AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT! Most, if not all business leaders today, recognise the value of their data and analytics function without necessarily realising the benefits. As a result, many boards are looking at their Analytics function and wondering how and why they haven’t managed to extract real value. Outlined below are my thoughts on the top 10 mistakes businesses unwittingly make when trying to build their Analytics capability – and what to do about it. 1. Putting the cart before the horse Taking a tool or technology first approach rather than taking the time to understand what the business is trying to achieve could be a costly mistake. Start with the business objectives and only then determine the data, tools and technologies best suited to deliver those objectives. Remember, real transformation starts with Strategy not technology. 2. Ignoring the human element As you build your data infrastructure, it is all too easy to forget that it’s not just about the data. You already have experts within the business so why not use them? How you build in subject matter expertise as well as company and industry knowledge is key. It’s the combination of people, process and technology that delivers real value and actionable insights. 3. Trying to run before you can walk In other words, wanting to do advanced analytics and data science before putting the fundamentals in place. To avoid this problem, first determine what state your analytics capability is in, then where it needs to be in order to deliver today’s answers while still planning and building tomorrow’s capability. 4. No end state vision or clear data strategy road map Understanding the company’s long term business objectives is key to determining the role that your analytics team needs to play to help deliver them. The key question here is, what role should data engineering, data analytics, data science or machine learning take in delivering those objectives? 5. Limited understanding of the skill sets required It takes more than just good operators to create a First Class Analytics function. You also need business savvy analysts and data scientists as well as strong data and analytics leaders who understand the benefits and can influence at board level to help drive change across the organisation. 6. Unrealistic or misaligned expectations This can lead to falling for the hype peddled by ‘cowboy’ sales people and then blaming the tools or the analytics team when it goes wrong. Better to step back and understand where you are today, determine where you need to be and to have a clear, informed view of what the business needs from data and analytics. 7. Lack of senior management buy in It is imperative that senior management understand what data analytics can and cannot do. Unfortunately, it is often the case that senior management don’t really see the need for a strong Analytics team that adds real value. As such, they only partly buy into investing in the required skills and resources. When this happens, it will always be difficult to champion analytics across the organisation. Being able to demonstrate the potential added value in language that senior management understand is vitally important. 8. Handcuffing the Data and Analytics team This comes back to understanding what the data and analytics team can do and ensuring that they have the right data and technology resources to deliver. Don’t put them in a dark corner and restrict their access to decision makers or to data. Without data there is no data science, data analytics or data anything! 9. Thinking data and analytics is JUST a support function The Data and Analytics function, if deployed correctly, is a business critical function with immense transformative power. However, it is obvious that too many Boards are dismissive of the power that good data analytics can bring to the business and often invest just enough to achieve the bare minimum. Access to fast, accurate data and analysis enables more informed and quicker decisions which in turn accelerates business growth and profitability. Without this, the business will wither, become obsolete and out of touch with what customers want. 10. Giving in to personal bias People love to make decisions based on personal biases, intuition and the loudest opinion in the room – Don’t! While expertise clearly plays a role in decision making, strong analytics and data provide the best foundation for decision making. 11. Bonus point – Getting side tracked by BAU It is easy to tie up resource on today’s fixes rather than tomorrow’s solutions because they are always urgent! But as important as managing BAU is, growing the business also means you need to have the analytics team focused on the future. That being said, your team may not always have the bandwidth or skillsets to handle both. If so, perhaps this is the time to consider bringing in external expertise that can work strategically alongside your in-house team to deliver today while building for tomorrow. Summary Avoiding these mistakes is crucial in building a First Class Analytics function. In particular, the importance and value of senior management buy in and end user adoption should not be underestimated - but it often is! I make no apologies for repeating that real transformation starts with Strategy, not technology. You will see the benefits of this approach when the analysis outputs provide accurate and timely insight, which is then taken up and acted upon by the commercial teams to accelerate business success. The above is not an exhaustive list, and not all of this will apply to every business, but I’m sure that a number of these will resonate with you. If so, we'd be delighted to offer you a free 30 minute consultation to help determine where you are in your journey and how best to navigate the different stages to achieving analytics maturity. If you're open to that, please click here to contact us and we'll be in touch to schedule a call.
