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Running head: BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 1
NCMIT 2013
Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Catalysts and Effects
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Paper Published
Business Intelligence and Cloud Computing - Promising agility amplifying tools for Nascent
Business Organizations
Yuvraj Singh Gurjar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Computer Science, Pacific University, Udaipur
Kusum Rajawat
Research Scholar, Singhania University, Jhunjhunu
Prof. (Dr.) Vijay Singh Rathore
Professor (CSE) in Rajasthan College of Engineering for Women, Jaipur
Author Note
Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to YUVRAJ SINGH GURJAR, 11,
Ved Vatika, New Sanganer Road, Sodala, Jaipur – 302019 (Raj) India.
(M) – (+91) 94132 06493, (+91) 99502 57778. E-mail: yuvrajsinghG@gmail.com
Kusum Rajawat – E-mail: kusum.rajawat1@gmail.com
Prof. (Dr.) Vijay Singh Rathore – (M) – (+91) 94142 65839 E-mail: vijaydiamond@gmail.com
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 2
Abstract
It's a cliché to say that business is changing at an ever-increasing pace, but one of the facts
about clichés is they often contain truth. Today’s complex business world requires companies
and their management teams to lead with bold creativity, connect with customers in imaginative
ways, and design their operations for speed and flexibility. Increasingly changing and
discontinuous world makes it ever more important to develop the capability to foresee changes
and reach accordingly, and if possible, to act before the change actually takes place. At the same
time, increasingly interconnected economies, enterprises, societies and governments have opened
doors to vast new opportunities for entrepreneurs. Leaders and trend observers highlight agility
as the key to capitalizing on innovation and achieving success in the unpredictable and rapidly
evolving marketplace. Agility enables change, innovation and strategic directive—faster and
smarter. In this chaotic and rapidly changing environment, agility is considered a “must do” for
entrepreneurs and their companies for the long-term sustainability of operations. Information
Technology is a major force driving the need for business agility and at the same time an
important capability which can hinder or enable a firm’s level of business agility. The
premeditated pace of conventional IT is just not suited for today's hectic business environment.
In recent times, Cloud Computing & Business Intelligence systems are clearly identified as
crucial system for agility: that is, they are critical to the ability to adjust to change and take
advantage of emerging opportunities. The present paper identifies key role played by cloud
computing and business intelligence in nascent business organization, to exploit the opportunities
for gaining value sooner.
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 3
Business Intelligence and Cloud Computing - Promising agility amplifying tools for
Nascent Business Organizations
Introduction
Today, businesses are competing not just in efficiency but in their ability to sense market
conditions and quickly respond. And in our connected world, market conditions change more
quickly than ever before. Many organizations, specially the nascent business firms, will find that
they have to retool to handle the diversity of data and adapt to the increased rate of change of
business requirements
The ability of organizations to withstand turbulent, rapidly changing conditions has always
been important for the long-term sustainability of operations. In the business domain, the
maintenance of competitive advantage over long periods is a crucial yet extremely difficult task
of which only select enterprises are capable.
Agility refers to a company’s ability to take advantage of opportunities while countering
competitive threats that arise from frequent and sometimes large and unpredictable changes in
the environment. In fact, a truly agile company is capable of not only responding to but also
creating changes. While turbulent, hypercompetitive environments may damage or destroy less
agile and resilient organizations, they give rise to opportunities for innovation for companies
with greater agility and resiliency. Thus, a lack of agility may result not only in significant real
losses but also in lost opportunities.
Innovation introduced by entrepreneurs can result in financial benefits and new capabilities
only if it is met the goal of ‘Time to Market’. Till now most entrepreneurs had great ideas, but
they were constrained by lack of resources and new technologies platform like Cloud and
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 4
Business Intelligence. Cloud Computing and Business Intelligence will provide them the base
platform required to stand up and in maintaining the competitive advantage also.
These days, it’s nearly impossible to run a successful business without somehow using the
cloud. From saving money to increasing productivity and efficiency, the cloud can take business
to the next level, if users leverage the power effectively. While there are certainly risks to using
the cloud – such as security and the potential for data leaks – the benefits are far greater, and
entrepreneurs owe it to themselves to explore the potential of this powerful tool.
For the nascent organizations competing in an increasingly data-driven market, the ability
to access and process information with speed and accuracy is critical. Whether in recessionary
times or not, it is increasingly important for the nascent organizations to efficiently aggregate
information from a wide variety of sources, including non-traditional ones such as emails and
networking sites. Entrepreneurs can reap the potential benefits provided by business intelligence
in the form of - insight from data, improved decision-making and risk mitigation.
Definitions
Agility
“Ability to cope with unexpected changes, to survive unprecedented threats of business
environment, and to take advantage of changes as opportunities.” (Sharifi, H., 1999)
“Successful exploration of competitive bases (speed, flexibility, innovation, pro-activity,
quality and profitability) through the integration of reconfigurable resources and best practices in
a knowledge-rich environment to provide customer-driven products and services in a fast-
changing market environment.” (Yusuf, Y.Y. 1999)
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 5
“Ability to respond to and create new windows of opportunity in a turbulent market
environment driven by individual (bespoke) customer requirements cost-effectively and rapidly.”
(Ismail, H.S. 2006)
Business Agility
Business Agility is the ability of enterprises to cope with unpredictable changes, to survive
unprecedented threats from the business environment, and to take advantage of changes as
opportunities (Oosterhout M, 2006).
The ability to both create and respond to [anticipated and unanticipated] change in order to
profit in a turbulent business environment (Highsmith J, 2002)
IT Agility
According to Tapanainen T, (2012), IT Agility is the ability of the IT function to sense
external changes and respond internally and externally to requirements so arising. It is an
umbrella concept containing IT function agility (internal response dimension) and IT-business
partnership agility (external response dimension).
Cloud Computing
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines cloud computing in a
specific manner, by this we can understand the cloud computing in a better way, that: "Cloud
computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of
configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services)
that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider
interaction." (Peter M & Timothy G, 2011)
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 6
According to Chan T. (2009), the concept may be defined starting from its name (cloud) as
“common, location-independent, online, utility that is available on demand”. This approach
emphasizes the fact that any shared resource is statistically multiplied on several applications and
clients. Thus, no matter where the client is geographically located, he can access the information
in the “cloud”. The “on demand” feature means resources have to be dynamically allocated.
Gartner defines, “cloud computing is a style of computing where massively scalable IT-
enabled capabilities are delivered ‘as a service’ to external customers using Internet
technologies.”
Business Intelligence
Wikipedia defines Business Intelligence as “the ability of an organization to collect,
maintains, and organizes knowledge. This produces large amounts of information that can help
develop new opportunities. Identifying these opportunities, and implementing an effective
strategy, can provide a competitive market advantage and long-term stability”.
Turban (2008) explains Business Intelligence as the new approaches in which companies
collect, organize and apply information. He believes the old ways have been changed to reflect
new and go-ahead technologies, because the companies need to make real time decisions based
on their data. He adds that a Business Intelligence (BI) system is a technology that provides
insignificant business value by improving the usefulness of managerial decision-making. Today
in a suspicious and highly competitive business situation, the value of strategic information
systems is easily recognized. High adoption rates and investment in BI software and services
suggest that these systems are a principal provider of decision support in the current marketplace.
Herschel & Jones (2005) consider Business intelligence as a tool for making better
decisions, they quote that "Gartner consultancy clarifies this by explaining BI as set of all
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 7
technologies that gather and analyze data to improve decision making". They add this concept
that business intelligence is the detection and clarification of concealed, innate and decision-
relevant contexts in large amounts of business and economic data.
