Tag: Business Case
-
How to be a good client
I recently listened to Brian O’Neill’s excellent interview with Tom Davenport, headlined “Why on a scale of 1-10, the field of analytics has only gone from a one to about a two in ten years time.” The conversation covered a lot of ground as Mr O’Neill and Mr Davenport explored the reasons why. Highlights included…
-
Anonymize Data for Better Executive Analytics
Reading articles about data anonymization makes it clear that it is not an entirely effective security measure (here and here), but still part of a robust security capability, and required if your organization is affected by GDPR. (I use “anonymization” as a general term encompassing techniques that de-identify personal data within a given data set.) But there’s a positive…
-
Data Integration Benefits? They’re Obvious.
“At least 84 percent of consumers across all industries say their experiences using digital tools and services fall short of expectations.”* That quote headed a recent article by David Roe on the role of data integration in digital workplace apps. However, the opening quote reflects the pervasive dearth of integrated data among the companies most of…
-
Agile development: rugby analogy considered harmful
Recently my friend Mark Hudson posted about the inappropriateness of the term “sprint” for an agile project phase, preferring the cycling term “interval.” That post really struck a chord with me. As a rugby union fan and former wing/fullback I’ve always thought the whole rugby analogy was wrong. Agile development is continuous and fluid, yet…
-
Business requirements up front
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” – Pablo Picasso It is an old story: about 30% of IT application projects succeed, 45% are “challenged,” and the other quarter fail…
-
BI Business Case Basics: Three Things to Remember
Here are three things to remember when putting together a BI business case: Intangible benefits don’t count. BI has no inherent value. Senior managers often make decisions about future outcomes with insufficient data.
-
DQ, he isn’t so dumb he just needs glasses
In a recent very thoughtful post on data quality, Paul Erb plays out an analogy comparing data users with Don Quixote and data quality professionals with Sancho Panza, then reverses the analogy to cleverly coin the “Sancho Panza” test of data quality professionals. He encourages data quality professionals promoting the critical role of data quality…
-
Do your homework before presenting a BI business case
Before starting the Business Intelligence business case, the BI advocate should do the homework required to ensure its success, including these essential steps: 1. Know the organization’s goals and objectives. 2. Identify a BI champion. 3. Identify and work with BI stakeholders. 4. Identify an application with tangible business value. 5. Define and quantify a…
-
Big project coming up? Learn to two-step.
History is littered with IT application projects that end late, go way over budget, or abandoned altogether. I was fortunate enough to see one work out really well (almost – please read on). It was no mistake. It came down to a simple method advocated by a gentleman named named John Carpenter. The project was…