BI Competence Center (BICC) What even is that?
Are you planning to implement a Business Intelligence System in your company and want to ensure that it is used in the best possible way? Then, in addition to professional change management and thorough user Training you should also consider setting up a Business Intelligence Competence Centre – BICC for short.
The Business Intelligence Competence Centre coordinates all BI activities of a company. The essential task of this interdisciplinary team is interface management between management, IT and the specialist departments. The goal is to make the best possible use of the potential of Business Intelligence. Experience shows that Business Intelligence is used more frequently in companies with a BICC. The higher quality of the decision-supporting information ultimately promotes economic success.
BASIC FUNCTIONS AND ADVANTAGES OF A BICC
The formation of a Business Intelligence Competence Centre has an influence on the long-term success of a BI strategy. This is because Business Intelligence can be used more efficiently with a view to the entire company. Above all, the joint work on the BI strategy and its concretisation on a tactical and operative level is important. The Business Intelligence Competence Centre is responsible for the entire BI organisation, including the individual projects and the data infrastructure. The interdisciplinary cooperation in the BICC promotes communication and the exchange of experiences for a profitable use of BI possibilities. The further development of Business Intelligence in the company is also the responsibility of the BICC.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR MORE EFFICIENCY, SPEED AND ACCURACY IN PLANNING
The BICC aligns the interests of the business units with those of IT and develops requirements with regard to BI functions. It organises the selection and implementation of BI tools. It is also important to set priorities and allocate resources accordingly. The team members develop and control binding company-wide guidelines for the coordination of BI architecture, processes and data quality. The uniformity and consistency of the key figures used in the company is also the responsibility of the BICC. Another task is to promote the use of BI methods overall. Through further training and consulting, employees are made more aware of the benefits and potentials.
POSSIBLE ORGANISATIONAL FORMS
A Business Intelligence Competence Centre can be organised as an independent department or as a virtual team with representatives from the different departments. The virtual variant is more common in smaller companies, as the BICC-specific scope of work is not as large there. In this variant, the members of the team remain in their previous area of work and devote part of their working time to BICC. With this form of organisation, there is a close connection between BICC and the various divisions. The organisational effort required to set up the team also remains manageable. Larger companies tend to organise the Business Intelligence Competence Centre as an independent department with experts from different departments. When implementing a BICC, it is possible to start with a virtual team and gradually expand it into a separate department. In a combination of both variants, only some team members work exclusively for the BICC.
IMPLEMENTATION OF A BICC
Good planning, starting from the current situation, is the basis for setting up a Business Intelligence Competence Centre. This includes decisions on which organisational form fits best and which human and financial resources are available. The desired goals and the time frame for implementation are also part of the planning content. The implementation of the project can be done step by step. As with all organisational restructuring, transparency and functioning communication between all those involved are important.
Would you like to set up a BICC in your company or are you generally interested in Business Intelligence? Then get in touch with us. We will be happy to advise you personally or send you further information.
