There is a part of all of us that lives outside of time, ageless and unchanging – a part of our everlasting soul. While others see the wear of time, we continue to feel as young as we were in our 20s or 30s. In truth, our surroundings are in constant change, especially in the world of business. Successful executives, earnestly believing their skills, abilities and knowledge are just as cutting-edge as they once were. As such, they are latent in adopting a new skill set, not realizing that the combination of IT data and their experience can captivate their enterprise goals and objectives much more efficiently.
This denial and reticence to change can be the organization’s downfall – or at least, it can restrict a company’s willingness to embrace business intelligence, and data-driven decision making efforts. To help you understand the reasons behind this lack of enthusiasm, we’ve listed six elements that restrain the efficiency of this implementation in the corporate environment:
Communication
It is the lack of this important element, that places such a large hurdle in front of an organization trying to adopt effective SQL reporting systems. The problem lies in the lack of communication and education between BI, IT and business management. Managers often don’t know what type of data they need to appear in report configurations – and in the “reading-of-the-mind” process, IT and reporting systems consultants can fall short of business expectations.
Visions Don’t Align
Too often, what an executive was thinking, and what the developer created, and what the customer needs are three very different things. Look at this analogy to better understand what happens:
The executive may want a fleet of cars, yet the developer, because of constraints in both time and budget, can only offer 3 to 4 vehicles. Management believes this might be a start. But the problem lies in that the customer didn’t want any vehicle at all. He just wanted a ride to the airport.No Clue
All Report consulting companies hate this one statement, “we don’t really know what we want yet, just build us a framework.” In this case, although, management is making an effort to implement data driven decision-making into its organization, it is only and halfhearted effort. When management hasn’t spent enough time thinking of the data it needs, Report consulting companies need to raise a major red flag. This indicates a predisposition for failure with the blame laid at the reporting systems consultant’s feet.
Tapping into the Wrong Resources
When implementing a business reporting system, using the wrong resources, there is no real purpose or benefit in the implementation. The ideal project setup includes an executive who understands IT and analytics; a regional manager who understands the importance of cooperation between areas; a project manager to keep the project on schedule; and the developer to configure the reporting system.
The Data Isn’t Available
When teamwork isn’t coordinated, and data isn’t pre-aggregated, accurate and ready when needed, this just gives the conventional business leader one more reason to gravitate towards his more conventional and comfortable decision-making skills.
Data Isn’t Clear
If the BI team can’t present the data in a crystal-clear manner, allowing each metric to tell a story, and help executives to draw a logical conclusion from it, leaders will ignore the data. Report consulting companies must avoid using excessive metric dimensions, sticking instead to the information required.
Conclusion
Those working in the analytical field understand the competitive edge data driven decisions give a company. They work against the ageless and unchanging self, the one that believes all things should remain the same, and status quo works well enough. Analytical leaders and IT team members must understand that this conventional thought process is based on fear of change and innovation – the fear of being outdated and old.
Business leaders must also face the beat of the drummer. They need to adapt and learn to integrate innovative configurations offered by BI reporting systems consultants.