Boris Evelson By Boris Evelson

I am so glad that my Information Week article BI in Healthcare is receiving interest and mostly positive feedback. I believe that this is indeed a very important topic to write about, especially considering how behind the times the industry is, and what a unique opportunity we have right now to get it right. We so strongly believe that this is such a critical IT issue and challenge, that Forrester is even bending its own rules slightly – typically all our research is “role” based, not industry based, as we most often find that challenges and requirements by role are almost always very similar across industries. Healthcare and public sectors seem to be a big exception, and therefore, I and some of my colleagues do plan to publish more Healthcare IT specific research. For example, I am currently in the middle of surveying top 30+ BI vendors specializing in Healthcare against 40+ criteria. Stay tuned to the results of this research. And my colleague, Craig LeClair (http://www.forrester.com/rb/search/results.jsp?N=0+11226), is in the midst of conducting research on EMR best practices.

I also welcome the opportunity to respond to the ANON1250257151313 comments that our research is “vendor sponsored”, that we recommend “BI-as-a-fix”, and that we are “far from the real world”, as follows:

  • Forrester Research is an independent research organization that does not do ANY vendor sponsored research. In my personal situation, major BI vendors are always my biggest critics. Just take a look at any of my (http://www.forrester.com/rb/search/results.jsp?N=0+11737) or any other relevant Forrester research and you will find that it’s almost always about best practices and actionable advice to our readers – IT practitioners – which very often includes vendor criticism.
  • By no means am I recommending “BI-as-a-fix”, but BI can be very effectively used as a tool to diagnose the problems, analyze root causes and play an important role in creating comprehensive solutions. You’ve got to start somewhere, and BI is a perfect starting point.
  • Most of Forrester analysts, including myself, spent most of their careers as hands-on-practitioners. Specifically, I was a hands on programmer, team leader, consultant, project manager and consulting practice manager for 25 years before I joined Forrester. Again, please take a look at our research, and you will see that it is not typical “sitting-in-my-ivory-tower-criticizing-everyone” research. It’s always very practical and actionable.

I love and welcome this challenge, Mr or Ms ANON1250257151313, so please write to bevelson@forrester.com and let’s keep the dialog going! I also welcome all of the other IW readers to email me directly with any Healthcare BI research requests.