How to Create a BI Strategy

We're taking a different approach to helping you create a business intelligence (BI) strategy. Instead of telling you what to do, we're going to share four common pitfalls to avoid — and share alternative strategies for success. 

The value of BI can be measured as much in increased quality of working life as it can in hours saved, opportunities gained, processes streamlined, and better decisions made. But each of those comes with a price. These add up to one big price tag: your BI Total Cost of Ownership. And in the world of BI, that price tag can vary wildly from solution to solution, and isn’t necessarily in accordance with the value it brings.

Overall, there are four costly pitfalls that most commonly surprise companies when implementing a BI strategy. If you fall victim to one, it’s likely the rest will come tumbling on top of you soon after. 

The Formula for BI Total Cost of Ownership

The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for a BI and analytics platform follows a pretty straightforward formula: infrastructure + people = TCO.

But in reality, there are so many asterisks added to both the technology and the people who implement it that companies are often left writing checks for up to hundreds of thousands of dollars more than what they had originally budgeted for on a system and processes that are a far cry from what was promised them.

Four Common Costly BI Pitfalls

Pitfall #1: Poor Data Quality

The first step in implementing a BI project is pulling data into the data warehouse from the various other company systems such as the CRM, HR systems, and finance systems. But first, data must be cleansed, which is time-consuming and costly.

Better BI Strategy: Aim for the Minimal Viable Product

When it comes to the data you should integrate into your data warehouse, think big, but start small to minimize the up-front consultancy hours for data you aren’t even sure you need or want to begin with. Aim for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This is the data that’s going to give you the biggest return on investment quickly.

Pitfall #2: The Never-Ending Project

Otherwise known as “scope creep,” long, drawn-out projects plague companies that struggle to select the most important data to bring into their BI project. As a result, they overdo it, raking in scores of data that ultimately muddies the pond. This leads to the data quality problems I’ve already mentioned. All too often, we have seen companies pull data into the data warehouse, clean it, and then decide that they don’t actually want or need it.

This results in a seemingly never-ending process of starting, stopping, starting, and stopping the BI project. Worse, it’s not uncommon to see company priorities change during this time, before any analytics objectives can be obtained, rendering everything already done up until that point useless. The business world is changing so rapidly that a slow BI implementation can mean no BI at all.

Better BI Strategy: Understand Your Business Objectives

Know your business objectives from day one and build an action plan. Continuously reevaluate this plan. Real-world problems commonly move the burning platform, so to speak. Your action plan should be flexible enough to move with them. Don’t think of BI as one set project; rather, think of it as a continuous strategy towards data-driven excellence.

Instead of pulling in data across the board because it might be useful, establish the metrics that matter most and focus only on those. This prevents information overload and ensures employees are focused on the most important key performance indicators (KPIs).

Pitfall #3: License Creep

License creep is the uncontrolled growth in software licenses within a company. Of course, the ultimate goal of any successful BI implementation is to spread the power of analytics to as many users as possible throughout the company.

Many vendors charge a fixed price per user and don’t offer bulk pricing. As new users are added over time as the project grows, that price doesn’t flex. BI buyers also often overlook the fact that once their BI project evolves to a more collaborative, unifying strategy, there is a high price tag for the additional servers needed for an enterprise-wide rollout.

Better BI Strategy: Plan a Phased BI Rollout

Long-term strategic thinking is particularly important for avoiding a surprising license creep. It’s important not only to consider what objectives your company wants to achieve to start a new BI project but also what the long-term goals should be and who should be involved in their execution. Grow your license with the BI rollout over time. Start with key users and buy licenses as you need them. Get professional help to initiate your BI rollout and ensure internal staff is trained to further develop and support the solution.

A large part of this plan is mapping out who will be utilizing analytics, their roles and functions within the organization, and how they best consume data. We call these the BI personas.

Pitfall #4: The Under-Utilization Obstacle

So you’ve purchased and implemented a BI solution, now you need to learn how to use it. A powerful BI and analytics solution isn’t worth anything if users aren’t armed with the know-how they need to take advantage of the various levels of tools.

Companies are often won over by the words “self-service,” only to discover that quite a bit of technical expertise is needed. What might look simple and user-friendly in a demo by a sales professional can be an overwhelming task for a business user in the real world. Others are drawn in by flashy data visualizations and dashboard software, but when business decision-makers need to dig into further details, they need expensive consultants to help.

Better BI Strategy: The Right Tool for the Job

Users should receive the BI training classes designed specifically for the BI needs within the organization. Like licensing, training is not one-size-fits-all. Go with the BI vendor that has an array of different classes for a variety of different skill levels — from basic dashboards and data visualization to advanced real-time analytics and everything in between. And training shouldn’t break the bank. A BI provider that charges an arm and a leg for training is missing the point of BI for everyone.

The BI Partnership

Don’t fall victim to these common TCO pitfalls. Enter the buying process informed about what should – and what shouldn’t — lie ahead in a successful BI implementation and strategy.

Knowing what’s coming is half the battle. The rest lies in aligning your company with a partner who is upfront about all of the potential direct and indirect costs of BI and analytics.

Download the full guide with our detailed look at the hidden costs of BI and the steps you should take to avoid them. We have an action plan mapped out for you here: Taking Control of BI’s Total Cost of Ownership.