Introduction
Business intelligence is a significant process that enables organizations to make use of the data that they get from business processes. This paper will focus on decision-making process for acquiring Business Intelligence (BI) software for MSC Company.
One criteria that would be used in getting the BI software for the company is to assess the cost of the software. The cost will include such factors as the maintainability and the duration that the software will be used in MSC. Since it is a software that will be used for analyzing the data for the company, there is the issue of security which has to be considered in the entire process. In-house development might not work for the company because of the lack of expertise. It is a viable option because it will depend on the urgency of the BI system for the company. Purchasing is an alternative for the company, but because there will be the need to have many changes while it is being used, the changes might not be achieved because of the lack of knowledge of on the changes that will be made. It will also be hard to make changes to the software if it was developed using a different platform (Gasca-Hurtado, Arias, & Gómez, 2014).
The software development process cannot be outsource because of the security and privacy aspects. The company that will handle the development have other clients. It will jeopardize the security of the data because the company will be required to make updates and do maintenance. They will also be the main consultants for the use of the system. It will put to risk the data that has been harvested by MSC. The security of the data and the analytics that will be achieved might be used by other parties who have not been part of the development process. Leasing the software will not be practical because the system will be used on a long-term basis. It will be more expensive for the company. It will be a viable option if the timeframe is less (Harnisch, Kaiser, & Buxmann, 2013).
For the MSC case, one requirement that will be needed in the entire case is to own the entire process of data mining. Information and the analysis of the data cannot be left to be attended by outside forces. It will be important to have the process attended by the in-house staff members. It will help to have a better way of undertaking the entire process. The decision that fits the company is to look for experts and develop the system. The company can look for experts in this field and develop the system that will be used in the entire process (Gasca-Hurtado, Arias, & Gómez, 2014).
The choices that I have made are justifiable because the development of the system within the company will ensure that there is ownership of the entire process. It will ensure that there is an understanding of the business and the competitive advantage that the business has in its entirety. It is good and significant to have the entire process of developing the system from within the organization in order to own the process. As much as it is important to have the system working, privacy is a concern (Kohl, 2012).
If I was looking for green principles, I would change the place where the system would be installed. Instead of having the system run in the MSC data center, I would consider cloud option. I would have the system installed on the cloud.
References
Gasca-Hurtado, G. P., Arias, J. A. E., & Gómez, M. C. (2014). Technique for Risk Identification of Software Acquisition and Information Technologies. Agile Estimation Techniques and Innovative Approaches to Software Process Improvement, 16.
Harnisch, S., Kaiser, J., & Buxmann, P. (2013). Technological Frames of Reference in Software Acquisition Decisions: Results of a Multiple Case Study.
Kohl, R. (2012). Comparing Software Acquisition Models Against Each Other: The Build vs. Buy vs. Rent Trade Study (No. NPS-AM-12-C9P23R02-090). RJ KOHL AND ASSOCIATES INC JEFFERSON MD.