Requirement Analysis
Diversified new data sources
It’s nearly impossible for companies to stay on top of the explosion of useful information
about markets, competitors and customers that crop up daily on social media and other websites.
Over 90% of today’s data is unstructured in the form of images, MP3 files, videos and social
media snippets. More important is that, much of the data that organizations need to look at is not
necessarily "owned" by them - it exists within various social computing services like Twitter and
Facebook; it’s hidden within Web logs, sensor output, and call detail records. Forward-looking
businesses are desperate to tame and gain competitive advantage from unstructured business data
floating around within and beyond their enterprise. This requires technology that's able to use
knowledge about the data itself to intelligently isolate the relevant information and make queries
more efficient. To analyze such a big source of data companies need resources with unlimited
processing power, which is not possible for nascent organizations, thus limiting the scope to
analyze new data sources for many.
Increasing importance of analytics in business
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, creating and keeping a competitive edge
is critical to building a successful business. Developing a plan, monitoring the plan to make sure
the business remains on target, and setting goals for growth and profitability are foundations of
business success. But great strategy and detailed planning cannot ensure success because the
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 8
economy and business environments are unpredictable; no amount of planning is a guarantee that
bad things won’t happen and the business won’t experience challenges. On the other hand,
regularly monitoring business performance data can reveal trends and indications that things are
not going as expected, and provide a basis for making the decisions necessary to get the business
back on track and regain the competitive edge.
Emerging trends
It’s the need of time that nascent business organizations should focus on three major trends
(Aberdeen Group report from Nov 2011 titled “The Analytical SMB”) as given below -
 More data - The volume of data flowing into the organization is already high and is
increasing. To be of value, however, the data must be analyzed to find the answers
to questions posed. What technology is only now beginning to address is the
complex and disparate nature of the collected data. Coming from varying sources
and in equally varying formats, data must be “normalized” and related for it to
make much sense.
 More users – Decisions are made in businesses at all levels, and as management
layers are compressed, those “closer to the action” are being handed more
responsibility for the decisions impacting their areas. Without a comprehensive
and company-wide framework for data analysis and reporting, these individuals and
workgroups find ways to capture and analyze the data they feel is pertinent to their
requirement and within their own realm.
 Less Time: Timeframe for making decisions is shrinking, and is shrinking at an
“alarming” rate. Just about everything in business today moves at a rapid pace, and
that means that business decisions are often demanded on-the-spot, providing little
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 9
time for detailed consideration and working through the problem. Without the
tools and data providing meaningful real-time visibility into business performance,
decision-makers may be able to act fast but not wisely, and are most frequently
guided by their “gut feel” as to what the right move is.
Agility & Business
Does agility matters?
Yes, it took 38 years for 50 million people to adopt the radio, but only two years for the
same number to join Facebook. The average life span of an S&P 500 company used to be about
50 years, but now it is less than 25 years. Bank failures are running at their highest rate in nearly
two decades. With the pace of change increasing so dramatically, agility has become a
requirement for business survival.
Importance of Agility in Business
Agility has a dual role: it is both the end result of change and it is the driving force of
change. It’s not static or specific. It has metamorphic qualities—changing as the business
environment changes. Agility becomes what it must be in order to deliver results. (IBM
Whitepaper – “Cutting through Complexity with Business Agility”)
Agility is measured by each company’s own expectations rather than by external
benchmarks. Agility is about internal readiness to respond to change, along with finding new
ways of doing business. The key indicators of agility are to know when to change, what to
change and how to change.
Agile companies recognize the value of transforming strategic business initiatives into
operational reality. They understand that addressing the challenges of complexity and change
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 10
requires keen business acumen, agility and action. Agility enables change, innovation and
strategic directive—faster and smarter.
What survey says? - Agility Critical to Achieving Key Business Outcomes
In February 2011, 600 corporate decision makers from diversified sectors participated in a
business-agility survey conducted for VMware® by independent market-research firm
AbsolutData (VMware Whitepaper – “Business Agility and the True Economics of Cloud
Computing”, 2011). Responses from the more than 600 corporate decision makers reveal the
following:
 More than 80 percent of respondents agreed that agility is moderately or more than
moderately linked to improving corporate revenue, cost and risk profiles, with 66
percent identifying business agility as a priority.
 “Extremely agile,” companies outperform others across all business-agility
dimensions, particularly “recognizing shifts in customer trends/demand”,
“launching new products or functionalities,” “managing the execution of programs”
and “scaling resources in order to meet demand.” (Fig 1)
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 11
Figure 1: VMware Survey
Links between IT Agility and Agile Companies
It is often difficult to tell whether companies are agile because IT is agile, or whether an
agile business culture already in the company is influencing IT. Regardless of origins, leaders in
agile companies understand the importance of tightly coupling business agility and IT agility
(VMware Whitepaper – “Business Agility and the True Economics of Cloud Computing”, 2011).
 ‘Extremely agile’ companies report IT is one of their top two agile business
functions.
 Companies that are not agile report IT is among the two least agile of their business
functions.
Cloud Computing & Business Intelligence in CIOs Top Technology Priorities?
Looking at trends shown in Gartner’s list of CIOs technology priority (Top 10 Tech
Priorities of CIO’s, Gartner, 2012 - Compiled on the basis of Annual surveys by Gartner Inc.'s),
we can get an idea where Cloud Solutions and Business Intelligence stands in technology
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 12
priorities for current CIOs. Fig -2: depicts movements for Cloud and Business Intelligence since
2007 to 2012, which clearly states that –
 Business Intelligence topped the list from 2007 to 2009, ranked 5th in 2010 and
again took top rank in year 2011-12.
 Cloud Computing hold 1st rank in 2010 and remain in top 5 during last 5 years.
Fig 2: Cloud and BI in CIOs Tech Priorities
Cloud computing for Nascent Organizations
Link between the Cloud, IT Agility, Business Agility and Corporate Performance
In a recently released business-agility survey (VMware Whitepaper – “Business Agility
and the True Economics of Cloud Computing”, 2011), corporate decision makers linked cloud
computing directly to business agility. It shows that the hype around cloud computing is
maturing into facts about what cloud can really deliver to both IT and the business. Game-
changing CIOs think business transformation first, then how technology enables it. They are the
ones strategizing with their CEOs and other business leaders to look beyond simple cost
calculations to the business agility that cloud computing can enable.
1
5
1
1
1
3
1
2
2
5
0 2 4 6
2011-12
2010-11
2009-10
2008-09
2007-08
Cloud Business Intelligence
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 13
Fig 3: Link between Clouds Computing to Business Agility.
Forward-thinking CIOs are deploying cloud computing as a strategic weapon—not just for
IT, but to enable full business transformation, eventually changing how they operate their
business.
Cloud Computing & IT Agility
According to Samovski D (2009), cloud computing can enable IT Agility in two ways -
1. Being able to provision resources faster than it would take in a traditional
environment. Time to market, how fast you can see that an idea is working or is not
working - both are positively affected.
2. Being able to right-size resources (sometimes this concept is called “elasticity”). It
eliminates the need to overprovision - start small, scale up when demand goes up,
scale down when resources are no longer needed. In this case, agility refers to speed
with which user can implement the upsize/downsize operation. No doubt cloud
computing opens new opportunities in this space.
Cloud computing more as a business enabler rather than IT
Cloud Computing holds a unique distinction among all the IT inventions in the past two
decades, in the sense it really simplifies the concept of enabling business capability through
Information Technology resources, by a Self Service, Network Enabled provisioning
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 14
mechanism. This ensures that the Information needs for business are now
available as a service which can be consumed and can be served to various consumers.
