Ten Secrets to Win with Analytics

Nowadays, all organizations use analytics, but they are not receiving as much out of it as they should. So, how do we make the most of it, let’s discuss    

Let’s check out some of the most effective ways to win with Analytics.

Craft a Strategy

The most successful companies always begin their analytics projects with a clear strategy. Make sure all key stakeholders are aligned by writing down and sharing:

• What are we trying to achieve?
• Whom we are trying to reach?
• Why it matters?
• How could we measure success?

Use analytics tools

If organizations wait for perfect data, they will be waiting forever. Instead, they should use analytics tools to spot anomalies in their data and learn from them. Then, they have to engage with the people who comprise the data and share their insights to help them fix their processes. By working together, they can significantly improve their data quality over time.

Team up with a Designer

The way users visualize data influences the way they understand it, so aesthetics play an important role. A good designer can help organizations develop an intuitive and effective user experience and a great look and feel for dashboards and visualizations. Just remember that best data visualization practices always outrank aesthetic design.

Learn through Play and Through Doing

Nobody creates a perfect model for their data on the first try and this is perfectly acceptable. In fact, companies can learn a lot about their data by exploring it from different angles. Let everyone connect with the data in their own ways — they will be amazed at what they discover. Use what they do to inform your strategy.

Put Up for Sale

Unlike other software projects, adoption of analytics is voluntary in every organization. So, if they want people to know they have a better solution, act like a software vendor and start promoting it. Enlist the help of the marketing department and sell the value of analytics throughout the entire organization.

Discover a Victor

Choose an influential person or team that has an unmet need and empower them with analytics. Turn them into believers by showing them what’s possible. Then spotlight their success to prove the value of analytics to the rest of the entire business.

Construct a Cross-Functional Team

When analytics makes it easy to repeat successes and avoid failures, it will sell itself. Bring together a cross-functional team and put them in charge of:

• Deciding the role of analytics
• Defining the standards and tools
• Identifying best practices and gaps
• Iterating and improving the solution over time

Have Twofold Procedures

If organizations are changing the way they measure KPIs or profits, then they need to take their time and get it right. But sometimes they have to develop an app right now to analyze a unique and urgent situation. Make sure they have a different process in place for both tempos — and know that it’s OK to build temporary throw-away apps for one-off projects.

Tip the Balance Away from Reports

Most BI deployments focus on pushing out the same backward-looking reports that we’ve had for decades. But providing a description of the situation isn’t where the analytic value is for decision makers. Organizations need to know ‘why’; not just ‘what’. So, they have to rebalance their efforts to focus on diagnostic discovery and exploration capabilities.

Turn your Data into a Profit Center

Are you sitting on an information goldmine? Would outside organizations pay good money to access your proprietary data? Or, could you use it to add value for your customers? Step back and think creatively about all the ways you could monetize the data you already own.