5 Steps To Winning with Analytics: Have a plan

Numerous business leaders have already come to the conclusion that Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics backed by data can lend a tremendous edge to organizations willing to put data-driven decisions into practice.  But there are far more ways to use analytics wrong than there are ways to use analytics right, and for many companies, something as simple as getting a data-backed project off the ground is a major undertaking.  

Numerous business leaders have already come to the conclusion that Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics backed by data can lend a tremendous edge to organizations willing to put data-driven decisions into practice.  But there are far more ways to use analytics wrong than there are ways to use analytics right, and for many companies, something as simple as getting a data-backed project off the ground is a major undertaking.  

The report excerpted below, 5 Steps to Winning With Analytics, is designed as a more succinct, streamlined set of recommendations for organizations getting ready to adopt data-driven decision practices.  These aren’t the only steps you’ll need to take, of course, but they are among the most important to keep in mind as you build and scale out your data science team.  

1.) Have a plan

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So, you’ve decided that data-driven decision-making and an analytical approach to Business Intelligence are going to be part of your strategy.  Congratulations!  We’re really happy for you.  Unfortunately, there’s still a big difference between choosing an analytics-powered approach and actually practicing an analytics-powered approach.  So before you start looking for software or other tools, before you build a team, before you start buttering up the folks in IT, have a plan.  

Having a plan means deciding which challenges, specifically, you expect your analytics program to solve.  What loss or waste are you planning to reduce?  Which trends in consumer behavior are you going to look for?  How are you going to turn the results of your analysis into actionable improvements in some aspect of operations?  Not only will this help you choose a suitable BI solution, you’ll also be evaluating the decision systems within your organization and learning how data-driven intelligence will fit into ongoing company strategy.

To download the full report, click here.