Big Data MBA

Chapter 4The Importance of the User Experience

The user experience is one of the secrets to big data success, and one of my favorite topics. If organizations cannot deliver insights to its employees, managers, partners, and customers in a way that is actionable, then why even bother. One of the keys to success in the Big Data MBA is to “begin with an end in mind” with respect to understanding how the analytic results are going to be delivered to frontline employees, business managers, channel partners, and customers in a way that is actionable. The Big Data MBA seeks to “close the analytics loop” with respect to delivering insights to the key business stakeholders via an actionable user experience (UEX).

Chapter 4 Objectives

• Review an example of an “unintelligent” user experience.
• Highlight the importance of “thinking differently” with respect to creating an actionable dashboard versus building a traditional Business Intelligence dashboard.
• Review a sample actionable dashboard targeting frontline store managers.
• Review another sample actionable dashboard (financial advisor dashboard) ­targeting business-to-business channel partners.

This chapter will challenge the traditional Business Intelligence approaches to building dashboards by seeking to leverage analytic insights (e.g., recommendations, scores, rules) to create actionable dashboards that empower frontline employees, guide channel partners, and influence customer behaviors.

The Unintelligent User Experience