Prepared by Fred M’mbololo Page i

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL

ON

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACTS OF ADOPTING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

AMONG SACCOS OPERATING WITHIN NAIROBI COUNTY

Written by Fred M’mbololo

Prepared by Fred M’mbololo Page ii

Table of Contents 1.0 Research problem ............................................................................................................................. 1

2.0 Objectives of the research ...................................................................................................................... 1

3.0 Proposed methodology of the study ...................................................................................................... 1

4.0 Significance of the study ......................................................................................................................... 2

5.0 References .............................................................................................................................................. 2

Prepared by Fred M’mbololo Page 1

1.0 Research problem

The adoption of Business Intelligence systems is critical to the smooth and coordinated operation

of organizations. As such the use of BI is becoming more prevalent in organizations of different

industries. Firms in the financial sector have invested in BI and coupled it with scrupulous

practices that have seen increased revenue and enormous cost savings (Watson et al. 2006).

Nevertheless, Maina (2007) found out that some SACCOs in Kenya that invested in BI did not

earn the promised benefits. This questions the positive effect of integration of BI in the financial

sector: of specific concern are the SACCOs in Kenya.

2.0 Objectives of the research

The main purpose of this study is to show how organizations can increase their performance by

employing BI systems. The message to the industry is that in today’s modern world a strong

decision support system is must in order to stay in the competitive market. The researcher hopes

that the study results will be sufficient enough to highlight these points to the top decision

makers of SACCOs in Nairobi County. The study therefore specifically aims at: determining the

impact of market focus, technological focus and strategy focused BI systems adoption in

SACCOs in Nairobi County.

3.0 Proposed methodology of the study

The study will employ both qualitative and quantitative methods in the selection of participants

and in carrying out the study. Cross-sectional descriptive research design approach will be

employed to ensure data is collected over a specific period of time, and the characteristics of

adopting BI systems in SACCOs in Nairobi County are assessed. Two staged sampling

procedure will be employed to select first the SACCOs and the individual participants to the

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study. The quantitative primary data collection tools will be questionnaires while the qualitative

primary data generation tools will be interviews with the managers of the selected SACCOs.

4.0 Significance of the study

However, research on information systems and its integration in organizations, lacks empirical

BI studies on the significance of BI. The fundamental question of whether or not BI has

important or critical business values is left unanswered in academic literature. This question is

especially pertinent because prior research shows inconsistent results of BI impacts on business

performances. Apart from filling the knowledge gap,, the information from the study will be

used by the government, SACCO’s management and other stakeholders in encouraging the

adoption of BI systems in SACCOs in Nairobi County.

5.0 References

Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya (2010) Automation of SACCOs assessment of

potential solutions. Available at : http://www.fsdkenya.org/pdf_documents/10-09-

22_SACCO_automation_report.pdf

Koteswara Rao & Roshan Kumar (2011), framework to integrate business intelligence and

knowledge management in banking industry, Review of Business and Technology

Research, Vol. 4 No.1

iCREATE software (n.d). Banking on Business Intelligence: A case for the Kenyan banking

sector. Available at: http://www.icreate.in/pdf/Banking-on-BI-A-case-for-the-Kenyan-

banking-sector.pdf

Hocevar, Borut & Jaklic, Jurij (2010). Assessing benefits of business intelligence systems – a

case study. Management: Journal of Contemporary Management Issues,Jun2010, Vol.

15 Issue 1, p87-119.

Jagielska, I., Darke, P. & Zagari, G. (2003). Business intelligence systems for decision support:

Concepts, processes and practice. In: T. Bui, H. Sroka, S. Stanek & J. Gotuchowski

(Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th

International Conference of the International Society for

Decision Support Systems (ISDSS'03) (pp. 215- 228), Poland, 13-16 July.