Business intelligence is becoming a central aspect of almost every major organization’s business model. Companies around the world are projected to spend $33 billion on business intelligence by 2025. They are discovering a number of new approaches to business intelligence, which are helping them carve out a stronger competitive edge.
Gamification is one trend that is transforming the arena of business intelligence. A growing number of companies are using gamification to create more sophisticated business intelligence models to strengthen their competitive edge.
Gamification as a Leading Element of Business Intelligence
In the last few years, gamification has turned out to be the topic of discussion for many. It is an innovative solution that fosters motivation. You can use gamification in business to captivate your audience. This relates to the use of gaming elements in non-gaming contexts. With the help of the game mechanics in the field of training and other processes in a business, organizations can easily enhance employee engagement, lift operation performance, and boost productivity. So, these days, gamification strategy is applied to more than just games and apps.
As humans, we love playing games because it rewards us. This is something that everyone is attracted to. In the world of consumer products, particularly with apps and games, gamification is a crucial tool that can keep the users engaged. Thus, they continue using the product.
Savvy business intelligence models utilize this concept to their full advantage. Troy Hiltbrand talked about this a few years ago in his white paper How Gamification will change Business Intelligence. Other companies have since started practicing many of the strategies outlined in his report.
Gamification strategies have applications for business intelligence processes and tools. So, it can be used in a professional environment to have the same effect that is to improve user engagement.
What Is Gamification for Business Intelligence?
Gamification is a process to incentivize the engagement and activities of people for driving results using game mechanics. In an organization, gamification is used for completing activities that can drive lead, sales, and more. Business intelligence tools can create algorithms that incorporate gamification concepts seamlessly into them.
What Are Some of the Leading Gamification Strategies in the Area of Business Intelligence?
A gamification strategy is a procedure of taking up something which already exists such as an online community or software application and using the game technique for motivating long-term engagement and consistent participation.
However, you should not mistake gamification for an actual game, especially in the context of business intelligence. Rather it focuses on the game mechanics as to how it functions. It helps in creating a simple way for the company employees to check their own progress and create continued engagement in their company.
High engagement means success for an organization. Some processes and tools can be used in general business.
So, let’s take a look at the gamification strategy that can be used as a tool by businesses.
Gamification Strategy Tool for Organizations
Sure, you can use gamification strategies for your business, but there are pitfalls and if you go too fat with these strategies, it might lead to negative results. So, here is what works with implementing gamification in your business intelligence models.
1. Consider Long-Term Benefits
Irrespective of what or who you are trying to gamify, it is necessary that you take the long view. People can easily get riled up and in every group; there are people that enjoy the competition, while there are others that don’t.
One of the primary things you need to avoid regarding gamification in an organization is going excessively deep too early on. Hence, you have to ensure that whatever you are doing is appropriate for the audience and isn’t going to be a one-and-done program.
Your business intelligence algorithms need to focus on the long-term benefits associated with gamification.
2. Make a Level Playing Field
When you have to gamify the employee advocacy program, it is better to share the scoring framework with all the users. By doing this, you can help everyone understand how the game works, the goal, and the method to succeed. Your business intelligence tools and models need to be able to work around a similar framework.
Obviously, gamification in the corporate environment is about larger goals such as creating new opportunities, driving new leads, and enhancing brand reach. So, having the game rule out in the open will encourage everyone to participate in it regardless of who wins.
3. Avoid Overemphasizing Rewards
You should not think that employees are only going to participate in it if the rewards are flashy and big. The best gamification program in an organization is about the competition. There are two main issues with big rewards.
It is difficult to keep funding big rewards over the long-term. Remember, you should always play the long game, especially when business intelligence applications are being utilized.
This can often create a false incentive. The employees can start cutting corners and doing things that you do not really want them to do, simple for the win.
4. Avoid Celebrating the Top-Performer
All are winners! Don’t take it in a literal sense, but you should measure performance in part on the basis of participation. In case 90% of the participants are completely engaged in the program that can be a big win, irrespective of the top 10% are driving most of the leads.
Remember, in business, gamification is all about the team. You should reward the top performers but reward the participants, too. In case you do not, you are going to notice a big drop in engagement.
5. Think About Creative Rewards
When it comes to the rewards, there is a difference between what works and what doesn’t.
Prizes and other reward materials that aren’t related to the business might not be that effective. Remember, you are running a competition for professionals in a corporate environment. The best gamification rewards are the ones that are connected to professional advancement and recognition.
No-cost rewards are the best, and it should really connect the gamification back to the business.
6. Keep Track
When it comes to gamification programs, tracking is important. This is due to several reasons.
- It will help the participants where they stand and how they can improve.
- It will help the leader of the program to understand if it is actually driving goals.
You can use a tool solution that will enable you to share the results with the participants either through a mobile app or web. These kinds of things can also be done by hand, but it can be pretty time-consuming and difficult.
Bottom Line
So, now you know how you can expand or introduce the use of gamification strategies into your organization for encouraging and training your employees. These learning and points will help you think about how to organize better and execute a gamification program and strategy at your company.
Everything becomes more fun when things are competitive. Nevertheless, like already mentioned, you need to be measured and careful with your approach. Remember, gamification can not only be used for the benefit of the internal processes and employees but can also be deployed for other purposes like research and innovation, marketing, supply chain solutions, and vendor engagement.