Critical Success Factors for Implementing Business Intelligence Systems in Small and Medium Enterprises on the Example of Upper Silesia, Poland

The main objective of this article is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for Business Intelligence (BI) systems implementation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).The structure of the article is subordinated to this objective. The paper identifies the term Business Intelligence, characteristics of Business Intelligence systems, and various perspectives of their development. Then, the existing CSFs of IT projects and BI projects proposed by various authors in literature are reviewed. Next, on the basis of statistical data and literature, the role of SMEs in the economy and the barriers to their development are assessed. The obtained results allowed us to determine that one of the barriers to the SMEs development is the implementation and use of IT. Subsequently, using in-depth interviews with SMEs, the SMEs need for BI systems as well as the determinants and barriers to their implementation are recognized. Based on the findings, using critical thinking and inductive reasoning, the authors of the article along with the researched enterprises have defined CSFs that are crucial for implementing BI systems in SMEs. The results obtained may be useful for managers, policy makers, business analysts, and IT specialists in dealing with planning and implementation of BI systems in SMEs.