Win with Advanced Business Analytics: Creating Business Value from Your Data

Chapter 7

Analytics Implementation

What Works and What Does Not

“Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.”

—Carl Jung

Chapter 2 introduced the Business Analytics Successful Pillars (BASP) framework that provides insights for leaders when undertaking or evaluating the business analytics function in an organization. In this chapter, we will address one of the success pillars in detail, analytics implementation. The analytics implementation pillar deals with the notion that business analytics initiatives must be executed in a manner that enables insight and action to deal with your critical business challenges. More specifically, the way you align your staff, technologies, tools, and other resources can make your analytics implementation more efficient and effective. Failing to align them effectively can result in many wasted work cycles, frustrated staff, and ineffective analytics. However, if you think through all of the elements of the analytics implementation pillar, you will execute analytics effectively within your organization.

As a reminder, the BASP framework is made up of the following pillars:

• Business challenges. Align business analytics initiatives to the most pressing business problems your organization needs to address.
• Data foundation. The data foundation that will support the business analytics process must be strong in terms of reliability, validity, and governance.
• Analytics implementation. Ensuring that business analytics solutions are developed ...