The Business Intelligence and Big Data phenomenon has picked up momentum over the past several years. Savvy organizations are utilizing data to make better business decisions and gain a competitive advantage. It seems simple, hire analytics professionals to analyze company data and gain a competitive advantage over the competition.
There are countless organizations that hire the best and brightest analysts but the analytics fail to deliver results. Unless analytics is embedded in your organization, you may be spending money on great analysis but cannot follow through on action.
To get the most out of your analytics, here are 5 ways to embed analytics into your strategic plan:
Ensure that your analytics program is in alignment with the corporate strategy. If you are measuring or analyzing an area that is contradictory to the vision, corporate acceptance will be virtually impossible to achieve.
If your organization does not have objectives, you will not know what to measure. To earn management buy in, tie the analytics program to supporting business objectives. This is specific and measurable. The measurable component is the analytics.
Although the vision of an organization rarely changes, objectives change regularly. When building an analytics program or tool, don’t design a final solution. Build out the tools and provide the analytics that are flexible enough to change with the organization. There will always be another iteration.
When presenting analytical findings or “telling the story”, always tie it back to the strategy. This reinforces to senior executives that analytics are supporting the strategy and not challenging it. The best way to lose budget dollars for an analytics program is to challenge the strategy.
Find a department or group within the company that is lacking analytics or struggling with new ideas. Team up with the group and enable them to better manage their portion of the business. Ensure that this group is both open to help and willing to act on the information provided. Allow this group to take credit for all of the success gained through analytics.
Although analytics is gaining popularity, it does not always drive the intended value in organizations. Great analytics changes the status quo and challenges corporate ideas. A change management methodology must be utilized when deploying any solution. If organizations are not willing to change or adapt with analytical findings, it is simply a waste of resources. When rolling out programs, start small, gain buy in and grow traction. Fly under the radar, be the group in the background enabling success and not taking credit for it.
Article written by Gabriel Gaultier
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