Paper Type
Complete Research Paper
Description
Business Intelligence (BI) solutions are complex and abstract. “You can build the solution, but users will not come,” Cindi Howson writes in her famous BI book, indicating that even if it is successfully implemented, a BI solution may not be used to its full intention. Guided by the research question, “How do we bootstrap and adapt a BI solution?” this study investigates a successful BI solution at a large Norwegian company. Based on a case study, this paper argues that it is fruitful to regard a successful BI solution as the growth of an Information Infrastructure rather than the implementation of a certain technology alone. Drawing on the definition by Hanseth and Lyytinen, an Information Infrastructure is a shared, open, heterogeneous, and evolving socio-technical system (which they call an installed base) consisting of users, a set of IT capabilities, operations, and design communities. This paper attempts to describe how the case company is sustaining their successful BI solution and what we can learn. As a practical contribution, it offers three guidelines for BI practitioners. This study should be of interest to both users and managers of Business Intelligence solutions in the industry.
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY´S: THE STUDY OF A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SOLUTION AS AN INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
Business Intelligence (BI) solutions are complex and abstract. “You can build the solution, but users will not come,” Cindi Howson writes in her famous BI book, indicating that even if it is successfully implemented, a BI solution may not be used to its full intention. Guided by the research question, “How do we bootstrap and adapt a BI solution?” this study investigates a successful BI solution at a large Norwegian company. Based on a case study, this paper argues that it is fruitful to regard a successful BI solution as the growth of an Information Infrastructure rather than the implementation of a certain technology alone. Drawing on the definition by Hanseth and Lyytinen, an Information Infrastructure is a shared, open, heterogeneous, and evolving socio-technical system (which they call an installed base) consisting of users, a set of IT capabilities, operations, and design communities. This paper attempts to describe how the case company is sustaining their successful BI solution and what we can learn. As a practical contribution, it offers three guidelines for BI practitioners. This study should be of interest to both users and managers of Business Intelligence solutions in the industry.