The Value of Business Analytics: Identifying the Path to Profitability

WHY A MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK IS ESSENTIAL

Committing to value creation is one thing; proving it is another. Obtaining investment almost inevitably requires some form of business case. If an organization is not able to articulate and communicate the value being created through the use of business analytics, it will find it difficult to make any form of significant investment.

Once this case has been successfully communicated, the team needs to execute on its suggestions. Unfortunately, execution is not sufficient to guarantee ongoing success—although the team may create significant value, unless it can quantify that value to the business in a way that is trusted and believed, it may as well have done nothing at all.

Establishing a measurement framework is critical for a number of reasons. It helps build trust and credibility within the organization, clarify attention where it is needed, and maintain focus where competing priorities arise, as they almost always do.

Specifically, a measurement framework helps:

• Justify ongoing investment
• Optimize internal activities
• Establish and defend priorities

Delivering a business case and obtaining organizational commitment are only the first steps in truly unleashing the value of business analytics. Because competencies are usually applicable across many business problems, the real value comes from releveraging existing competencies at low cost in other areas.

As discussed in Chapter 6, although competencies and tools are largely reusable, every ...