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March 30, 2010

Innovation, Transformation, and the BICC

A recent tweet from an industry analyst intimated that he was meeting with a client who had spent $11 million on their business intelligence implementation over the last year and that they were still uncertain of the value they would be getting from the investment.  

This is a wake up call for anyone not currently pursuing a business intelligence competency center. The verdict is out: companies who started their BICC efforts 3 to 4 years ago are now using BI to transform their companies.

Since we've been helping companies align IT and business using the concept of a Business Intelligence Competency Center for more than 5 years, I've had the privilege of talking to companies who have mastered the art.  Just for the record, anyone can write a book, anyone can write a white paper, but I prefer talking to people who have done it and learning from them. That's exactly what I did; I talked to people who are seeing the benefits of a working BICC. Here are three trends that get me excited about BICC success.

TREND ONE: Business Intelligence Tied to Corporate Objectives

A common theme for BICC success is the right level of business sponsorship and the right mix of business and IT participation. With these two elements in place, we are seeing companies consistently tie their entire business intelligence program to very specific corporate objectives and aligning with the overall mission and vision of the company. In some cases, companies are even mapping every single BI initiative to a specific business processes or set of processes. This means that nothing is done in BI that doesn't have a direct impact on the business with measurable results.

TREND TWO: Move from BI Maintenance to Innovation

I'm surprised at the number of organizations that are still approaching BI as a means for driving more reports for the business. I'm equally surprised at the number of business users that are operating in a world of reports that stems back from the day of green bar reports.

With a working BICC in place, companies are seeing the walls between business and IT come tumbling down. IT is discovering more of what the business actually needs to operate more efficiently. The business is getting a better understanding of what can be done with business intelligence technology. The end result: amazing efficiency.

Imagine what it costs to produce 6,000 reports. Consider what it would be like to reduce the number of reports produced to 180 and exceed the expectations of the business. Even better, think about the resources you just freed to work on innovative uses of business intelligence.

TREND THREE: Emergence of Trusted Information

Because a working BICC drives toward data ownership, data stewardship, and data governance, companies who are doing it right are experiencing significant improvements in data quality. Companies who have been driving this kind of governance program are actually changing the information culture of their companies.

In today's world, the first thing you do when you get a report is question the accuracy of the figures. In fact, it's likely that you will get a second report on the same topic, from another part of the company, and you will find conflicts in the results.

With the right governance in place, you can maintain data heritage in a way that informs anyone viewing a report the sources of the data and the details of any transformation and cleansing that impacts the end result. We are seeing companies move toward certified reports or certified sets of data, stamped with the mark of the BICC, and therefore trusted by the business users.

The culture shift is simple to understand. When people get used to getting trusted information, they will immediately question or reject anything that doesn't have the BICC stamp. It takes time and discipline to change the information culture of a company, but it's worth the journey.

So, these are just a few of the trends we are seeing from companies who have taken governance seriously. And this is a wake up call for anyone not currently pursuing a business intelligence competency center. Or perhaps, we should be talking about a Business Intelligence Innovation Center!

I'd love to hear about your success with Business Intelligence Competency Center's. What have you done that's worked well? What results have you seen? Either leave a comment below, or send me an email at john.santaferraro@hp.com.

Download this white paper (0.70MB, PDF) to read more about how to implement a Business Intelligence Competency Center.

You can also dig deeper into the Top 10 Trends in Business Intelligence for 2010.

Post by John Santaferraro
Twitter: santaferraro

Posted by HP Business Intelligence Solutions at March 30, 2010 12:02 PM