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Analytics - The business critical function You may recall in an earlier blog I talked about why analytics is a critical function for any world class business and that in the process of turning data into profit, the 3 key enablers are People, Process and Technology. Understanding where you are in each of these key areas is important in order to progress and to create a first class analytics practice. As part of this, you need to undertake as a starting point a SWOT analysis for each aspect. On completion, create a road map (bottom up and top down) within the constraints you are operating in. Once the road map is built it is critical that the business: · Prioritises the development: 80-20 rule · Commits to timescales (all staff) · Be excited and make the Change! Once the change is in place commit to continuous improvement, build the team and help individuals grow so they can evolve from managing the foundations to delivering increasingly complex analytical models. A final reminder on the importance of having the right people in place to ensure that your data works as hard for the business as it can. A good analytics team with the right leadership will have an exponential impact on the business, which will in turn build confidence in the team to deliver. The fastest growing and most profitable businesses in the world all understand the value of data and invest heavily in their analytics teams and their leadership. If you haven’t already, then perhaps you should start by investigating how you develop your team. At Blue Label Consulting, we have a proven track record in helping businesses determine where they are along the journey and can help up skill your people as well as deliver critical analytics projects. If you want to find out more please contact me here. Brendan Jayagopal Blue label Consulting Difference between a forecast and forecast by a strong analytics leader
The softer skills in Analysts play a dominant role in creating a first class forecast that is dependable and instils confidence within the business. By now you would have established a knowledge of skill sets within your analytics practice and gained an understanding of the benefits an analytics leader can bring to the party versus a good manager. Nowhere is this more apparent than when considering and delivering forecasts. Having spent considerable time working for businesses in different industries and markets, I have seen the difference that adding soft skills to core technical requirements can make to delivery of a forecast. A good forecast will deliver a technical model with a low % error, will be robust, stable and scalable and fix any divergence. All of which are great but in order to get traction within the business it needs to be believed. A first class forecast is not only technically sound and accurate but is also communicated succinctly and timely, is believable and convincing and able to flex to business strategy. This is only achievable with a strong leader who is proactive and eager to understand everything at the most granular available interval and who can engage the action team to deliver quickly. In short, technical capability is important but a leader that understands the business requirements and how data adds real value coupled with the ability to communicate and influence at board level can change company fortunes. Brendan Jayagopal Blue Label Consulting Continuous Improvement and the importance of reinforcing Core Values. No matter how good your data analytics practice is there needs to be a consistent approach to building the best team possible to derive the best value from your data analytics. To do this, there are a number of key elements that you need to put in play. Teamwork It's important that all within the data analytics team work together for the common goals of the business and that they proactively share their skills and knowledge to support each other. Balance While you should expect your teams to work hard, you also need to be flexible to balance the needs of individuals with those of the business. Prioritising and getting the balance right between BAU work, projects and critical work allows you to maintain the balance between getting it right and getting it done. Achievement Strive to be successful and deliver what you promise, recognise that team success is as important as individual success and always recognise success and reward it appropriately. Ownership Ownership is important and individuals should be encouraged to look at the business and its values as their own and take responsibility for what they do and to be proactive in making things happen. Credibility It is also important for the business that all are encouraged to look for inspiration inside and outside the business and that individuals aim to proactively learn new techniques and methods. This could then lead to individuals aiming to solve problems and offer possible options for resolution, rather than simply bringing a problem for someone else to resolve. Integrity A key element of almost any set of values is integrity. Yet it is often one that senior leadership forget when looking at managing their patch of turf. Clearly what should be in play is that all should aim to do the right thing, to tell it how it is, promise what you can deliver and then deliver it. Productivity At the end of the day it's the outputs that count. Therefore, it's important to instill the right values to aim to get it right first time by thinking ahead and juggling priorities to make sure you get the most out of each hour. Any business that can deliver continuous improvement using some or all of the above has more than a good chance of creating a world class business and a first class data analytics practice. Next up I will talk about how you determine the maturity levels of your Analytics team and how you move from basics to mastery. Brendan Jayagopal Blue Label Consulting |
brendan jayagopalBrendan launched Blue Label Consulting in 2011. With innovative use of Data through emerging data sciences such as AI and other quantitative methods, he delivers robust analytics and actionable insights to solve business problems. Archives
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