Challenges with BI adoption in SMEs

Abstract

Abstract-Business intelligence (BI) has become a well-known umbrella term both amongst academics and practitioners. Researchers have studied how companies can take advantage of BI and what challenges companies are facing when working with BI. However, research is mostly focused on large companies, despite the importance of small-and medium sized companies (SMEs) in both society and economically. This paper presents results of an in-depth qualitative case study on challenges faced by SMEs when adopting BI. The challenges are categorized according to a BI maturity model adopted as unit of assessment. The contribution of the results presented is two-folded; 1) It increases current literature regarding challenges when adopting BI in SMEs, and 2) It serves as guidance for SMEs on common pitfalls that ought to be avoided.

BPM and BI in SMEs: The role of BPM/BI alignment in organizational performance

“…A discussion within this category refers to identification and understanding of BI and BPM implementation and adoption CSFs in SMEs. Following the recommendations of Nguyen, Meredith and Burstein as well as Rockart, the CSFs are categorized into three groups 43,44 : (1) common, (2) 35 Ø Ø P P Ø Reher 36 Ø P Ø Ø P Rolinek et al 37 Ø P P P Ø Singer 38 Ø Ø P P P Braunnagel et al 8 Ø P P P Broccardo et al 39 P Ø Ø P Ø Bandara and Opsahl 4 P Ø Ø Ø P Lö ckmann and Feldmann 40 Ø P Ø Ø P Giacosa et al 41 P Ø Ø Ø P Mamoghli et al 42 P Ø P Ø P Business intelligence Dubravac and Bevanda 25 P Ø Ø P Ø Boonsiritomachai et al 6 P Ø P P Ø Raj et al 26 Ø P Ø Ø P Gauzelin and Bentz 27 Ø P Ø Ø P Adeyelure et al 28 Ø P Ø P Ø Gudfinnsson and Strand 29 P Ø P Ø P Llave et al 30 P Ø Ø Ø P Puklavec et al 31 P Ø Ø P Ø Popovič et al 32 P Ø Ø P Ø Raj et al 33 Ø P Ø Ø P…”

“…8,31 Other authors reveal that the lack of IT support and lack of understanding can cause a failure of BI deployment in SMEs. 25,29,33 Bandara and Opsahl highlight the negative effects caused by the lack of BPM education and training. 4 CSFs for BI and BPM use.…”

“…Various authors point out that family-owned companies are not aware of the importance of BI for decision-making. 29,30 However, SMEs' need for BI implementation varies across industries, which indicates that it could be interesting to examine BI initiatives in specific industries. 6,29,30 Competitive pressure is considered a driver of BPM introduction for SMEs.…”

“…Although the IT implemented in SMEs should fit their needs and capabilities, low levels of data management and data quality have a negative influence on BI initiatives. 29,33 In this respect, different BI solutions are proposed, such as the automated data warehouse, mobile and cloud solutions. 30 In addition, the possibility to integrate the BI system with the present or future enterprise resource planning (ERP) is seen as an important factor of BI deployment.…”

Tackling Lack of Motivation in Aspirational Analytics Companies

“…In the first step, the research focused on studyingthecompanies.Semi-structuredinterviewswereconductedineachcompanyinorderto getanunderstandingofcurrentITandBI&Asupportintheorganizations,andtoidentifyobstacles andchallengesforincreasingBI&Ausage.Therewere9interviewsincompanyA,19incompanyB and22incompanyC;50interviewsintotal.Theinterviewquestionswerebasedonthecategoriesof theLavalleetal. (2010)maturitymodel.Wegatheredempiricalmaterialinallcategories,including identifyingbusinesschallengesalreadysupportedbyIT.Interviewsweretranscribedandanalysed inNVivo11usingthetechniquesofcontentanalysis (Krippendorff,2004).Codingwasbasedon categoriesfromthematuritymodel.Thechallengescodewasthenusedforamoreoverarchinganalysis ofcompanywidechallengesunderstoodaspriorities.Ageneralizedaccountofthesechallengesis previously published (Gudfinnsson & Strand, 2017). The detailed challenge analysis served as a Phase two (workshops) initiated with the researchers and the management representatives engaging in a pre-workshop (step 3), where the elicitation process was tested and the approach explained.FollowingtherecommendationsofSandkuhletal.…”