According to Rajan S.S., key factors responsible for adoption of cloud computing in business
are–
 IT (Information Technology), is unable to match the Speed at which the
business wanted to innovate
 Time To Market of new Services and Capabilities is a great concern for business
 While there are established IT shops around the world, the Capital Expenditure
(CAPEX) and Operational Expenditure (OPEX) are high such that the
underlying services provided by the business have to eat the cost, resulting in non
competitive pricing
 Business is unable to pick and choose the business processes they wanted to
adopt due to the changing market scenarios
 Business demand is fluctuating, World Economy is at cross roads, Political and
natural disasters add further instability. Current IT does not allow businesses to
expand and shrunk on demand.
These points clearly highlight that Cloud Computing is a real enabler for Business rather
than IT.
Benefits of Cloud Computing
The various benefits/advantages provided by Cloud Computing structure are – Scalability;
Flexibility; Accessibility; Sustainability; Simple, Fast and Easy access; Reliability and fault-
tolerance; Utility base computing; Downsize of costs for maintenance, upgrade or purchase of
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 15
new computing systems; Downsize of capital and personnel expenses; Automated software
updates; Shared resource; Increased teamwork efficiency.
Cloud computing –a technology for entrepreneurs
The very definition of entrepreneurship is about achieving business
capabilities through innovation and business transformation. However becoming an
entrepreneur is not an easy one, various studies have indicated the following challenges for
entrepreneurs , we have also analyzed some of the promises of Cloud that can help the
Entrepreneurs (Rajan S. S.).
Challenges For Entrepreneur Cloud Computing Value Proposition
Financial Constraints and low investments at
least initially. While this could be a global
phenomenon more risk minded the culture the
spending patterns will be questioned more.
Cloud service models aims at getting
started with the minimal infrastructure with the
minimal possible spending. Example is the
major IaaS providers and their costing model.
Lack of Infrastructure, especially IT Related
infrastructure setup, especially things like
setting up net works, firewall, storage etc.
IaaS (Infrastructure As A Service) abstracts
the complexities of setting up the complex
infrastructure and enables them
for entrepreneurs. An important factor is the
availability of Map Reduce/ Hadoop and other
High Performance Compute infrastructure that
lets the complex problem solving to be taken up
by almost any one even without proper
infrastructure.
Global competition and lack of global
methodologies and solutions to support.
So far small entrepreneurs does not have a
good visibility of Global best practices and
methods that they can leverage to compete
effectively with global competitors.
However viewing all the solutions from a
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 16
network enabled repository, and SaaS
(Software As A Service) market place
makes the solution scope of entrepreneurs wide
open and make it global.
Business Intelligence for Nascent Organizations
Business Intelligence as a process
In general theory, business intelligence is considered as one IT tool and only IT tool.
Whereas, Sutevski D. (2009) emphasized on two things –
 First of all, business intelligence is the process, and not only IT tool.
 Second, business intelligence must incorporate analyzing of the external factors in
addition to internal factors.
All entrepreneurs must look at business intelligence as a process. Business intelligence is a
process that supports decisions making and that will allow entrepreneurs to better understanding,
analyzing and predicting the occurrences in and out of their businesses. Every change or need of
change will be predicted from the process of business intelligence and in that way entrepreneurs
will make better and timely decisions. Investment into the business intelligence will be
meaningful for entrepreneurs because:
 Business intelligence as a process can be implemented without big investments.
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 17
 Second there will always need for a decision making process and because of that
also will be need for business intelligence as a process.
Some areas where business intelligence can be used in upcoming small businesses are:
 External areas: Market research, Analyzing of competitors, Analyzing of suppliers,
Analyzing of different products, Analyzing of new technology
 Internal areas: Inventory control, Best selling products, Sales comparing, Customers
analyzing, Costs analyzing, Financial analyzing, Operational analyzing
As a process business intelligence must perform several different actions:
 Identify the need for business intelligence.
 Collect the information.
 Analyzing of collected information.
 Implementation of knowledge into decision making.
This is never ending processes of business intelligence. For entrepreneurs most important
step is to start with the process that will increase their business potential energy. After some
period of time, they can explore the possibilities to invest in some BI solutions.
Barriers to adoption of BI
The most common barriers to adoption of BI in nascent organization are:
 Tight budgets
 Lack of sophistication and organizational knowledge
 Technology
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 18
 Small number of employees, who are working on many projects and, therefore,
have less time to spend on essential planning and analysis
Benefits of BI
For the upcoming organizations that can overcome the barriers there are many potential benefits.
They include:
 Aggregating data from different sources and locations
 Analysis and insight from that data
 Improved decision-making
 Risk mitigation
Ultimately, small organizations that install BI find they can compete more effectively in the
marketplace, with additional insight into customer’s buying patterns and needs, and with more
efficient financial management
Business value of Business Intelligence – value addition factor for nascent organization
In economic terms, the business value of an investment (an asset) is measured as the net
present value of the after tax cash flows associated with the investment. Accordingly, BI
investments should be subjected to a rigorous assessment of how the investment will result in
increased revenues, reduced costs, or both.
While there are hundreds of ways to express business benefits, there is no business value
associated with an investment unless the benefits achieved result in increased after-tax cash
flows. For example, it is common for BI vendor value propositions to emphasize business
benefits such as agility, responsiveness, customer intimacy, information sharing, flexibility, and
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 19
collaboration. But investing in BI to achieve such business benefits may actually destroy
business value unless those attributes can be defined in operational terms and realized through
business processes that affect revenues or costs. For example, a $2 million investment in a BI
application must result in incremental after-tax cash flow of at least $2 million or the
organization will suffer a reduction in assets.
On the other hand, a BI investment that improves demand forecasting will not deliver
business value unless the forecasts are actually incorporated into operational business processes
that then deliver reduced inventory, reduced order expediting costs, or some other tangible
economic benefit. In other words, the business benefit “improved forecasting” is useless unless it
is somehow converted into incremental after-tax cash flow. [William N & William S, 53]
BI can be seen as a matter of determining how an organization can use BI to:
 Improve management processes - such as planning, controlling, measuring,
monitoring, and/or changing - so that management can increase revenues, reduce
costs, or both
 Improve operational processes such as fraud detection, sales campaign execution,
customer order processing, purchasing, and/or accounts payable processing so that
the business can increase revenues, reduce costs or both
In other words, the business value of BI lies in its use within management processes, that
impact operational processes that drive revenue or reduce costs, and/or in its use within those
operational processes themselves. Entrepreneurs must deploy Business Intelligence to improve
business process and thus exploit opportunities for gaining values sooner.
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 20
Basic reasons for adoption of Business Intelligence in Nascent organization
Delivering value sooner and being adaptable to business change are two of the most
important objectives today in developing and deploying business intelligence (BI) and analytics.
Organizations are under pressure to adjust strategies and tactics to fast-changing markets and
economic situations, and they are depending on BI and analytics to help them make good
decisions. On the other side, nascent organizations are aimed towards control costs and make
more strategic decisions, emphasizing low-risk investments that drive maximum value. Through
Business Intelligence solutions, company can focus on their resources — whether they are
people, technology, or capital assets — to achieve goals and generate the maximum return for
the organization. Get the right information to the right people faster. Users will be able to make
smarter and more informed decisions, increasing efficiencies in the short term and positioning
company’s growth in the long. In addition, as more users are exposed to BI and analytics tools,
the more they want in terms of functionality, data access, and other capabilities. IT organizations,
used to long “waterfall” development cycles, are struggling to keep up—and are hearing loud
and clear from users that they want an end to the frustration.
