Analytics-blog

Because I said so.

Oh that doesn’t work for you? Well that’s a shame. I just tried to spare you a page of reading.

But…since you are a hardheaded “logical” type person read below and knock yourself out.

Almost every day I see a discussion on the social networks where someone posts “what is the difference between SaaS Business Intelligence and regular ol’ Business Intelligence?”

After I got past the initial shock that the entire world “doesn’t just get it,” I realized it’s a pretty legitimate question.

So I’ve compiled a short list of the “Big Six” differences between SaaS business intelligence and traditional business intelligence.

1.) No hardware required: SaaS means you don’t host the software within your company. That means you don’t need to buy any servers, procure any cold rooms, or talk to anyone in IT about anything hardware related.

2.) No software integration expertise required: You don’t need to hire a consultant or staff up with “expert” business intelligence employees. Instead, you just need a web browser with a web connection.

3.) Requirements Document: You can throw it away. You can cancel your committee meeting to help write that document. 90% of what you need is likely in the SaaS system already. The other 10% will likely be in the system by the time you’ve mastered the first 90%.

4.) IT: You may not need them at all. It just depends where your data resides. But I can tell you that you probably don’t need very much of their time.

5.) Cost: SaaS vendors charge thousands per month with very few upfront costs. Traditional business intelligence requires a substantial capital investment up front, and sometimes their solutions end up costing millions.

6.) And finally, the most important thing here is SPEED: So the SaaS solution just eliminated most of your discussions with finance, eliminated any hiring decisions, reduced or eliminated time spent with IT…. and will actually deliver reports and analytics you can use within weeks.

It’s awesome. Just like I said…one page earlier….