Ivan Vakhmyanin, Visiology: Our strategic objective - industrial analytics

Ivan Vakhmyanin: In practice there is a lot of factors leading to start of the BI project, but the main three – external factors, internal and technology requirement. Requirements of regulators in respect of providing the reporting can be the external factor. If it is holding, requirements for the reporting can be imposed to the enterprises by management company.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: The internal reporting when the owner or the head of business wants to understand how the organization works, what its operational, production, financial performance. It needs this information for internal use. The business problem becomes specific motivation in this case, as a rule. For example, the service company understands the noncompetitiveness on service quality. And that to solve this problem, it is necessary to understand what factors influence it where it is possible to take information and how to influence this situation. At once I will note that when the trigger for the project is the business problem - it is, as a rule, the most high-quality and rapid implementation of BI. Because we go from the fact "that", but not from that "as".

Ivan Vakhmyanin: There are cases when implementation of BI is caused by technology or organizational requirements. For example, in the company change the accounting system that can become a good occasion to review also a business intelligence. Or, other example, - the BI system working in the company became outdated, its opportunities began not to be enough for users. In this case the same old problems are solved, but at the new level - it is better, more technologically. Such projects also are good because there are worked requirements. An old system actually creates requirements for new though reefs can be also here. For example, when knowledge was not timely formalized and saved, and after dismissal of employees was lost. In this case competences of integrator or the external consultant can be necessary.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: In case of vernal requirements initiates the project, as a rule, of CFO. If a factor – a certain specific problem of the organization, then it either the CEO, or the representative of management. And technology change of a system is CIO. There is one more direction - within the general trend on digital transformation. Many organizations create inside a separate digital initiative in which the certain person – CDO (Chief Digital Officer) and which is first of all research division is engaged. Such person can be the driver of implementation of the new analytical systems too. He can be interested in new developments based on machine learning technologies, artificial intelligence and so on.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: Our main projects – the second class when there is a specific problem which the head wants to solve. Regulatory projects are not enough - they are implemented, as a rule, in the banking sector, and they have solutions which they change reluctantly. Though, both the regulatory direction, and technology, – growing. In a technology segment the main driver – import substitution. This factor works not only in a segment of the state and quasi-public organizations, but also in the commercial sector wishing to be secured both from sanctions, and from currency risks. On subject of a digital initiative we observe growth too, though small in market scales.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: At Polymedia company - the main integrator on implementation of the Visiology platform, extensive work experience with state structures both in Russia, and in the CIS countries. Respectively, a considerable part of our clients – the state organizations, so it developed historically. At the same time, there are more than a half of our clients – representatives of the commercial sector of economy, and the most different industry specialization. Though, the most perspective direction to us the industry seems, and next year we are going to be focused for the industries in respect of completion of tools, improvement of services of integrator.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: The drivers causing need of completion of BI under requirements of the industry are connected, first, with change IT infrastructures of industrial enterprises. Earlier it was historically strictly separated into corporate by IT (ERP classical BI, etc.) and into software, connected directly with production SCADA MES (). Between these two layers was to be gone. But with development of new technologies, in particular – IoT- platforms, Big Data – we begin to observe rapprochement and intersection of these two spheres.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: It creates both difficulties, and opportunities. The technology complexity is that an analytical system should be able to receive, integrate and analyze all data - both business, and production. And at the same time to consider nuances of technology data which, unlike financial, are more context-dependent. The industrial sensor shows, for example, 100 degrees, and does it always with a certain error which should be considered. The industrial analytics in general strongly depends on a context, out of a context it just does not work. On the other hand, it also requirement of new competences. Earlier the specialists who are engaged in SCADA and those who are engaged in a business intelligence worked in different divisions, today they integrate. A BI system needs to be done so that found in it themselves and those, and others.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: I would begin with that as it is not necessary to select the IT partner. We constantly face practice of questionnaires. Customers usually begin the choice of the partner with drawing up a huge cloth with criteria – questions which is sent to potential contractors for the purpose of filling. But the matter is that the BI portfolio is strongly segmented and there are no universal systems which alone would close all problems of an information and analytical system. Even in case of such providers as Oracle Microsoft, SAP IBM it is also about a set of the specialized products which are partially blocking each other. Respectively, when filling the questionnaire there are many nuances of interpretation of questions. For example, a question of the maximum volume of the supported data. In practice the answer to it depends on many factors - hardware-software providing, the number of users, a loading profile, the nature of data so any answer will be, in fact, formal. The second important point – it is necessary to treat with care ratings. The first message – to open a quadrant Gartner or Forrester and to begin to test vendors from the upper right corner. It is a useful source of information, but it is necessary to understand that for a specific objective the niche solution which in general is absent in such ratings can be the best. It is necessary to remember also that the "more to the right and above" the company in a quadrant, the it less flexible in respect of the solution of specific tasks of the client.