How to Implement a Successful Business Intelligence Strategy

In today’s digitalized world, the usage of big data and business intelligence is vital if a business is to succeed. A real time access to data makes room for growth and provides opportunities to remain competitive, by improving a company’s offerings to better fit customer needs.

The importance of data analytics has propelled the appearance of many analytics tools on the market. However, although these tools give out valuable information that you can use to your advantage and attract a broader audience and strengthen your brand image, not much can be accomplished by shooting blindly. The only way your efforts can yield results is if they are structured in a well-defined strategy.

The What and the Why of a Business Intelligence Strategy

You can think of a business intelligence strategy as a game-plan that will take you from point A, which is your status quo, to point B, which is the moment of successful implementation of business intelligence in your organization.

In order to create a successful strategy, you have to think about all of its aspects: from defining the main actors and factors, to the way you will measure the impact of your efforts.

The implementation of business intelligence is everything but easy, as it requires a lot of resources: money, time and people. However, it results in a high ROI, which makes it worth it, especially in the long term.

Other than the ROI, the strategy is important for another very logical reason: it makes sure that you get where you are headed without losing your way. A strategy will give you a clear goal and ensure that you stay consistent, and that you implement the changes in your organization regardless of the obstacles.

The How of Implementing a BI Strategy

Know Where You Stand

Before you can start implementing any kind of changes in your organization, you first need to understand where you stand at the moment. In other words, you have to find out what is working out and what is not so you can decide on which parts of the process you need to focus on. Implementing a solution in place of a process which is already working just fine, will only make employees uneasy and dissatisfied.

Know Where You’re Heading For

A lot of business intelligence solutions fail in the implementation stage because of various challenges related to data, funding, staff or client resistance and so on.

In order to be as prepared as possible, you have to do the hard lifting before you implement any changes in your organization. This includes defining your key stakeholders, understanding your BI user group’s requirements, setting expectations and determining the way you will measure the results across the organization.

Knowing who will use the data and for what purpose will help you determine what type of data is the most needed in your organization, thus guiding you towards making better, more informed decisions.

Communicate Your Requirements

After you decide the defining factors in your organization, you need to clearly communicate your requirements to all the involved parties, so they know what to expect and you avoid possible issues right from the start.

Create Manageable Tasks

Business intelligence implementation is a complex process, so breaking down the requirements you come up with into simpler chunks of work will make it easier to keep moving forward and ensure that the motivation levels are high, as people feel more motivated when they see immediate results. And, smaller tasks will yield results much sooner than one big deliverable.

Moreover, if you are implementing a project of a bigger scale, you have to keep in mind that the project can get postponed many times, so not having any kind of deliverable in the meantime can kill the team’s enthusiasm.

Finally, smaller tasks will give you a more comprehensive view of your progress, and will immediately point to any kind of problems that might appear in the meantime.

When it comes to any changes you implement to a business, there is no start or end date. Do not hurry the process. Instead, take small, but certain steps towards your desired position.

Process the Data

If you want to get relevant, useful insights, you have to also input relevant, clean data. So, performing strict data quality management is an absolute must to ensure that low quality data doesn’t cost you too much.

Another thing to have in mind is to make sure that the data definitions are clear, since a different definition may imply different numbers.

Define Your Targets and KPIs

To be able to know how good your company is performing, you have to set well-defined goals, as well as key performance indicators that you can measure the results against, and track your progress. When deciding on your KPIs, do not get too broad; not every process in your company needs a performance indicator right off the bat. A good practice is starting with a couple of the most important KPIs, and then expanding these later on.

Make the Decision

Finally, after having gone through all of the above steps, you are ready to choose a business intelligence tool that will help you out on your journey. That does not mean, however, that the first software you choose will be your best option.

With so many tools available on the market, even when you have all the needed information, chances are that you will not be able to find one that fits you perfectly from the very first try. Do not rush the process and try out different solutions before making the final call.

Thankfully, most of the tools offer free trial periods, so you will be able to go through this process without incurring too much costs.

Final Notes

Implementing a business intelligence strategy is only possible after understanding your current situation and all of its defining factors, and the destination you wish to reach. Knowing where you go will help you gather the right kind of information and make the needed decisions to get there.

Once you understand your position, build a business intelligence strategy roadmap that takes you to the moment of full business intelligence implementation step by step. Setting smaller, incremental goals, will keep your employees enthusiasm burning, as they will be able to see the results of their efforts much faster.

Finally, do not forget that implementing a business intelligence strategy is a process is not a one-time thing – you should constantly work on accessing the way you work and find ways to improve, and room to grow.