Epicor: BI as part of single solution

TAdviser: What BI solutions are demanded among the Russian companies now? What problems do they help to solve? What companies are the main consumers of BI systems?

Natalya Sidorova: Interest in BI solutions is rather high. As expensive solutions for the large companies, and more budget are in demand for so-called "medium business". The BI systems, first of all, are designed to facilitate decision making by providing necessary information and opportunities of its analysis according to momentary requirements of business. Practically in any industry such solutions are necessary. Here rather everything depends on that, the revenue breakdown, expenses and company assets is how difficult. The it is more difficult, the it is more difficult to make the weighed decisions on the basis of the separate data provided by traditional reports. Our BI solution represents a set of the products and tools which are initially integrated with our ERP or the CRM system which allow to analyze all data set, provided by a basic system and to provide information necessary for acceptance of timely management decisions, in the most convenient and evident type.

TAdviser: Whether there are differences in world experience of use of BI systems and in the Russian practice?

Natalya Sidorova: Yes, there are small differences which are connected first of all with the Russian tradition of conducting management accounting and the analysis of activity of the enterprise on the basis of information on cash flow. Considering these specifics, our company offers specialized products for the analysis and forecasting of cash flows, budgeting, financial control and so on. Now these products are of particular interest as allow to make the fast and weighed decisions in conditions when cost reduction and increase in efficiency of activity of the company comes to the forefront. It is possible to learn about how these tools work at specially created website in more detail.

TAdviser: What solutions in the field of BI are proposed by Epicor company? What of them are available in Russia what size of the customer base?

Natalya Sidorova: Our solution is focused, first of all, on work with our ERP systems, thus, it is ideal for clients who already use our ERP or the CRM system, allowing to work with accumulated information effectively: analyze, predict, make decisions.

Speaking about a BI system in our case, it is necessary to understand that it is not a separate system, but set of the modules and separate products integrated with our ERP-or the CRM system. Our BI products and tools allow to perform planning, forecasting, budgeting, search and consolidation of data, the OLAP analysis, reporting, monitoring of key indicators. All products are completely localized and available to our Russian clients without any limit. Each client can select those components which are necessary for him.

Special attention from our clients is paid to the products focused on cost reduction and increase in profit of the companies in the current economic conditions at present. Having analyzed demand, we made these products more available to our clients within the anti-recessionary marketing program. The products Budget Tracker, Cash Flow Analyzer, Credit Control, Forecast Pro Unlimited, Scorecard Viewer are affected by a special price offer at present.

At the moment these or those our BI products and tools are used in several tens companies.

TAdviser: Describe your standard Russian client. How long does the enterprise use a BI system with what applications it is integrated, what scales and cost of the standard BI project?

Natalya Sidorova: Because our BI products are focused on work with ERP and CRM-as systems, users – the companies which already implemented at themselves one of our basic systems. These companies work in the different industries: from hospitality to mechanical engineering, and, as a rule, correspond to criteria of medium business.

As in Russia interest in BI appeared with some lateness, generally our solution is used by clients about a year.

As for the number of reports and panels, as our products are focused on the fact that users of a system can create and change the BI elements independently, without resorting to the help of the specialist, it is impossible to call any certain digit. As a rule, during implementation which takes about one month 10-20 elements are configured, and then the client can independently develop the created solution.

As it was already told above, implementation takes about a month, the cost of the license can vary very strongly depending on the number of users and tool kit.

TAdviser: What trends in development of BI do you observe within the last year? How the Epicor company reacts to them what new it was offered in the field of the business analysis during the last time what new is expected in the nearest future?

Natalya Sidorova: Detailing it is already difficult to surprise with opportunities of creation of the simple and dynamic reporting from a different type today. Tasks of business grow, imposing new requirements to business analysis tools. The increasing interest is shown to forecasting of key indicators of processes using tools of pro-active analytics which give the chance timely to react to change of key indicators and to warn negative effects. Our company constantly develops the solutions and offers new versions of specialized tools for the analysis and forecasting of specific indicators. At present iScala Query Designer 7.0.4, Epicor EPM Canvas 9, Epicor Portal 9 HF1 are already available to our clients.

TAdviser: It is known that implementation of the ERP system becomes normal for the company serious "shake-up". From this point of view what expects the company which planned implementation of a BI system? What it is necessary to be prepared in advance for?

Natalya Sidorova: Everything depends on the selected solution. If it is a universal separate system, then, as a rule, implementation is followed by the large volume of works executed usually by IT department of the customer. Besides, implementation of the similar universal systems can bring to serious reorganization of IT infrastructure of the company, first of all, of the mechanism of storage and data transmission from business systems.

