Syscos BI Implementation Issues Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Syscos BI Implementation Issues - Case Study Example The author of the paper states that Sysco is a highly decentralized business with more than 100 independently operating companies (McAfee and Wagonfeld, 2). As a result, each company enjoyed a considerable level of autonomy. In addition, each operating company used to prepare its own profit and loss statements. However, there are more issues that make the implementation of the program difficult. Firstly, the cost of implementation of the BI system is to be shared by independent companies. However, most of these companies have their own such systems already in force. Thus, forcing these companies to pay for the new system is a difficult task. Still, it becomes necessary to change the system as most companies have software and hardware which are totally different from each other. Even the companies with the same core application have it configured differently (McAfee and Wagonfeld, 2). Thus, the information loaded by different companies is totally different from each other. For example , if two companies deal with the same customer, the customer information they collect will entirely be different. So, it becomes a difficult task for Sysco to analyze as to what meaningful data can be extracted from the central data warehouse they create. In other words, data integration is going to be a headache for the company. Yet another serious issue lies with training employees to use the program effectively. In addition, it is yet to ascertain as to what extent the data produced by the BI will be suitable for the company’s operation (McAfee and Wagonfeld, 10). In addition, the company would take a long time to get used to the software and hence the huge amount spent up-front will not be returned in short term. 2. The decision to answer two questions initially Initially, Sysco decided to have the software answering two questions. Both the questions were exactly futuristic in nature unlike the kind of information that would only reveal the past performance. The first que stion considered was as what new products could be sold to each customer. It is possible for the BI to analyze the purchasing pattern of each customer and predict what products best suit each customer (McAfee and Wagonfeld, 8). The second question considered the list of customers who were likely to leave the company (9); a question that certainly has futuristic value in the performance of a company. The answers to these questions could be used by both the independent companies and the headquarters alike for analysis and further development. In addition, the main objective of Sysco was to pay close attention to its customers, (9) and for that purpose, the answers to these questions were satisfactorily sufficient. In addition, Sysco did not want to use the software for more purposes in the beginning because they wanted to give the employees enough time to get used to the software and to understand its effectiveness. Business Objects supported the adoption of these two questions becaus e the questions were the most effective ones to show the practical usefulness of the BI software. Moreover, the information available from these questions were readily useful for the top management at the headquarters and the independent companies and well within the purview of the customer intelligence analytic applications they developed (McAfee and Wagonfeld, 9). As far as tradeoffs are concerned, they are plenty in number.