What benefits can a BICC bring to my organisation?
The benefits of a BICC broadly fall into four categories
- Information lifecycle
- Organisational barriers
- Strategic co-ordination
- Technical assurance
Who benefits from improving the lifecycle of information?
All members of the BICC will contribute and benefit from a co-ordinated approach:
- Information consumers and decision-makers want to know that specific business information is available and reliable
- Information analysts will want to analyse this information, and explore other information available to the business
Within the BICC group, consumers and analysts will have a forum to discuss their needs.
When these data requirements are understood by the group, fundamental questions can be answered:
- Information providers can say if the information exists within the organisation
- and if it does not exist, can look to derive it from internal sources, or seek external sources - Information technologists will know how it can be made available from internal or external sources
The group will collectively be aware of its remit and constraints, and ensure that solutions comply with organisational and external standards and regulations.
Answering these questions enables the lifecycle of information to be mapped out, from the point where it enters the organisation to the point where it reaches the people that use it.
How can a BICC lower organisational barriers?
When information needs are brought to the BICC group, everyone who takes part has the opportunity to help plan or recommend action. An inclusive approach makes the success of any initiative much more likely, because potential hazards are identified at an early stage. Such obstacles to success may be technical, logistical or budgetary, and if all concerned are aware of the constraints under which the organisation has to operate, the risk of wasting effort on trying to reach unachievable goals in reduced or even eliminated.
What strategic benefit does a BICC promote?
Because the BICC will take a complete view of the role of information in your organisation, the group will help to co-ordinate projects and avoid duplication of effort. IT infrastructures will be planned to meet upcoming demand rather than being forced to react to new situations. Project objectives will be aligned so that new developments, features and facilities satisfy the requirements of as many information consumers as possible in the shortest period of time, avoiding the problem of multiple projects with "tunnel vision" that end up conflicting with one another.
The BICC is most effective where it provides a basis for improving returns on investment right across the organisation. Hardware procurement avoids duplication and redundancy, software deployment eliminates waste and unnecessary licence costs. Capacity planning reduces system unavailability and increases productivity by reducing bottlenecks in data processing or retrieval.
Why is technical assurance important?
In the current information age, data is obtained, extracted, derived, delivered and consumed via many technologies. The decision-maker wants to have the key information available and reliable; to be so, it will have passed through many systems and devices. Those systems and devices are required to communicate with one another reliably and seamlessly. SAS provides the software technology to integrate many data sources, and to surface that information to whomever and however it is needed.
For example, information analysts may be charged with the task of intensive research, but not be aware of the technology to help them do that. The BICC forum will look at this group's needs and either make existing systems available to achieve the necessary processing power, or recommend the technology necessary to achieve the aim.
The BICC will be able to consider the options available to the organisation and consider the constraints too. As new versions of software from operating systems to applications become available, it is vitally important that the BICC are able to anticipate potential pitfalls in forwards and backwards compatibility so that the organisation is not forced into a technical cul-de-sac.
For the most part, the BICC should be able to address most of the questions posed so far, but there are always some considerations when a "third eye" is useful.
Read why you should consider inviting Amadeus to take part in your BICC.
