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70pc of UAE Firms to Use BI Tools in 2009

DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates will witness around 70 per cent of firms using business intelligence (BI) tools in the next year which will reduce their operational cost, said KPMG partner Rajeev Lalwani.

“At present 30 per cent of organisations are using BI tools for saving time, improving efficiency and also for decision-making,” Lalwani told Khaleej Times after announcing results of KPMG Business Intelligence Survey here on Wednesday.

“An overwhelming majority of the executives said that they expect either considerable or significant savings by getting the right information at the right time.”

The findings of the survey suggest why executives place a premium on getting access to the right information when they need it most.

The unprecedented growth in the UAE market has led to proliferation of data and executives are facing the brunt of data overload.

The fact that firms in the UAE are on an aggressive growth path is clearly visible when we look at the reasons for increase in the data.

Geographical expansion and the increases in the number of products and services offered have been cited as the top two reasons for the data overload, said Lalwani.

While analysing the survey findings, the primary reason for the information needs not being met despite the proliferation of data was that 50 per cent of the executives surveyed pointed to the presence of disintegrated systems as a possible root-cause.

Executives have also reported that they get multiple unconsolidated reports and that the data invariably lacks quality.

Lalwani said, “When we asked organisations which are initiating a BI project, as to what kept them from going for a BI/DW (data warehousing) solution earlier, they reported that the lack of data quality followed by long timelines and shortage of business intelligence skills were the primary roadblocks.”

BI initiatives are driven by a variety of internal and external factors.

The three main factors that influenced the decision to implement the BI programme were business planning, business performance monitoring using KPIs (key performance indicators) and sharing information with the top management.

The survey identifies three primary areas where business intelligence has been deployed in this region, which are management reporting, financial planning and budgeting, and performance management, which implies that companies are laying major stress on strategy, operations and planning.

· abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com