Contrary to popular belief, Business Intelligence (BI) is not just for big and established
corporations. With systems designed specifically for the upcoming small organizations, the
complicated and time-consuming process that is associated with BI implementation is a thing of
the past. We all know how competitive the market place is and business intelligence (BI) is the
tool that will give competitive advantage to nascent organizations needed for their survival.
The basic reasons for adoption of BI in nascent organization are (Taljard Loren, 2012) -
1. Automation: Nascent business needs to get more done with fewer people!
Automation will increase reliability and efficiency to improve company
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 21
performance while internal workforce is free to spend its time on other important
matters. An integrated BI solution introduces automated reporting by pulling
information from accounting package or ERP. This eliminates the need to prepare
reports manually and removes the risk of data loss when doing so. With the click of
a button users can get up-to-date, accurate and well-presented information for
informed decision making.
2. Competitive edge: Nascent business needs to be agile and responsive to gain and
maintain a competitive edge. This requires insightful decision making that can only
come from intelligent reporting. As business grows, so does the volume of
information that needs to be processed, but time and resources remain limited. BI
does more than just capture data; it orders it into an easily digestible format
providing users with information that paints a clear picture of the financial status of
the business. This will provide the ability to gain insights into trends and forecast
and plan for the future.
3. Identify market trends: Being able to understand and react to market trends will
keep entrepreneurs ahead of the pack. For a big corporate, introducing a product in
the market based on misread market interpretations will not necessarily result in an
issue of survival. But if entrepreneur makes the same mistake, it could be the
beginning of the end. Nascent business needs BI as much, if not more, than larger
companies to identify market trends and make decisions accordingly.
4. Make better decisions, faster: All companies face constant pressure to increase
profitability, improve cash flow, reduce costs, and mitigate risk in order to improve
financial performance. The ability to make good decisions and solve issues as they
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 22
happen is crucial to success. As nascent company grows, or faces stiffer
competition, the need to make good decisions fast becomes imperative. BI provides
real-time automated reports that pull data directly from the company’s accounting
package and delivers a single version of the truth. This eliminates spreadsheet
chaos, which often results in human error and questions about data accuracy,
allowing strategic business decisions to be made on the fly.
5. Return on investment: Typically, smaller businesses have shied away from BI
because of the perceived cost and complexity. But BI solution integrated with
internal accounting or ERP can simply pulls the information as per requirement, so
no new significant IT investments are needed.
Conclusion
In an era of furious and constant change, organization are rewriting the rules and inventing
new ones on a daily basis. Of course, finance is often at the center of the revolution, most
forward thinking entrepreneurs are focusing on other side of the coin – the ‘agility’ (or business
agility). Agile companies do more than cost cutting; they find ways to respond creatively to
difficult situations. They explore new ideas and in those new ideas they find the seeds of their
next round of growth. In a nascent organization, which is agile also, the good use of IT, data and
information can pay back large dividends without necessarily incurring massive investment.
Deploying Cloud computing in nascent business organizations provides strong Information
Technology platform. In addition to IT, it also enables full business transformation and changes
how they operate their business.
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 23
Along with Cloud Computing, upcoming organizations that focus on the “intelligence” in
business intelligence will derive positive and measurable benefits by identifying opportunities
and making better decisions, based on trustworthy information.
References
Aberdeen Group report from Nov 2011 titled “The Analytical SMB” Retrieved from:
http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/7188/RA-embedded-business-
intelligence.aspx
Chan T., 2009. Retrieved from: http://www.greentelecomlive.com/2009/03/16/full-
interviewatt%E2%80 %99s-joe-weinman/, 16 March 2009, [Read at 15 July 2009].
Gartner. Cloud Computing. Retrieved from: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=707508
Gartner. Top 10 Tech Priorities of CIO’s. Retrieved from:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223502/The_top_10_tech_priorities_of_CIOs
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importance of integration', JOURNAL OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, Vol. 9,
2005, pp. 45-55
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ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/pdfs/BFW14001USEN.pdf
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of Agile Systems and Management. 1 (1): 11–28.
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from: http://www.thetechnologyadvisor.com/cloud-computing-the-only-efficient-tool-
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business segments (2004)
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Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication, 800 -145
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 24
Ranjan S.S., “Why Cloud is a Boon for Entrepreneurs?” – Retrieved from:
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67.html
Samovski Dmitriy, 2009. Cost Vs Agility as Drivers for Cloud Computing. Retrieved from:
http://www.somic.org/2009/11/17/costs-vs-agility-as-drivers-for-cloud-computing/
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International Journal of Production Economics. 62 (1/2): 7-22.
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Organizations — Views From the Field”
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approach', Pearson Education Inc., New Jersey
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International Journal of Production Economics. 62 (1/2): 33–43.
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 25
Author’s Profile
Yuvraj Singh Gurjar, Research Scholar, Faculty of Computer Science, Pacific University,
Udaipur, MCA, MCITP – SQL Server, MCTS – Business Intelligence, Oracle Certified
Associate. He received his MCA degree from University of Rajasthan in the year of 2002. He
started his career as MIS Programmer with RUIDP (An Asian Development Bank financed
project in Rajasthan (India)). In 2003, he joined renowned bank Punjab National Bank as
Officer-IT. In 2008 he shifted to Union Bank of India as Sr. Manager (Software). Later on, in
year 2011 he founded KURIOS - A firm working in the area of Business Intelligence and
Performance Management Solutions. Currently he is working as Chief Technical Consultant with
KURIOS. He has more than 10 years of experience in IT field with specialization in MIS and BI
applications.
Kusum Rajawat, Research Scholar, Singhania University, Jhunjhunu, M.Com., MCA, M.Sc.-
IT. She has vast experience of teaching in the field of Computer Science. She is teaching in
various IT topics since last 8 years. Presently she is a Research Scholar in Singhania University,
Jhunjhunu (Raj) India.
Prof. (Dr.) Vijay Singh Rathore, MCA, M.Tech. (C.S.) PhD (Computer Science), MBA,
ICDA-USA, ICAD-USA, Diploma French & German. Presently, He is Director in Shree Karni
College, & Shree Karni Institute of Science, Management & Technology (KISMAT), and
Professor (CSE) in Rajasthan College of Engineering For Women, Jaipur (India). He has 12
years of experience in Technical Education, having done the First PhD in Computer Science
after MCA from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, written 12 Books on various subjects of
BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 26
Computer Science, published more than 50 research papers at national & international level,
supervised 06 PhD candidates, and currently supervising 08 PhD research scholars in Computer
Science. He is active member of various committees of UGC, RTU, UOR, UOK, JNU, SGVU,
VMOU, NIMSU, AMITYU, MJRPU, IISU, JRSU, JRNRVU, PU etc. He is reviewer in some
reputed International Journals. His research area is networking & security with special emphasis
on Cloud Computing.