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: First, it is necessary to understand clearly what is required to be made then accurately to formulate a task. Secondly – to allow to comment on it to vendor as it is going to solve it. On the basis of his comments the level of its competence will be obvious at once. The competent vendor will tell not only about how it is going to solve problems how many it will cost, but also will describe the existing restrictions. And the third – proof of concept, or, speaking differently, a pilot project. It is labor-consuming, resource-intensive, including – from the customer who should prepare test data, having made them anonymous and many other things. But it precisely pays off because the cost of revamping of all system again if the problem suddenly is detected after implementation, much higher.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: Special attention should be paid on technical specifications – the more deeply it is worked out, the agreement and lower than the cost of works will be more adequate. Any integrator will make the technical commercial offer under any to terms of reference, but the it is more indistinct, the riskovanny the project, and that more risks will be put by integrator in cost. And if there is no opportunity to make complete of terms of reference on all project, it is better to break it into separate stages – on design and on implementation. And to attract at a stage of creation of terms of reference or integrator, or the consulting company.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: The main stages three - preproject inspection, implementation and trial operation. Recently the trend of minimization of terms of reference on initial implementation is observed as soon as possible to begin trial operation, and further already to finish a system under relevant tasks, proceeding from model of an hourly pay. It is justified approach because a BI system should be live.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: At a design stage the involvement of all responsible persons from the enterprise is important – business users, the sponsor of the project, representatives of top management. If only IT specialists are involved in the BI project, the probability to make a system which will not meet expectation of the management is high. At a stage of implementation the delivery adherence to deadlines is important. And here further, at trial operation, the scope for different metrics for the purpose of assessment of extent of use of a system appears. If a BI system is used - it well works, is not present – badly.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: The first stage – work with documents, inspection, drawing of schemes, creation of data models, prototyping. At a development stage – PMBoK and other project practicians, risk management and expectations. At a stage of trial operation it is important to arrange a feedback from users, to monitor it based on either corporate service-deska, or integrator.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: On the party of the customer there shall be a working group into which IT specialists, representatives of business divisions, business analysts should enter. Their ratio in the working group and a total quantity depends on the specific objectives solved during the project.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: If we speak about a corporate business intelligence, it for 100% is critical. Implementation of a BI system surely influences business processes and relationship of people as will change KPI of many specialists, their career development. And if there is no support of the top manager, then the probability that some specialists will slow down implementation process is high. Of course, there are also exceptions when participation of the CEO is not required – for example, the analytics is implemented for the purpose of monitoring of loading of servers, fault tolerance and does not go beyond this framework.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: The most important – existence of resources and competences, it it is also necessary to provide because a BI system needs continued support. On the party of the customer this support can be minimum, the integrator can undertake the main loading. Specifics of BI – the customer needs to build process of management of data, i.e. to check that data are correctly obtained, are correctly transformed and that those who have the right to it have access to them. And only the organization can make it. If not to be engaged in it constantly, then a BI system will work not for long.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: We entered the market recently – only last year, and the pre-sale cycle on such projects long – can reach years. Therefore it is still a little completed projects – about ten. In implementation phase – several tens.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: The energy industry Bidding company successfully implemented on the Visiology platform analytics of purchases on electronic marketplace where the large companies - Rosneft, the Russian Railway and some other make corporate purchases. It was the unusual BI project as it was necessary to create not an internal analytical system, and – external through which clients of the company could analyze that at them happens to purchases, in the most different cuts – the competition, presence of representatives of SMB, the best distribution of requests and many other things. The project is still interesting also that at a stage of consideration of requests we competed with the western solutions, there was no requirement of import substitution. Our solution was selected for commercial reasons.

Ivan Vakhmyanin: In the near future we will start as a part of the Visiology platform a full-fledged planning module and budgetings based on the built-in system of data collection of a multidimensional structure. On this direction we are going to compete with such products as Oracle Hyperion Planning. The second direction – we continue to develop advanced analytics. Soon we will have a module implemented based on modern algorithms by means of which business users will be able to implement analytics using machine learning. And the third direction – implementation in structure of the platform of artificial intelligence technologies which radically will lower labor costs on preparation of the reporting. All these solutions will be announced at our November BI 4.0 conference "The best practices and trends of data analysis for increase in business performance". In addition to listed, complete transition to Linux is until the end of the year planned. The solution on its base will become the major server version. As for strategic plans, next year our purpose – the industrial analytics mentioned by us at the beginning of the interview.