Example Of Leadership In BI Consultancy Dissertation

4. Analysis of Results
The outcomes of the survey and interviews point to specific patterns in regard to the participants’ perception of Business Intelligence consultancy, leadership and the theory that was selected for this study. The particpants’ perceptions consist of what BI is and what is required to achieve and maintain success in the BI industry sector. Loshin (2012) contributed that BI is “the exercise of data collection used to analyze business through the different lens of different decision makers”. The Data Warehouse Institute define BI as "processes, technologies and tools that transform data into information" (Loshin, 2012). The survey responses provided insight in regard to how the respondents perceived the work and the value that is associated with the BI sector. The research participants addressed the meaning of BI in the interview questions more so than in the survey questions.
4.1 Surveys
Outsourcing was a predominant theme in the literature, as the scope of global firms has expanded in response to a diversity of advancing technological and communications capabilities. Linder (2004) pointed out that many firms have targeted IT outsourcing as the main “cost-cutting” strategy, particularly in reference to the management of business technology demand by engaging more qualified professionals. Further, Rivard et al. (2008) demonstrated how outsourced information system development (OISD) has evolved into a pervasive and essential aspect of modern business. Still, the survey addressed outsourcing versus the local BI enterprise and approximately half of the survey respondents, or 52% considered outsourcing to be more ideal than the local option in some capacity.
The common objectives of the modern day business consist of high performance, competitiveness and sustainability. Ropo et al. (2015) presented that the business strives to achieve the best profit saving strategies in order to avoid domestic and double taxation and to decrease the firm’s labor costs. In regard to the probability of offshoring in BI Consultancy as a source of cost savings, the participants’ responses were passive. However, Donovan (2012) pointed to offshoring as a significant method for firms to capitalize on cost reductions, retain a large degree of control and eliminate third parties. Monarch et al. (2014) submitted that Approximately 32% of expert consultants reported a high probability of offshoring in BI firms that operate in the Finance sector, 29% for the manufacturing industry, 12% for telecommunications, and 11% for the Energy sector.
Field quality analytics are also a method of cost reduction, risk reduction and increased consumer satisfaction ratings used by BI consultants. Issues that become problematic can be detected much sooner, which reduces the detection-to-correction time frames. In regard to BI field quality, approximately 84% of the survey respondents presented that they were satisfied to some degree; 32% reported being somewhat satisfied and 52% expressed that they were very satisfied with the field quality of the Bi consultants. This indicates that approximately 16% were, in some manner, not satisfied with the field quality.
Watson (2015) emphasized that the BI staff must develop strong technical, interpersonal, communication, and leadership skills within teams, as most employees will likely require improvement in at least one of these areas in order to mature professionally. For example, a recent college graduate may need to enhance technical skills; while the BI analyst may need to enhance his or her business and interpersonal skills. The majority, or approximately 87% of the participants consider both technical and functional skills as important. This coincides with the literature which supports skill development as well as knowledge sharing. The literature hypothesized that, based upon Dedrich & Kraemer (2009), the high knowledge sharing needs that are encompassed in BI consulting and the tacit nature of a majority of this knowledge may form a basis upon which BI consultancies can compete with offshore competitors. The survey outcomes are also congruent with the nature of the BI team / ba, in which the differences in strengths and weaknesses are compensated for internally, within the team.
Along with the right qualifications, training of the BI consultant has been supported by this research as the bottom line for successful consultancy agencies. The respondents unanimously pointed to BI consultant training as the difference between the success or failure of business operations. Besides, the BI consultant is supposed to master the skills of multi-dimensional knowledge and data integration. The picture below showing the relationship between the business strategy, IT strategy and integration level describes this process
Problem solving has been the center of focus for this study in respect to providing business solutions for the clients of the firm as well as internally, as an approach to problem solving in order to increase operational efficiency. Knowledge management and knowledge sharing were also significant areas of interest that were addressed in the literature relative to the degree that BI consultants consider knowledge as inclusive as a tool for problem solving. Swanson (2010, p. ) presented that consultancies are often seen as the archetype of knowledge-intensive firms and that consultants “live and breathe knowledge management as they must sell business solutions and knowledge itself”. The survey addressed the knowledge capacity of the BI in terms of BI expert experience. In regard to satisfaction with the BI expert experience, approximately 55% of the participants asserted they that were very satisfied or extremely satisfied. This coincides with Sole & Edmonson’s (2002) assertion that although BI can be seen as inherently a knowledge management activity, sharing and learning between organizations can very challenging.
