Business Case Data Analytics

Business Case Data Analytics. Although the potential of Big Data and business intelligence are recognized by organizations Gartner analyst Nick Heudecker says that the failure rate of analytics projects is close to 85% Uncovering the power of analytics improves business operations reduces costs enhances decisionmaking and enables the launching of more personalized products.

Build The Case For Better AnalyticsAssess The NeedHow You Communicate Is as Important as What You CommunicateCross Departmental CollaborationLay Out The Individual and Organizational BenefitsTotal Cost of OwnershipTime to Value — Expect (and Plan) For The UnexpectedBring It All TogetherRememberThe goal is not to get an investment in analytics The goal is a better business outcome more sales lower costs reduced risk If you’re going to make the business case to decisionmakers they are business people and need to understand the business benefits Without getting too scientific certain areas of our brains — motor cortex emotional reaction imagining sensations visual image processing — “light up” when we hear or see a story Stories help us remember generate empathy and even bring us together Think about the actions you want your audience to take In the white paper “How to Make the Business Case for Analytics” Gartner Analyst Alan D Duncanrecommends having three actionable next steps so you can kickstart your analytics project Keep that in mindWhat do you want your audience to do when you are done presenting your business case to them? Related to that keep the business goal in mind Don’t make your audience guess With the goal in mind make it cl Make sure there is a business need for enhanced analytics I’m assuming there is but you should ask yourself this question honestly One of the key concepts in marketing is that it is easier to identify a customer need and then make a product than it is to make a product first and hope you find a customer that wants it Make sure your organization has a need one that you can fix Remember that smoke? Make sure it’s from a smoldering fire and not from a coworker who burned a cheese pita in the office’s toaster oven A report backlog that causes annoyances for IT or an analyst doesn’t mean the decisionmakers will agree that it is worth funding a project to remove that annoyance However if you focus on the impact of getting timely actionable datarich reports into the hands of decisionmakers you’ll find it is easier to identify the value and make a case for funding One way to approach this is to follow the flow below 1 Who consumes the information? 2 What decisions do the When we’re talking about how to make the business case for analytics we have to talk about persuasion strategies It’s a fascinating topic on its own but I caution you against going too far and reaching the point of manipulation I don’t want you to manipulate the decision maker — I want you to communicate your message A fine line yes but still a line Make sure you don’t cross it It is proven that people make decisions based on emotions over rational thought (“coherence”) George Loewenstein and Jennifer Lernerdemonstrated this and split emotions during decisionmaking into two 1 Anticipated emotions(those that might occur depending on the future outcome of the decision) 2 Immediate emotions(those feelings in tandem with the autonomous nervous system that may or may not be related to the actual future outcome) For example someone choosing to travel on vacation may be afraid to fly They are presented with statistics of air safety versus road safety Because of their inte You may feel like you work in a silo If you want to get your project approved and be thought of as a leader consider what steps you can take to break down those silos so that you are bringing solutions versus more challenges One of the unique things analytics brings to the table is that it can be valuable to everyone Everyone needs data Everyone needs to make decisions Help them and help yourself at the same time Find an executive sponsor with a pain point in one of your organization’s departments and build your case around how you can help Show how analytics can solve their problemin a way that pays for the investment Following are some business units for which you might consider pitching an analytics business case 1 Sales & Marketing 2 Supply Chain 3 Manufacturing 4 Procurement 5 Professional Services Human needs are complex at an individual level but easier to predict at a group level You can use a framework like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Summarizing in practical terms If you can learn a little about the individuals making up your audience and whether they are aiming for a promotion buying a new house saving to send kids to college — then you can tie that in with your benefits How to calculate TCO is another article all by itself and much can be found online already In a nutshell don’t use the quote from the analytics platform vendor or service provider alone That $250000 annual subscription may cover the license cost They didn’t mention it takes $75000 in services to implement plus three Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) to maintain the platform? Then $250000 is not your real cost Here are a few things to keep in mind when calculating TCO 1 License Is this a recurring annual subscription or onetime perpetual license? Are there maintenance/upgrade costs for the license? Are they required or optional? How often do new releases launch? 2 Services What is required to implement the platform? How about to maintain it and actually evolve it over time? 3 Hardware Is any new hardware required? Maybe the analytics platform itself runs in the cloud and hosting is already included However do you need storage or other infrastructure for the data generat Look you don’t have to be exhaustive here but be reasonable You don’t want your entire analytics business case to be thrown out because the decisionmakers think you’re painting an unrealistically positive picture Be realistic— the purchase is the easy part Once you own the analytics platform build in time for implementation and execution If it takes three months to implement plan on 46 (minimum) If your project is aimed at the Sales Department and your average sale takes three months then after implementation is done you’ll need at least another quarter to start seeing results And if your platform requires the sales people to change behavior you need to factor in time for training as well In all that might mean it takes another 46 months after implementation so now you’re estimating 812 months to start seeing value Remember when I said to start with the end in mind? This is where you’re going to bring it all together Restate how your analytics project will help achieve the business goal from the beginning End on the actionable next steps from the beginning This should be a repeat of what you already told them which will reinforce your message You want to bring it back again and by repeating the next steps right after restating how your analytics project will achieve the business goal it serves to motivate the decisionmakers to take those next steps The next steps for you? 1 Look for smoke— Is there a gap in your analytics data? Is there something “unusual” happening on your site that you can’t quite figure out? Does your team have a backlog of reports to deliver? 2 Follow the money— Find out who it is important to and what that person does 3 Develop a hypothesis— How can you improve in a way that will deliver the most value to your organization? If you want support with researching.

The business case for data analytics Phocas Software

Setting up a business case for Data Analytics Setting up or structuring a Data Analytics organization requires a substantial investment Before starting it should be very clear why it is necessary and how it will deliver value A business case is a typical tool for this When developing a strong business case for an Analytics.

How to build a business case for Live Analytics

So how do you make the business case for data analytics? Where the debate begins is whether embarking on an enterprisewide data analytics project or investing in a new business intelligence (BI) solution is the right thing to do from the company’s perspective.