BI Consulting Services

For businesses to grow, they require unique opportunities and implement effective strategies to achieve a competitive market advantage and sustainability. For many modern businesses, this means implementing a business intelligence (BI) system. 

BI is defined as a set of processes and technologies that convert raw data into useful information businesses can use to grow. Typically, a BI system can handle vast amounts of information to identify and develop new opportunities for businesses. 

BI systems usually include a range of tool features that businesses can use for a variety of internal functions. The most important BI tool features include:

• Dashboards. Dashboards offer companies a real-time overview of their business in the form of charts, graphs, charts and summaries.
• Reporting. Reports enable business leaders to condense large amounts of data into a wide variety of possible views. Through this, they can take advantage of statistical analysis to identify trends.
• Predictive Analytics. Predictive analytics give businesses an objective view of the risks and rewards associated with each potential decision made. 
• Data Mining. Data can be mined from a large variety of sources and merged into a single, easy-to-use tool where it can be analyzed. 
• ETL. ETL stands for extract, transform and load. This procedure is used to copy data from different sources into a destination system to build a data warehouse. 
• OLAP. Online analytical processing (OLAP) is a process used to answer multi-dimensional analytical queries fast and efficiently in computing.
• Drill-Down. This is a problem-solving method that involves investigating and identifying the root of a problem. 

Which Type of Businesses Needs a BI Consulting? 

Every business has unique needs and challenges. Often, businesses do not have the time or resources to identify these needs and challenges and require BI consulting services. Businesses in all types of industries can benefit from working with a BI consultant or consulting team. These consultants can help businesses with a variety of tasks, including accounting, developing processes and hiring the right talent. 

A consultant can also help businesses to identify challenges and financial and reputation risks during decision-making processes. Therefore, specifically, businesses that want to grow or expand to other fields can gain advantages from working alongside a consultant. 

BI consultants often work alongside other professionals such as a SharePoint engineer to ensure successful development and integration of third-party programs.

The Steps for Creating a Successful BI Infrastructure

To implement a successful BI infrastructure, a business has to invest in BI consulting from top BI consulting firms that focus on data and analysis in three essential phases:

1. Data Management
2. Data Visualization and Dashboards
3. Business Analytics
   

The first step to business intelligence is effective data management. This includes:

1. Considering business requirements and establishing the data structure set on those needs.
2. Establishing data governance policies.
3. Determining the data collection process and practices.
4. Processing the data for analysis.
5. Building a data warehouse. 
6. Verifying the data by using quality-assurance testing.

BI consulting services have many benefits for a wide variety of business, but what exactly does a BI consultant bring to a company? Let’s explore: 

An Overview of BI Consultants and Their Responsibilities 

A BI consultant helps businesses with the gathering, organization and management of computerized data. They will evaluate current systems and introduce new software when needed to improve the assessment process of a business’ acquired data. By using business management principles and advanced technology, a BI consultant can enhance a business’s efficiency, reduce operating costs and boost profits. A BI consultant can also assist with employee training in new systems. 

Other tasks BI consultants assist with include: 

• Correlating with partners to ensure the overall business solution is positioned and implemented on a global scale.
• Building rapport with external vendors to support business objectives.
• Developing high-level roadmaps of business goals.
• Transforming programs to increase the possibility of meeting business goals.
• Meeting customer demands by overcoming technical constraints.

Consultants offering BI consulting services can work as independent contractors or operate as part of a consulting group. This varies largely from business to business. In smaller businesses, they may work independently, while they may work as part of a larger team in bigger and more established firms. 

The Software Used by BI Consultants 

There are several types of business intelligence consulting services and consultants often specialize in one or more of these. Let’s take a look at the six leading types: 

• Power BI consulting. Power BI consulting is a form of Microsoft BI consulting, which is a cloud-based reporting and analytics platform. These Microsoft BI services connect users to a vast range of data through interactive dashboards, reports and compelling visualizations. Microsoft business intelligence consulting allows businesses to access and view data anywhere.

