The Hidden Costs of ERP Analytics — and How to Avoid It
How much does your analytics solution cost?
Analytics offers huge business gains but hidden costs and complexity can quickly turn the dream into a nightmare. We’ve all heard stories where companies believed they had negotiated a great deal on their BI tool, but a few months in they found themselves swamped with costs they had not anticipated — and not budgeted. This, unfortunately, is an all too common occurrence.
In their eagerness to implement analytics, many companies fail to see beyond the initial software cost. As a result, the additional costs required to implement and run the solution catch them off guard. The devil, after all, is always in the details!
So the next time you evaluate a BI solution, be sure to consider the following questions.
What is the cost of the tool itself?
This is the sticker/list/license price of a particular tool and is normally the monthly, annual, or lifetime cost you would pay to use the tool. Being the most visible component of cost, this is the price that’s most commonly advertised/marketed to you.
Do you require additional products and services to complete the solution?
Forget analytics for a moment and think of what it takes to build a house – foundation, roofing walls, doors, and so on. Are you getting a house that’s ready to occupy or are you being offered just a few of the building blocks? If it’s the latter, then you will need to source and assemble the remaining components, which means additional time cost, and complexity. So make sure to check if what you’re being offered is a complete end-to-end solution that’s ready to go or if has gaps that you need to plug with additional third-party tools.
How much do you need to pay for Implementation and customization?
This represents the installation of the tool and the additional costs involved in getting the system live and functioning as per requirements – from setup and mapping data sources to scoping report requirements and creating dashboards. The more complex your ERP, the higher the level of customization and the longer and more expensive the implementation is likely to take
What are the ETL and Data Warehousing costs?
In the age of self-service BI, one of the most prevalent misinformation is that you can simply connect a Generic BI tool to an ERP system and start seeing reports and dashboards immediately. Unfortunately, it’s not this simple. Raw ERP data is messy. It needs to be cleaned, formatted, and organized (ETL/Data Preparation) to make sense of it all. Besides, there is data stored in other enterprise systems as well as historical data which need to be combined for a unified view of the business (Data Warehousing). So unless your chosen tool comes with ETL and data warehousing capabilities, you could end up with huge additional costs. Do remember here that ETL and Data Warehousing are often the most expensive components of a BI environment – in terms of licenses, resources, and development effort
What is the cost of running the analysis and how much does it take to operate the tool?
Now that you have the BI environment set up and ready to use, how much does it take to develop a report/dashboard? A relatively simple way to measure this is to calculate how many resources you require and how much time it takes them to deliver actionable insight – Data architects, ETL developers, report developers, business analysts, etc. The more manual effort (coding) required, the more expensive the tool is to run.
How much is the maintenance, support, and upgrade cost?
Just like your car, your BI tool will need periodic maintenance to keep it running at its peak. Besides your employees are likely to run into roadblocks while using the tool. How much are the support and maintenance fees charged by the vendor? And do you need to pay for product upgrades?
These are just a few of the costs that come hidden with your analytics tool. If you consider hardware, training, consulting, and other costs, the list is a lot longer and the total cost of ownership (TCO) is many times higher. So it’s no surprise that Gartner says that the annual cost of owning and managing software applications can be as much as four times the cost of the initial purchase. Starting from a low three-digit or four-digit initial price tag, the eventual cost of an analytics solution can easily reach a high six-figure
Why do Anvizent Customers Spend So Much Less?
When customers choose Anvizent, they avoid many of the unpleasant surprises. This helps them enjoy up to 65 percent lower TCO vs. competing solutions. Here is a brief overview of a few of Anvizeznt’s unique capabilities which make this cost saving possible.
Single solution for data management and analytics with a Built-In Automated Data Warehouse. No need to invest in procuring additional tools, integration services, etc.
End-to-End Automation. Build dashboards and reports with zero coding, saving yourself the time, effort, and cost associated with traditional development.
Pre-built Manufacturing and ERP-specific solution (not just a tool). Get started instantly, rather than invest additional time and effort in mapping data sources, scoping reporting requirements, developing KPI calculations, creating dashboards, etc.
100+ ready-to-use dashboards for every role, department, and ERP. Save the time and cost of building dashboards from scratch. 100% customizable, dashboards can be quickly configured to your context.
Rapid deployment. You are up and running in a matter of hours or days vs. spending weeks and months on making the solution work for you.
If you’d like to know more about these capabilities and also get an accurate estimation of how much the Anvizent will cost, please request a free quote. If you hold back, you could end up spending a whole lot more.
