The Problem With BI Tool Implementations
Late night ramblings from Chuck Hooper
First problem - there
are no BI tools!
A
better title for this might have been “The
Problem With “so called BI Tool” Implementations”.
All
those we call "BI Tools" are really nothing more than aids to
analyzing, formatting and disseminating information. The REAL intelligence comes from people, and
nowhere else! So, the goal needs to be
to get bright people, the right tool(s), the right data, and, to support them!
What
are the problems with many BI tool implementations?
1. Unrealistic expectations! No one tool does it all - in some situations,
you may need to consider more than one of these tools. That’s OK! NONE are “magical”. ALL require some level of work to
implement. The goal is to pick the tool that minimizes the implementation process.
2. Long learning curve / too complex. Both lead to delayed productivity, and, low
adoption! The low adoption can be a
killer. Potentially good analysts might
be left behind. Pick the tool that has
the easiest start up learning curve. It
is, likely, you’ll never “master” any tool.
So, work to get productive,
sooner!
3.
High implementation cost. Talk is cheap. Action can be expensive. NO action can be REALLY expensive! There’s a question used by application
designers: “Do you want that quick,
cheap, or good? Pick any 2 of the 3”. If you want it cheap, it is either not going
to be good, or, won’t be done quickly.
Part of the cost is the learning curve in the use of the tool; part is
based on the adoption rate. Do NOT confuse
price and cost.
Faster implementations tend to be cheaper and have greater ROI! Hmmmmmm,
MAYBE we can pick all three!
4.
Too many options! There are a lot of so called “BI tools”
available. Be careful of doing your “due
diligence”. That’s what I call a
practice initiated by people that don’t know what to do, and, won’t trust those
that do! Your problem is not unique –
most likely it has been solved, before. Do not reinvent the wheel. If we were not all in the same boat, Dilbert
would not be so popular!
5. Keeping it simple! It’s
easy to get hung up on complex processes that can lead to extended and
expensive implementations. Work hard to
keep your efforts simple! Even then, it is likely your end results will
be overly complex! Beware of tools requiring a bunch of third
party add-ons, or too many individual pieces be installed. Simplicity
succeeds. Complexity fails. Believe it.
Live it.
6. Lack of actionability.
Many BI implementations have pretty dashboards and scorecards – lots of
flash & pizazz. If
your outputs are not actionable, you’ve wasted your efforts. This is not an issue with the tool(s) – lack
of actionable insights is bad planning, design and implementation. Too often, it’s the tool that is blamed (Probably
because it can’t fight back!). So, be
prepared to take ownership of your successes, AND, of your failures. Fix the
failures. Rejoice in the successes. Move on.
7. “Get it done and we can rest” mentality. You are NEVER done. A successful BI environment is one where all
aspects of it are fluid / iterative.
Think of your competition as a 10 foot long crocodile. You stop fighting AFTER he’s stopped
fighting!
Back
in the mid-20th century, Aristotle Onassis said “The secret of
business is in knowing what no one else knows.”. That was OK, 60-70 years ago. We call this the “information age” for a
reason. It’s likely you don’t know more
than your competition. There’s a new
secret, today. “Take what you know and do more with it, sooner, faster, cheaper.”.
n More: Pure people
smarts, nothing else.
n Sooner: A decision
– are you going to start that project now? Or, wait until competition eats your lunch?
n Faster: This
is NOT “fastest response” times. It is
“faster to insight”.
n Cheaper: This
is not the price of the tool or the infrastructure. It is the total cost of ownership, including
training, support, training, support, training, support etc. And, do not forget training and support.
To be successful…
I believe it was Christopher McDougall that said: “Every day, in Africa, a gazelle wakes up,
knowing he must run faster than the fastest lion, or, he will be eaten. Every day, in Africa, a lion wakes up,
knowing he must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or, he will starve. It matters not, whether you are the lion or
the gazelle. When the sun comes up,
you’d better be running.”. Is YOUR
competition already up and running?
Chuck
Hooper is a business intelligence and data visualization consultant. Chuck brings 49 years of
business and IT experience with him. In addition to the current consulting
offerings, Chuck does speaking engagements, and, conducts training sessions on
the use of Tableau Software products, visual analytics, data warehouse design,
and other business intelligence topics, at both the technical and the executive
levels.
Material presented Copyright © 2012,2013,2014 by Chuck Hooper. You may quote / use any of the material by
giving the author credit.
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