• SAP® BI consulting. SAP® BI consulting companies offer businesses a solution to analyze and report data from different independent data sources. A SAP® BI consultant can assist with the implementation of the solution. 

• Compass BI consulting. Compass business intelligence consulting firms assist businesses to implement the best BI roadmap and unlock the true potential of data sourcing and management through BI architecture and a scalable data warehouse.

• Rapid BI consulting. This type of BI consulting allows businesses to pool their data from application spreadsheets, analytics applications, databases and industry-specific software into a central BI visualization tool.

• Sharepoint business intelligence consulting. Sharepoint business intelligence services enable businesses to bring together processes and information using a variety of powerful BI tools. It also assists businesses with visualizing fundamental trends and key performance indicators. 

• Azure business intelligence consulting. Powered by Microsoft, Azure BI services are designed to help businesses convert data into easy-to-understand, intelligent visualizations that are used wherever decisions are made. An Azure Cloud consultant can assist with implementing the solution. 

When a consultant specializes in one of the above fields, they are trained to have specific hard and soft skills. Let’s take a look at some of these important skills a BI consultant candidate should have: 

The Skills of the Ideal BI Consultant Candidate 

The tasks of a business intelligence services consultant may vary according to their field of specialization or a business’ needs. However, despite the difference in responsibilities, there are certain skills that every BI consultant should have. These include: 

• An excellent understanding of BI, data analytics, and database concepts 
• Knowledge of data warehousing 
• Skills in reporting and analysis
• Ability to present key findings that aid in decision making
• Skills in data warehousing, SQL and database programming, and modeling
• Knowledge of implementing data security
• Skills in reporting with formats such as charts and tabular tables
• Ability to design and implement complex analysis solutions
• Excellent communications skills, both verbal and written 
• Able to work independently or as part of a team 
• Problem-solving skills

The Cost of Hiring a BI Consultant

One of the most important things to keep in mind when hiring a BI consultant from business intelligence consulting companies is the cost involved. The salaries of these professionals vary largely from country to country. Let’s compare the hourly salaries of BI consultants in five major countries:  

• USA: $54,04
• UK: $69,07
• Germany: $36,39
• Switzerland: $65,70
• Ukraine: $30*

*Rates are provided by the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team over local job boards

The hourly rates above show that a business can hire a BI consultant from the biggest IT consulting companies in Ukraine at four to five times lower compared to most other countries. This makes Ukraine one of the most affordable countries to hire from. But not only is it cost-effective, but businesses can also be sure that they will hire highly skilled and experienced business intelligence consulting candidates from Ukraine. 

Use Mobilunity to Find the Ideal BI Consultant 

If you’re looking for a business intelligence consulting company, Mobilunity can assist. Mobilunity is a highly recognized Ukrainian outstaffing company. We take pride in having over 10 years of experience providing dedicated BI services consultants and development teams for businesses in a variety of industries. When seeking BI consulting services, make sure to prioritize expertise in data visualization tools like Power BI and the ability to hire Power BI developers who can drive meaningful insights from your data.

We work with companies big and small in over 20 countries. Some of our clients include Esurance in Switzerland, DNest in Spain, Network of Arts in Israel, Minedia in Japan, and 42 Matters in Switzerland. 

Our success is partly due to our efficient process of working with clients. Our process includes the following simple but highly effective steps: 

1. Recruiting the right candidates

We listen to our clients to understand exactly which candidates they require. We then put the right candidates through a series of tests and interviews, whereafter successful workers are provided with an offer. 

2. Assisting with onboarding 

Onboarding can be a complicated process. We make it simple by ensuring our workers are provided with all the resources needed for a successful partnership. 

3. Retaining workers 

We are passionate about long-term relationships. Therefore, we work hard to ensure contractual obligations are met and that our clients’ needs are met every step of the way.

If your business is ready to find quality BI consulting services to improve processes and reduce risks, speak to Mobilunity. We will find the right candidates for you! 

Written by:

Anastasia Stefanuk

Disclaimer: All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.