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Paper-III

  • 1. Running head: BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 1 NCMIT 2013 Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Catalysts and Effects THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Paper Published Business Intelligence and Cloud Computing - Promising agility amplifying tools for Nascent Business Organizations Yuvraj Singh Gurjar Research Scholar, Faculty of Computer Science, Pacific University, Udaipur Kusum Rajawat Research Scholar, Singhania University, Jhunjhunu Prof. (Dr.) Vijay Singh Rathore Professor (CSE) in Rajasthan College of Engineering for Women, Jaipur Author Note Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to YUVRAJ SINGH GURJAR, 11, Ved Vatika, New Sanganer Road, Sodala, Jaipur – 302019 (Raj) India. (M) – (+91) 94132 06493, (+91) 99502 57778. E-mail: yuvrajsinghG@gmail.com Kusum Rajawat – E-mail: kusum.rajawat1@gmail.com Prof. (Dr.) Vijay Singh Rathore – (M) – (+91) 94142 65839 E-mail: vijaydiamond@gmail.com
  • 2. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 2 Abstract It's a cliché to say that business is changing at an ever-increasing pace, but one of the facts about clichés is they often contain truth. Today’s complex business world requires companies and their management teams to lead with bold creativity, connect with customers in imaginative ways, and design their operations for speed and flexibility. Increasingly changing and discontinuous world makes it ever more important to develop the capability to foresee changes and reach accordingly, and if possible, to act before the change actually takes place. At the same time, increasingly interconnected economies, enterprises, societies and governments have opened doors to vast new opportunities for entrepreneurs. Leaders and trend observers highlight agility as the key to capitalizing on innovation and achieving success in the unpredictable and rapidly evolving marketplace. Agility enables change, innovation and strategic directive—faster and smarter. In this chaotic and rapidly changing environment, agility is considered a “must do” for entrepreneurs and their companies for the long-term sustainability of operations. Information Technology is a major force driving the need for business agility and at the same time an important capability which can hinder or enable a firm’s level of business agility. The premeditated pace of conventional IT is just not suited for today's hectic business environment. In recent times, Cloud Computing & Business Intelligence systems are clearly identified as crucial system for agility: that is, they are critical to the ability to adjust to change and take advantage of emerging opportunities. The present paper identifies key role played by cloud computing and business intelligence in nascent business organization, to exploit the opportunities for gaining value sooner.
  • 3. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 3 Business Intelligence and Cloud Computing - Promising agility amplifying tools for Nascent Business Organizations Introduction Today, businesses are competing not just in efficiency but in their ability to sense market conditions and quickly respond. And in our connected world, market conditions change more quickly than ever before. Many organizations, specially the nascent business firms, will find that they have to retool to handle the diversity of data and adapt to the increased rate of change of business requirements The ability of organizations to withstand turbulent, rapidly changing conditions has always been important for the long-term sustainability of operations. In the business domain, the maintenance of competitive advantage over long periods is a crucial yet extremely difficult task of which only select enterprises are capable. Agility refers to a company’s ability to take advantage of opportunities while countering competitive threats that arise from frequent and sometimes large and unpredictable changes in the environment. In fact, a truly agile company is capable of not only responding to but also creating changes. While turbulent, hypercompetitive environments may damage or destroy less agile and resilient organizations, they give rise to opportunities for innovation for companies with greater agility and resiliency. Thus, a lack of agility may result not only in significant real losses but also in lost opportunities. Innovation introduced by entrepreneurs can result in financial benefits and new capabilities only if it is met the goal of ‘Time to Market’. Till now most entrepreneurs had great ideas, but they were constrained by lack of resources and new technologies platform like Cloud and
  • 4. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 4 Business Intelligence. Cloud Computing and Business Intelligence will provide them the base platform required to stand up and in maintaining the competitive advantage also. These days, it’s nearly impossible to run a successful business without somehow using the cloud. From saving money to increasing productivity and efficiency, the cloud can take business to the next level, if users leverage the power effectively. While there are certainly risks to using the cloud – such as security and the potential for data leaks – the benefits are far greater, and entrepreneurs owe it to themselves to explore the potential of this powerful tool. For the nascent organizations competing in an increasingly data-driven market, the ability to access and process information with speed and accuracy is critical. Whether in recessionary times or not, it is increasingly important for the nascent organizations to efficiently aggregate information from a wide variety of sources, including non-traditional ones such as emails and networking sites. Entrepreneurs can reap the potential benefits provided by business intelligence in the form of - insight from data, improved decision-making and risk mitigation. Definitions Agility “Ability to cope with unexpected changes, to survive unprecedented threats of business environment, and to take advantage of changes as opportunities.” (Sharifi, H., 1999) “Successful exploration of competitive bases (speed, flexibility, innovation, pro-activity, quality and profitability) through the integration of reconfigurable resources and best practices in a knowledge-rich environment to provide customer-driven products and services in a fast- changing market environment.” (Yusuf, Y.Y. 1999)
  • 5. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 5 “Ability to respond to and create new windows of opportunity in a turbulent market environment driven by individual (bespoke) customer requirements cost-effectively and rapidly.” (Ismail, H.S. 2006) Business Agility Business Agility is the ability of enterprises to cope with unpredictable changes, to survive unprecedented threats from the business environment, and to take advantage of changes as opportunities (Oosterhout M, 2006). The ability to both create and respond to [anticipated and unanticipated] change in order to profit in a turbulent business environment (Highsmith J, 2002) IT Agility According to Tapanainen T, (2012), IT Agility is the ability of the IT function to sense external changes and respond internally and externally to requirements so arising. It is an umbrella concept containing IT function agility (internal response dimension) and IT-business partnership agility (external response dimension). Cloud Computing The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines cloud computing in a specific manner, by this we can understand the cloud computing in a better way, that: "Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction." (Peter M & Timothy G, 2011)
  • 6. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 6 According to Chan T. (2009), the concept may be defined starting from its name (cloud) as “common, location-independent, online, utility that is available on demand”. This approach emphasizes the fact that any shared resource is statistically multiplied on several applications and clients. Thus, no matter where the client is geographically located, he can access the information in the “cloud”. The “on demand” feature means resources have to be dynamically allocated. Gartner defines, “cloud computing is a style of computing where massively scalable IT- enabled capabilities are delivered ‘as a service’ to external customers using Internet technologies.” Business Intelligence Wikipedia defines Business Intelligence as “the ability of an organization to collect, maintains, and organizes knowledge. This produces large amounts of information that can help develop new opportunities. Identifying these opportunities, and implementing an effective strategy, can provide a competitive market advantage and long-term stability”. Turban (2008) explains Business Intelligence as the new approaches in which companies collect, organize and apply information. He believes the old ways have been changed to reflect new and go-ahead technologies, because the companies need to make real time decisions based on their data. He adds that a Business Intelligence (BI) system is a technology that provides insignificant business value by improving the usefulness of managerial decision-making. Today in a suspicious and highly competitive business situation, the value of strategic information systems is easily recognized. High adoption rates and investment in BI software and services suggest that these systems are a principal provider of decision support in the current marketplace. Herschel & Jones (2005) consider Business intelligence as a tool for making better decisions, they quote that "Gartner consultancy clarifies this by explaining BI as set of all
  • 7. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 7 technologies that gather and analyze data to improve decision making". They add this concept that business intelligence is the detection and clarification of concealed, innate and decision- relevant contexts in large amounts of business and economic data. Requirement Analysis Diversified new data sources It’s nearly impossible for companies to stay on top of the explosion of useful information about markets, competitors and customers that crop up daily on social media and other websites. Over 90% of today’s data is unstructured in the form of images, MP3 files, videos and social media snippets. More important is that, much of the data that organizations need to look at is not necessarily "owned" by them - it exists within various social computing services like Twitter and Facebook; it’s hidden within Web logs, sensor output, and call detail records. Forward-looking businesses are desperate to tame and gain competitive advantage from unstructured business data floating around within and beyond their enterprise. This requires technology that's able to use knowledge about the data itself to intelligently isolate the relevant information and make queries more efficient. To analyze such a big source of data companies need resources with unlimited processing power, which is not possible for nascent organizations, thus limiting the scope to analyze new data sources for many. Increasing importance of analytics in business In today’s rapidly changing business environment, creating and keeping a competitive edge is critical to building a successful business. Developing a plan, monitoring the plan to make sure the business remains on target, and setting goals for growth and profitability are foundations of business success. But great strategy and detailed planning cannot ensure success because the
