8 Tips For Implementing A Successful Business Intelligence Strategy

8 Tips For Implementing A Successful Business Intelligence Strategy Created by Jack Anderson

Get Executive/Stakeholde r Buy-In & Build a BI Team While your entire organization can benefit from a BI strategy, it doesn’t mean they will all support it off the bat. From the beginning, you need a cross-functional team to lead the initiative. Start with an Executive sponsor, someone who understands the organization’s business strategy and knows the company mission. This does not have to be the executive in charge of IT.

2. Examine & Document Current State Now that you have your BI team in place, the first step is to look at current state. This includes the data currently collected, the technology used to collect it, and the organizational structures and processes used. Look at what’s working and what data is valuable, so you can continue to collect and use it. You don’t have to start from scratch.

3. Determine Key Performance Indicators Next step for the BI team is to work together to determine the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the business. These must be measurable numbers that indicate whether the business is meeting its goals and where it needs to make improvements. KPIs and their effective measurement and reporting are the heart and soul of a good BI strategy.

4. Develop A Common Language As part of the development of KPIs, it’s also important to develop a common language. This is almost like a dictionary that goes with the KPIs. There has to be consensus of how the data and any calculations are defined. For instance, “gross profit” and “gross margin” might be considered the same thing by some parts of the organization, while other areas might calculate them differently. It’s important to get agreement on the definitions and the data that will be collected and analyzed.

5. Choose A Solution If your business doesn’t already have the capacity to deliver on your Business Intelligence strategy, you will need to determine a BI software system or partner. The work your team has done to this point will help in the decision-making process.

6. Start With a Trial The entire BI strategy doesn’t have to be implemented at once. Consider doing a trial with only a few KPIs. Use them to build some informational dashboards and reports, and gather feedback from the organization on the information and the usefulness of the data.

7. Build Understanding Across The Organization Change in the organization won’t be easy. There will always be nay-sayers who don’t believe in the BI strategy and its execution. Keep communication lines open as you conduct and roll out the trial. Help the organization understand how this new approach will serve them in their roles and help the business as a whole.

8. Review Continuously It’s always important to do a continuous review of your strategy, even after you’re collecting, reporting and reviewing the relevant data.

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