An important approach to sustainability and organizational success is to clearly define the roles of the BI staff, which includes making distinctions between roles that have similar or overlapping responsibilities. Tannenbaum, Weschler & Massarik (2013) established that significant differences exist between managers and leaders in that the manager will influence, inspire and drive the BI department toward common aims and objectives while the managerial role is more focused upon the efficiency and effectiveness of the firm’s daily operations.
Watson (2015, p. ) presented that BI consultants should make every effort to achieve visibility and relevancy and that the leadership should strive to “be a strategic business partner, not just the BI director”. Contrastingly, Berthoin, Antal & Krebsbach-Gnath (2003) argued for the commitment to adoptions of ‘marginal’ roles by the BI consultants and the adoption of the ‘central’ roles by the clients in order to maximize the contributions to organizational learning. The survey outcomes indicated that approximately 62% of the respondents were satisfied with the level and quality of BI organizational leadership. This indicates that approximately 38% were, in some manner, not satisfied with the organizational leadership. In regard to employee satisfaction, 38% is a significantly high number, particularly for smaller firms.
4.2 Interviews
The review of literature classified the primary roles of in BI to include reporting, online analytical processing, data mining, and business performance management through traditional reporting systems focus on providing users with data based on a rigid and predefined structure (Abelló & Romero, 2009, p. 1951). The interviews for this study addressed the role of the participant in BI along with the number of and functions of the BI consultants in the participant’s organization. According to the outcomes of the interviews, the primary roles were Chief Information Officer, Portfolio Manager, BI consultant, and Practice Manager Consultant and the years of experience ranged from 2 years to 10 years.
Several qualifications are in demand in the BI industry labor pool, particularly those that capitalize on progressive ICT, software and hardware technology markets. The scope of the technology requirements should also consist of IT governance and the IT system competence. The job skills that are regarded as most important are those that contribute most to high level performance by solving problems. The BI consultant must be able to model data through #NF and dimensional modeling approaches This may also include presentations of data in effective and efficient ways, to include benchmarking KPI standards against comparable market standards or analytical and reporting capacities to recover data outside of IT consultations and financial data reports. Business Intelligence strategies utilize data mining as a progressive statistical approach to expose patterns automatically, (Hand, 2007, p. 621).
Watson (2015) presented that data mining requires an in-depth knowledge of mathematics in order to produce actionable outcomes and significant amounts of data for the outcomes to be statistically significant. However, only one interview participant proceeded into specific detail about the skill requirements of the BI consultant to include the creation of business reports, business models and data analysis. According to the responses, the most important BI skills include business analysis, business solutions, technical skills, functional skills, and soft skills.
Problem solving recurs as the crux of the BI business operations. Although the respondents listed several methods for problem solving and different types of problems, the greatest concern in regard to skill sets and experience appeared to be with the ability of the BI consultant to solve problems. The interview participants also indicated that in the BI consultant environment, each colleague has his or her own agenda. Cawley & Richardson (2010) proposed that the highest qualifications are required for the BI consultancy; however, the outcomes of both the survey and interview questions indicate that the right BI qualifications are more significant than the highest BI qualifications.
The aim of this research has been an exploration of the degree to which globally, the BI sector is under pressure to deliver both high quality service and competitive market prices. Consistently finding optimal business solutions through network analytical processes is the only position for small BI firms to maintain, sustain, compete, and to grow in a modern business environment that has begun to reject BI solutions as redundant, obsolete, or that can simply be outsourced or offshored. In this regard, the last and perhaps most predominant theme found in the research interview responses was in regard to delivery. Most of the participants’ answers about organizational deficiencies alluded to ‘promises but no delivery’. The expectation that the business solutions that are promised will actually materialize appears to be of greatest concern.