Business Intelligence Comparison

At some point during the selection process companies are going to want a business intelligence comparison. The business intelligence comparison is typically meant to represent a business intelligence software comparison, or a comparison of tools from different providers like cognos or business objects. It's rare for business intelligence companies to publish a business intelligence comparison, but when they do, business objects and cognos must by definition be present. The reason for this is simple; even though business objects and cognos do not necessarily have platforms ideal for all customers, a business intelligence comparison must hilight their products and how new solutions compare.

Requirements of a Business Intelligence Comparison

Any business intelligence comparison should cover a number of different areas. At a minimum, a business intelligence comparison should provide insight into how easy a platform is to deploy, to manage and to maintain. The business intelligence comparison should also provide comparisons of key features and give the reader a sense of which platform is best suited for their needs. It's typical for a business intelligence comparison to focus only on a few sub-sets of features that are advantageous to a specific vendor. While this is a popular way of presenting a business intelligence software comparison, it nevertheless provides a good representation of how a vendor matches up to known brands.

Magazine based Business Intelligence Comparison

A business intelligence comparison published by a publication may be more in depth and cover more details than a business intelligence comparison published by a software vendor. Even a business intelligence comparison published by a magazine, however, does not necessarily represent absolute truth. Buyers should use their own skepticism and their own judgement to gauge the neutrality of the business intelligence comparison. Often reviewers will show bias even without knowing it, either because of previous experience with specific platforms or because of previous work history. Ultimately any business intelligence comparison should be used only as one of many tools.

Business Intelligence Comparison in the Buying Cycle

When is the right time to find a business intelligence comparison? The answer depends on the length of your buying cycle and the process your company uses. One or more business intelligence comparison will be useful in helping determine which vendors should be evaluated, but the business intelligence comparison should never be used to actually make the purchase decision. The reason for this is simple; a business intelligence comparison by definition must be as generic as possible, and as such a business intelligence comparison does not address the needs of unique scenarios that your company may have.

How not to Use a Business Intelligence Comparison

A business intelligence comparison can be very beneficial in, for example, deciding whether to evaluate cognos or business objects as a solution. A business intelligence comparison, however, would not be useful in deciding to purchase a solution. The reason for this is that your individual needs will drive which parts of a business intelligence comparison will be important to you. Ultimately the only business intelligence comparison that is valuable to an organization is the business intelligence comparison that is done in-house.