to minimize warehouse stocks, to review the range, to look for the most perspective commodity groups and sales markets. And in the near future, I consider, the greatest development will be gained by BI systems intended for the analysis and customer relationship management.

TAdviser: What trends in development of the Russian market of BI do you observe within the last year? Your forecast of development of this market?

Alexander Tsarev: In my opinion, trends of the market of BI should be considered in the general bed of market development of solutions for business performance management (Business Performance Management, VRM). All last years the market of BPM developed in Russia high rates. Experts provide the following digits in some reviews: the last 5 years made annual growth rates of sales of BPM solutions of 83% to 95%, and only in crisis 2008 they fell up to 31%. I join those analysts who predict stabilization of this market this year and return to high growth rates – in the following.

Of course, many enterprises users are very cautious today, wait and do not hurry to begin new large-scale IT projects. At the same time customers look for methods of increase in efficiency of already begun projects. Including – due to their expansion using such tools as BPM and BI.

Certainly, the Russian market of BI systems will develop more in high gear in the nearest future. The increasing number of the enterprises approaches a threshold after which without tools of the class BI it is effective to manage the collected arrays of information and knowledge it becomes impossible. And I believe that at BI systems which are developed together with ERP systems, the big future. The universal BI systems are suitable for the organizations with the settled, unified business processes, for example, for banks more. It is more difficult to implement such systems at industrial and trade enterprises, each of which has the specifics, unique business processes. As ERP developer, we very well understand requirements of industrial and trade enterprises – and we try to use as much as possible the knowledge during creation of BI-applications.