In case of implementation of the specialized solution focused on work with a specific ERP system, similar risks it is much less. As it initially "knows" a database structure of our ERP systems and comprises determinations of business concepts with which they operate. Thus, during implementation there is no need to create additional infrastructure, such as general data warehouse (Data Warehouse).

In addition to an IT component, is business making implementations of the BI solution. It is necessary for future users ready to be accurate to formulate and identify those factors which influence acceptance of business solutions by them, both strategic, and tactical, accepted within specific business processes. Correct determination of the factors and information necessary for decision making is the key to the fact that the implemented system will be really useful and will be able to bring real benefit due to faster, right and reasonable actions of the staff of the company using a system.

TAdviser: Usually the business analysis is considered "privilege" of heads. Special solutions are developed for them (for example, "A workplace of the head"), under them sets of indicators are created. What can ordinary users take from a BI system?  What % among users of BI is usually made by top managers and how many – non-management employees or managers of the lowest and average link?

Natalya Sidorova: It is quite popular stereotype. Actually, any employee of the company makes these or those decisions for which information which can be provided by means of BI can be necessary for him. Thus, potentially any employee can be the user of a BI product. Everything depends on complexity of the decisions made by it and their importance for successful business of the company.

TAdviser: How it is possible to measure efficiency of the implemented BI system what metrics can be used for this purpose? Through what time after project completion can be clear whether met the system of expectation?

Natalya Sidorova: To estimate effect of implementation of BI rather difficult, but it is possible. The matter is that the main contribution of such system to business – reduction of risk of adoption of incorrect and untimely solutions. As a rule, for assessment it is necessary to analyze specific data domains and as far as this or that indicator is in the field far from the desirable and as far as it depends on a human factor. For example, purchase planning. If assets conversion cycle leaves much to be desired, and it is connected with the fact that purchasing department specialists have no sufficient information for determination of purchasing amounts, then in such situation the BI solution can bring real benefit and reduce the number of incorrect solutions. At such approach the effect can be estimated right after project finish on the basis of trends which should arise in specific indicators.

TAdviser: Whether standard solutions for the business analysis, or all this very individually are possible in principle and depends on the nature of business and the strategy of the company? What % of costs at implementation of BI is the share usually of works on setup and adaptation?

Natalya Sidorova: More than 20 summer experience of Epicor in development of ERP systems and 20,000 clients of our company fully allow to make use of experience of "the best business practices" in business intelligence tools which we offer. As it appeared, sets of indicators and cuts of the analysis are more or less standard for the different companies within the industries. Having integrated our experience and experience of our clients, we managed to create the universal BI tools with rich "content" allowing to make implementation by less costly and to use to the maximum the offered opportunities - the preconfigured OLAP cubes and sets of pages and electronic boards for MS SharePoint. Besides, our products are rather logical and simple so about what practically any system administrator owning MS SQL, MS Analysis Service and MS SharePoint technologies can cope with their additional tuning. At setup of a system there is no need to operate with terms of databases. All settings are performed using the business concepts predeterminated for our ERP-and CRM systems.

TAdviser: Whether the issue of permanent updates, change trackings in the legislation is relevant for BI systems (as in a case with ERP systems)? What gives to the client transition to the latest version of a BI system if the basic analytical reports are already configured, all necessary information timely gathers and in a convenient type gets on a table to the head?

Natalya Sidorova: It should be noted that our BI products are inseparably linked with ERP and CRM and are updated in process of updating of a basic system. Updates can be technology, increasing high-speed performance of a system or providing new means of the analysis, or "logical", giving new specialized means for specific data domain.

TAdviser: What will you advise to pay attention to companies which only analyze for themselves need of acquisition of BI? What tasks to solve really by means of implementation of a BI system and what are not present? What costs should they budget (licenses, setup, user training, training of IT specialists, something else?) What return will they be able to expect?

Natalya Sidorova: First of all it is necessary to define the implementation purpose accurately. What performance indicators of activity of the company do not arrange what it is necessary to correct in the current information flows what to make more effective what solutions and how often are accepted incorrectly because of a lack of information? As far as can all this be improved or optimized? Further, it is possible to estimate the expected effect of implementation and in connection therewith to calculate the maximum budget proceeding from desirable payback periods of the project. With all this it is already possible to go to suppliers and to look for the solution which allows to achieve effective objectives within the budget. Such approach will be the most economic and correct.