  • 8. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 8 economy and business environments are unpredictable; no amount of planning is a guarantee that bad things won’t happen and the business won’t experience challenges. On the other hand, regularly monitoring business performance data can reveal trends and indications that things are not going as expected, and provide a basis for making the decisions necessary to get the business back on track and regain the competitive edge. Emerging trends It’s the need of time that nascent business organizations should focus on three major trends (Aberdeen Group report from Nov 2011 titled “The Analytical SMB”) as given below -  More data - The volume of data flowing into the organization is already high and is increasing. To be of value, however, the data must be analyzed to find the answers to questions posed. What technology is only now beginning to address is the complex and disparate nature of the collected data. Coming from varying sources and in equally varying formats, data must be “normalized” and related for it to make much sense.  More users – Decisions are made in businesses at all levels, and as management layers are compressed, those “closer to the action” are being handed more responsibility for the decisions impacting their areas. Without a comprehensive and company-wide framework for data analysis and reporting, these individuals and workgroups find ways to capture and analyze the data they feel is pertinent to their requirement and within their own realm.  Less Time: Timeframe for making decisions is shrinking, and is shrinking at an “alarming” rate. Just about everything in business today moves at a rapid pace, and that means that business decisions are often demanded on-the-spot, providing little
  • 9. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 9 time for detailed consideration and working through the problem. Without the tools and data providing meaningful real-time visibility into business performance, decision-makers may be able to act fast but not wisely, and are most frequently guided by their “gut feel” as to what the right move is. Agility & Business Does agility matters? Yes, it took 38 years for 50 million people to adopt the radio, but only two years for the same number to join Facebook. The average life span of an S&P 500 company used to be about 50 years, but now it is less than 25 years. Bank failures are running at their highest rate in nearly two decades. With the pace of change increasing so dramatically, agility has become a requirement for business survival. Importance of Agility in Business Agility has a dual role: it is both the end result of change and it is the driving force of change. It’s not static or specific. It has metamorphic qualities—changing as the business environment changes. Agility becomes what it must be in order to deliver results. (IBM Whitepaper – “Cutting through Complexity with Business Agility”) Agility is measured by each company’s own expectations rather than by external benchmarks. Agility is about internal readiness to respond to change, along with finding new ways of doing business. The key indicators of agility are to know when to change, what to change and how to change. Agile companies recognize the value of transforming strategic business initiatives into operational reality. They understand that addressing the challenges of complexity and change
  • 10. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 10 requires keen business acumen, agility and action. Agility enables change, innovation and strategic directive—faster and smarter. What survey says? - Agility Critical to Achieving Key Business Outcomes In February 2011, 600 corporate decision makers from diversified sectors participated in a business-agility survey conducted for VMware® by independent market-research firm AbsolutData (VMware Whitepaper – “Business Agility and the True Economics of Cloud Computing”, 2011). Responses from the more than 600 corporate decision makers reveal the following:  More than 80 percent of respondents agreed that agility is moderately or more than moderately linked to improving corporate revenue, cost and risk profiles, with 66 percent identifying business agility as a priority.  “Extremely agile,” companies outperform others across all business-agility dimensions, particularly “recognizing shifts in customer trends/demand”, “launching new products or functionalities,” “managing the execution of programs” and “scaling resources in order to meet demand.” (Fig 1)
  • 11. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 11 Figure 1: VMware Survey Links between IT Agility and Agile Companies It is often difficult to tell whether companies are agile because IT is agile, or whether an agile business culture already in the company is influencing IT. Regardless of origins, leaders in agile companies understand the importance of tightly coupling business agility and IT agility (VMware Whitepaper – “Business Agility and the True Economics of Cloud Computing”, 2011).  ‘Extremely agile’ companies report IT is one of their top two agile business functions.  Companies that are not agile report IT is among the two least agile of their business functions. Cloud Computing & Business Intelligence in CIOs Top Technology Priorities? Looking at trends shown in Gartner’s list of CIOs technology priority (Top 10 Tech Priorities of CIO’s, Gartner, 2012 - Compiled on the basis of Annual surveys by Gartner Inc.'s), we can get an idea where Cloud Solutions and Business Intelligence stands in technology
  • 12. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 12 priorities for current CIOs. Fig -2: depicts movements for Cloud and Business Intelligence since 2007 to 2012, which clearly states that –  Business Intelligence topped the list from 2007 to 2009, ranked 5th in 2010 and again took top rank in year 2011-12.  Cloud Computing hold 1st rank in 2010 and remain in top 5 during last 5 years. Fig 2: Cloud and BI in CIOs Tech Priorities Cloud computing for Nascent Organizations Link between the Cloud, IT Agility, Business Agility and Corporate Performance In a recently released business-agility survey (VMware Whitepaper – “Business Agility and the True Economics of Cloud Computing”, 2011), corporate decision makers linked cloud computing directly to business agility. It shows that the hype around cloud computing is maturing into facts about what cloud can really deliver to both IT and the business. Game- changing CIOs think business transformation first, then how technology enables it. They are the ones strategizing with their CEOs and other business leaders to look beyond simple cost calculations to the business agility that cloud computing can enable. 1 5 1 1 1 3 1 2 2 5 0 2 4 6 2011-12 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 Cloud Business Intelligence
  • 13. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 13 Fig 3: Link between Clouds Computing to Business Agility. Forward-thinking CIOs are deploying cloud computing as a strategic weapon—not just for IT, but to enable full business transformation, eventually changing how they operate their business. Cloud Computing & IT Agility According to Samovski D (2009), cloud computing can enable IT Agility in two ways - 1. Being able to provision resources faster than it would take in a traditional environment. Time to market, how fast you can see that an idea is working or is not working - both are positively affected. 2. Being able to right-size resources (sometimes this concept is called “elasticity”). It eliminates the need to overprovision - start small, scale up when demand goes up, scale down when resources are no longer needed. In this case, agility refers to speed with which user can implement the upsize/downsize operation. No doubt cloud computing opens new opportunities in this space. Cloud computing more as a business enabler rather than IT Cloud Computing holds a unique distinction among all the IT inventions in the past two decades, in the sense it really simplifies the concept of enabling business capability through Information Technology resources, by a Self Service, Network Enabled provisioning
  • 14. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 14 mechanism. This ensures that the Information needs for business are now available as a service which can be consumed and can be served to various consumers. According to Rajan S.S., key factors responsible for adoption of cloud computing in business are–  IT (Information Technology), is unable to match the Speed at which the business wanted to innovate  Time To Market of new Services and Capabilities is a great concern for business  While there are established IT shops around the world, the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operational Expenditure (OPEX) are high such that the underlying services provided by the business have to eat the cost, resulting in non competitive pricing  Business is unable to pick and choose the business processes they wanted to adopt due to the changing market scenarios  Business demand is fluctuating, World Economy is at cross roads, Political and natural disasters add further instability. Current IT does not allow businesses to expand and shrunk on demand. These points clearly highlight that Cloud Computing is a real enabler for Business rather than IT. Benefits of Cloud Computing The various benefits/advantages provided by Cloud Computing structure are – Scalability; Flexibility; Accessibility; Sustainability; Simple, Fast and Easy access; Reliability and fault- tolerance; Utility base computing; Downsize of costs for maintenance, upgrade or purchase of
  • 15. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 15 new computing systems; Downsize of capital and personnel expenses; Automated software updates; Shared resource; Increased teamwork efficiency. Cloud computing –a technology for entrepreneurs The very definition of entrepreneurship is about achieving business capabilities through innovation and business transformation. However becoming an entrepreneur is not an easy one, various studies have indicated the following challenges for entrepreneurs , we have also analyzed some of the promises of Cloud that can help the Entrepreneurs (Rajan S. S.). Challenges For Entrepreneur Cloud Computing Value Proposition Financial Constraints and low investments at least initially. While this could be a global phenomenon more risk minded the culture the spending patterns will be questioned more. Cloud service models aims at getting started with the minimal infrastructure with the minimal possible spending. Example is the major IaaS providers and their costing model. Lack of Infrastructure, especially IT Related infrastructure setup, especially things like setting up net works, firewall, storage etc. IaaS (Infrastructure As A Service) abstracts the complexities of setting up the complex infrastructure and enables them for entrepreneurs. An important factor is the availability of Map Reduce/ Hadoop and other High Performance Compute infrastructure that lets the complex problem solving to be taken up by almost any one even without proper infrastructure. Global competition and lack of global methodologies and solutions to support. So far small entrepreneurs does not have a good visibility of Global best practices and methods that they can leverage to compete effectively with global competitors. However viewing all the solutions from a
