This research paper consists of three main chapters which complement each other. In the first chapter analysis of previous studies of BI was made and research gap was determined.
According to undertaken research, nowadays, BI solutions themselves are very well described and their main components are indicated. It is also clearly examined by researchers how BI was developing through years and how it will possibly change in future. Moreover, several studies on how BI influences corporate performance were made. However, these studies were usually taken in other countries than Russia and were very subjective because did not include any objective indicators of performance. So that the research gap was clearly defined – taking a study of the influence on corporate performance made by BI solutions on Russian market and applying more objective indicators. These indicators are financial ratios and measures.
In the second and the third chapters the methodology of the research and the empirical research itself were made. Research design was not based on any other previous study because, as it was mentioned, they all were mostly subjective. So that, research design was developed in the way that different indicators were included. First, the case study of the company which adopted BI was made. The goal of this part was to understand how BI can possibly influence performance of one particular company. Second, the findings from the case study on a par with other research questions were tested in the semi-structured survey with managers from other BI using companies.
Then, finally, financial indicators before and after adoption of BI were evaluated. Research design supports the goal of the paper and corresponds to the research questions which were stated in the beginning.
Talking about the results of this research paper it is first important to answer all the research questions which were asked in the beginning of it and in the methodology of the research. The first question was “Does adoption of BI solution improve corporate performance of Russian companies?” and the answer on this question is “yes”. This question was answered with help of the case study and semi-structured survey of the managers and users from the companies where BI solution is adopted. The most of respondents and interviewee evaluated influence on overall corporate performance as positive or very positive. Several specific performance indicators that can be improved by help of BI are production efficiency and understanding of business processes.
These are the main fields for which BI systems are actually used. Because BI provides users with a lot of information that can be accessed anytime, managers start to look on their companies more precisely and raise their understanding of internal operations. So that, it leads to better understanding of business processes and their potential reengineering.
62 The second question on whether and how financial performance of companies is affected by BI was answered in the last part of empirical study. Despite the most of respondents in the survey answered that their businesses profitability and financial results were influenced positively, objective analysis showed that this is not a pattern for all companies. According to the undertaken research different relative indicators change differently in every exact company. Overall, in the half of companies every specific ratio can either improve or not after adoption of BI and the chance of it is nearly 50%. Moreover, it cannot be said that financial results improve only when time passes after the BI project. In the empirical study financial indicators for up to two years after the project were analyzed and there was no pattern which can be applied for every company. So that, the answer on this research question is that financial performance is not affected by BI.
Next two research questions were directed on innovative development and ability to explore and capture new opportunities i.e. how companies might perform in the long term. These questions could not be answered positively or negatively. According to the case study and the survey, companies evaluate the influence on innovative development as positive. However, only one indicator was mentioned to be improved by the majority of respondents – integration and development of other information systems. It can be derived that BI helps in overall development of IT solutions in the company. It is a logical outcome because BI usually needs a lot of information sources to perform the best as possible. When managers see how information from several information systems can be integrated, analyzed and reported in BI, they understand that if other departments were also automated they will understand internal processes even deeper then now.
So that, when BI is implemented and its positive influence on performance is proved, management decides to integrate other IT solutions in order to receive gains in performance from these solutions themselves and to increase gains in performance which BI can provide. However, other indicators of innovative development were assessed as either positively or neutrally influenced by different companies. So that, the final answer on the question whether BI improves company’s innovative development is “yes” for the development of information infrastructure but no answer whether it will definitely improve other aspects can be provided after undertaken research.
As for the ability to explore and capture new opportunities, only the transformation or integration of new business models was evaluated as positively influenced by BI. This might happen because managers, getting more information and understanding of internal business processes start evaluating their business’ current business model. When they get understanding what and how can be improved, they start to transform the model or even change it completely.
However, other aspects of capturing new opportunities were either evaluated differently
63 (positively or neutrally) by different companies or evaluated neutrally by the most of participants.
Moreover, the case study also did not provide any insights how the company improved this aspect of the business. So that, the direct answer on this research question cannot be given. Companies start to change their internal operations and business models after adoption of BI, but they do not completely use it for capturing marketing and other external opportunities such as new customers, suppliers or market niches or for the development of new products.
The last question was dedicated on understanding which departments are influenced the most and how by BI. This question was answered mostly with help of the survey in which respondents mentioned marketing, sales, finance, production and logistics departments as the most positively affected by BI. These departments are very different from each other but they all can generate a lot of data for managerial analysis. Moreover, in these departments information systems are already widely used and can be connected to BI. Sales and marketing departments usually work with CRM system, production is often automated by ACS and in logistics department specific systems to collect data about supplies and warehousing are also used. As for financial department, it also generates a lot of data and the way how it can benefit from BI is presented in the case study and in one of the research papers presented in the literature review. Managerial accounting becomes much easier and faster if specific dashboards and templates for reports are created and automatically renewed in BI.
This paper was mostly dedicated on extracting managerial implications and they are the following:
• Improve of performance after adoption of BI is achieved but it does not correspond in financial results. If managers are asking themselves whether adoption of BI will lead to better corporate performance, the answer is “yes”. Performance of marketing, sales, finance, production and logistics departments will be improved the most. Understanding of business processes among managers will also grow up. However, several departments, among which are Human Resources, R&D, supplier relations and Information Technologies will not be affected significantly. Moreover, improve of performance will not be reflected in any financial indicators and metrics. The only metric that can be applied is ROI but the measurement in such a complex project as integration of BI solution is challenging.
• If a company is oriented on innovative development and wants to capture new opportunities BI will be a helpful tool for it. Especially BI will help in internal development of business processes and information systems. BI can serve as a basis for integration of
64 other IT solutions and for reengineering of business processes and business models revising. However, BI is not a tool that will change everything in terms of innovations and capturing new opportunities. It might influence how companies develop innovative products and technological and business platforms for their partners, but it is not a pattern for every organization and it depends on how BI is used by every particular business.
The main purpose of this research was to explore whether adoption of BI system influences corporate performance positively or not. According to the undertaken empirical study which was designed in the way it provides both objective but general and subjective but deep results, the fact that corporate performance rises after integration of BI was proved. It is not reflected in financial indicators and, therefore, it is still hard to measure the exact level of improvement but the amount of other non-financial indicators which were improved according to the responds from the real users of BI is significant. In addition to the improvement in operational performance, BI helps in innovative development of the companies and this outcome is also important because it shows that BI is not only a tool for daily analytics but a driving force of future development.
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