  • 16. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 16 network enabled repository, and SaaS (Software As A Service) market place makes the solution scope of entrepreneurs wide open and make it global. Business Intelligence for Nascent Organizations Business Intelligence as a process In general theory, business intelligence is considered as one IT tool and only IT tool. Whereas, Sutevski D. (2009) emphasized on two things –  First of all, business intelligence is the process, and not only IT tool.  Second, business intelligence must incorporate analyzing of the external factors in addition to internal factors. All entrepreneurs must look at business intelligence as a process. Business intelligence is a process that supports decisions making and that will allow entrepreneurs to better understanding, analyzing and predicting the occurrences in and out of their businesses. Every change or need of change will be predicted from the process of business intelligence and in that way entrepreneurs will make better and timely decisions. Investment into the business intelligence will be meaningful for entrepreneurs because:  Business intelligence as a process can be implemented without big investments.
  • 17. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 17  Second there will always need for a decision making process and because of that also will be need for business intelligence as a process. Some areas where business intelligence can be used in upcoming small businesses are:  External areas: Market research, Analyzing of competitors, Analyzing of suppliers, Analyzing of different products, Analyzing of new technology  Internal areas: Inventory control, Best selling products, Sales comparing, Customers analyzing, Costs analyzing, Financial analyzing, Operational analyzing As a process business intelligence must perform several different actions:  Identify the need for business intelligence.  Collect the information.  Analyzing of collected information.  Implementation of knowledge into decision making. This is never ending processes of business intelligence. For entrepreneurs most important step is to start with the process that will increase their business potential energy. After some period of time, they can explore the possibilities to invest in some BI solutions. Barriers to adoption of BI The most common barriers to adoption of BI in nascent organization are:  Tight budgets  Lack of sophistication and organizational knowledge  Technology
  • 18. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 18  Small number of employees, who are working on many projects and, therefore, have less time to spend on essential planning and analysis Benefits of BI For the upcoming organizations that can overcome the barriers there are many potential benefits. They include:  Aggregating data from different sources and locations  Analysis and insight from that data  Improved decision-making  Risk mitigation Ultimately, small organizations that install BI find they can compete more effectively in the marketplace, with additional insight into customer’s buying patterns and needs, and with more efficient financial management Business value of Business Intelligence – value addition factor for nascent organization In economic terms, the business value of an investment (an asset) is measured as the net present value of the after tax cash flows associated with the investment. Accordingly, BI investments should be subjected to a rigorous assessment of how the investment will result in increased revenues, reduced costs, or both. While there are hundreds of ways to express business benefits, there is no business value associated with an investment unless the benefits achieved result in increased after-tax cash flows. For example, it is common for BI vendor value propositions to emphasize business benefits such as agility, responsiveness, customer intimacy, information sharing, flexibility, and
  • 19. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 19 collaboration. But investing in BI to achieve such business benefits may actually destroy business value unless those attributes can be defined in operational terms and realized through business processes that affect revenues or costs. For example, a $2 million investment in a BI application must result in incremental after-tax cash flow of at least $2 million or the organization will suffer a reduction in assets. On the other hand, a BI investment that improves demand forecasting will not deliver business value unless the forecasts are actually incorporated into operational business processes that then deliver reduced inventory, reduced order expediting costs, or some other tangible economic benefit. In other words, the business benefit “improved forecasting” is useless unless it is somehow converted into incremental after-tax cash flow. [William N & William S, 53] BI can be seen as a matter of determining how an organization can use BI to:  Improve management processes - such as planning, controlling, measuring, monitoring, and/or changing - so that management can increase revenues, reduce costs, or both  Improve operational processes such as fraud detection, sales campaign execution, customer order processing, purchasing, and/or accounts payable processing so that the business can increase revenues, reduce costs or both In other words, the business value of BI lies in its use within management processes, that impact operational processes that drive revenue or reduce costs, and/or in its use within those operational processes themselves. Entrepreneurs must deploy Business Intelligence to improve business process and thus exploit opportunities for gaining values sooner.
  • 20. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 20 Basic reasons for adoption of Business Intelligence in Nascent organization Delivering value sooner and being adaptable to business change are two of the most important objectives today in developing and deploying business intelligence (BI) and analytics. Organizations are under pressure to adjust strategies and tactics to fast-changing markets and economic situations, and they are depending on BI and analytics to help them make good decisions. On the other side, nascent organizations are aimed towards control costs and make more strategic decisions, emphasizing low-risk investments that drive maximum value. Through Business Intelligence solutions, company can focus on their resources — whether they are people, technology, or capital assets — to achieve goals and generate the maximum return for the organization. Get the right information to the right people faster. Users will be able to make smarter and more informed decisions, increasing efficiencies in the short term and positioning company’s growth in the long. In addition, as more users are exposed to BI and analytics tools, the more they want in terms of functionality, data access, and other capabilities. IT organizations, used to long “waterfall” development cycles, are struggling to keep up—and are hearing loud and clear from users that they want an end to the frustration. Contrary to popular belief, Business Intelligence (BI) is not just for big and established corporations. With systems designed specifically for the upcoming small organizations, the complicated and time-consuming process that is associated with BI implementation is a thing of the past. We all know how competitive the market place is and business intelligence (BI) is the tool that will give competitive advantage to nascent organizations needed for their survival. The basic reasons for adoption of BI in nascent organization are (Taljard Loren, 2012) - 1. Automation: Nascent business needs to get more done with fewer people! Automation will increase reliability and efficiency to improve company
  • 21. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 21 performance while internal workforce is free to spend its time on other important matters. An integrated BI solution introduces automated reporting by pulling information from accounting package or ERP. This eliminates the need to prepare reports manually and removes the risk of data loss when doing so. With the click of a button users can get up-to-date, accurate and well-presented information for informed decision making. 2. Competitive edge: Nascent business needs to be agile and responsive to gain and maintain a competitive edge. This requires insightful decision making that can only come from intelligent reporting. As business grows, so does the volume of information that needs to be processed, but time and resources remain limited. BI does more than just capture data; it orders it into an easily digestible format providing users with information that paints a clear picture of the financial status of the business. This will provide the ability to gain insights into trends and forecast and plan for the future. 3. Identify market trends: Being able to understand and react to market trends will keep entrepreneurs ahead of the pack. For a big corporate, introducing a product in the market based on misread market interpretations will not necessarily result in an issue of survival. But if entrepreneur makes the same mistake, it could be the beginning of the end. Nascent business needs BI as much, if not more, than larger companies to identify market trends and make decisions accordingly. 4. Make better decisions, faster: All companies face constant pressure to increase profitability, improve cash flow, reduce costs, and mitigate risk in order to improve financial performance. The ability to make good decisions and solve issues as they
  • 22. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 22 happen is crucial to success. As nascent company grows, or faces stiffer competition, the need to make good decisions fast becomes imperative. BI provides real-time automated reports that pull data directly from the company’s accounting package and delivers a single version of the truth. This eliminates spreadsheet chaos, which often results in human error and questions about data accuracy, allowing strategic business decisions to be made on the fly. 5. Return on investment: Typically, smaller businesses have shied away from BI because of the perceived cost and complexity. But BI solution integrated with internal accounting or ERP can simply pulls the information as per requirement, so no new significant IT investments are needed. Conclusion In an era of furious and constant change, organization are rewriting the rules and inventing new ones on a daily basis. Of course, finance is often at the center of the revolution, most forward thinking entrepreneurs are focusing on other side of the coin – the ‘agility’ (or business agility). Agile companies do more than cost cutting; they find ways to respond creatively to difficult situations. They explore new ideas and in those new ideas they find the seeds of their next round of growth. In a nascent organization, which is agile also, the good use of IT, data and information can pay back large dividends without necessarily incurring massive investment. Deploying Cloud computing in nascent business organizations provides strong Information Technology platform. In addition to IT, it also enables full business transformation and changes how they operate their business.
  • 23. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 23 Along with Cloud Computing, upcoming organizations that focus on the “intelligence” in business intelligence will derive positive and measurable benefits by identifying opportunities and making better decisions, based on trustworthy information. References Aberdeen Group report from Nov 2011 titled “The Analytical SMB” Retrieved from: http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/7188/RA-embedded-business- intelligence.aspx Chan T., 2009. Retrieved from: http://www.greentelecomlive.com/2009/03/16/full- interviewatt%E2%80 %99s-joe-weinman/, 16 March 2009, [Read at 15 July 2009]. Gartner. Cloud Computing. Retrieved from: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=707508 Gartner. Top 10 Tech Priorities of CIO’s. Retrieved from: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223502/The_top_10_tech_priorities_of_CIOs Herschel, R, T. & Jones, N, E., 2005. 'Knowledge management and business intelligence: the importance of integration', JOURNAL OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, Vol. 9, 2005, pp. 45-55 Highsmith J, 2002. Agile Software Development: Why It's Hot! IBM White paper - “Cutting through Complexity with Business Agility”, Retrieved from: ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/pdfs/BFW14001USEN.pdf Ismail, H.S., et al. 2006. “Agile Manufacturing: Framework and Practice.” International Journal of Agile Systems and Management. 1 (1): 11–28. Malcolm D, 2013. Cloud Computing – The Only Efficient Tool for Small Business. Retrieved from: http://www.thetechnologyadvisor.com/cloud-computing-the-only-efficient-tool- for-small-business/ Oosterhout M, 2006. Agile Business: The competitive weapon. Market research study in four business segments (2004) Peter M & Timothy G, 2011. The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing (draft) (2011). National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication, 800 -145
  • 24. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 24 Ranjan S.S., “Why Cloud is a Boon for Entrepreneurs?” – Retrieved from: http://cloud.siliconindia.com/cloud-expert/Why-Cloud-is-A-Boon-for-Entrepreneurs-eid- 67.html Samovski Dmitriy, 2009. Cost Vs Agility as Drivers for Cloud Computing. Retrieved from: http://www.somic.org/2009/11/17/costs-vs-agility-as-drivers-for-cloud-computing/ Sharifi, H., et al. 1999. “A Methodology for Achieving Agility in Manufacturing Organizations.” International Journal of Production Economics. 62 (1/2): 7-22. Sutevski D., 2009. Business Intelligence as a process. Retrieved from: http://www.entrepreneurshipinabox.com/319/business-intelligence-as-a-process/ Taljard Loren, 2012, 5 Reasons to Invest in Business Intelligence – Retrieved from: http://www.entrepreneurmag.co.za/entrepreneur-today/5-reasons-to-invest-in-business- intelligence/ Tapanainen T, 2012. “Information Technology (IT) Managers´ Contribution to IT Agility in Organizations — Views From the Field” Turban, E., Sharda R., Aronson J.E., Kina D., 2008. Business Intelligence a managerial approach', Pearson Education Inc., New Jersey VMware White paper. “Business Agility and the True Economics of Cloud Computing”, 2011. Retrieved from: http://corporate.sify.com/uploads/Business-Agility-and-the- True_Economics-of-Cloud-Computing.pdf Weinman Joe, 2013. Making the Cloud Work for Your Business. Retrieved from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225484 Wikipedia. Business Intelligence. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_intelligence Williams N & Williams S, 2007. The Business value of Business Intelligence Retrieved from: http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/4740 Yusuf, Y.Y., et al. 1999. “Agile Manufacturing: The Drivers, Concepts, and Attributes.” International Journal of Production Economics. 62 (1/2): 33–43.
  • 25. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 25 Author’s Profile Yuvraj Singh Gurjar, Research Scholar, Faculty of Computer Science, Pacific University, Udaipur, MCA, MCITP – SQL Server, MCTS – Business Intelligence, Oracle Certified Associate. He received his MCA degree from University of Rajasthan in the year of 2002. He started his career as MIS Programmer with RUIDP (An Asian Development Bank financed project in Rajasthan (India)). In 2003, he joined renowned bank Punjab National Bank as Officer-IT. In 2008 he shifted to Union Bank of India as Sr. Manager (Software). Later on, in year 2011 he founded KURIOS - A firm working in the area of Business Intelligence and Performance Management Solutions. Currently he is working as Chief Technical Consultant with KURIOS. He has more than 10 years of experience in IT field with specialization in MIS and BI applications. Kusum Rajawat, Research Scholar, Singhania University, Jhunjhunu, M.Com., MCA, M.Sc.- IT. She has vast experience of teaching in the field of Computer Science. She is teaching in various IT topics since last 8 years. Presently she is a Research Scholar in Singhania University, Jhunjhunu (Raj) India. Prof. (Dr.) Vijay Singh Rathore, MCA, M.Tech. (C.S.) PhD (Computer Science), MBA, ICDA-USA, ICAD-USA, Diploma French & German. Presently, He is Director in Shree Karni College, & Shree Karni Institute of Science, Management & Technology (KISMAT), and Professor (CSE) in Rajasthan College of Engineering For Women, Jaipur (India). He has 12 years of experience in Technical Education, having done the First PhD in Computer Science after MCA from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, written 12 Books on various subjects of
  • 26. BI & CLOUD – AGILITY TOOLS FOR NASCENT BUSINESS 26 Computer Science, published more than 50 research papers at national & international level, supervised 06 PhD candidates, and currently supervising 08 PhD research scholars in Computer Science. He is active member of various committees of UGC, RTU, UOR, UOK, JNU, SGVU, VMOU, NIMSU, AMITYU, MJRPU, IISU, JRSU, JRNRVU, PU etc. He is reviewer in some reputed International Journals. His research area is networking & security with special emphasis on Cloud Computing.