The five fingers of Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence is just like your hand, useless without your fingers working together. So what would your 5 fingers of Business intelligence look like? Metrics are at the core of business intelligence just like the fingers on your hand. They are arguably the most important aspect of every business intelligence solution and probably the most difficult as well. A recent study has found that most companies have not put enough thought and rigor into establishing their metrics, sometimes measuring thousands of key performance indicators rather than a few metrics that really make a difference.
For every business establishing the right metrics will require a deep understanding of where a company is today and where it wants to be in the future and should be customised to fit your company’s strategy and goals. We have established the following 5 criteria (fingers) to use when selecting metrics and performance measurement criteria and implementing them in a business intelligence solution to ensure a best-in-class business intelligence implementation.
Align business intelligence metric with strategy
Business intelligence metrics must be customised to align with a company’s strategy and culture to measure its strategic goals. They should be clearly articulated and understood by everyone, have a strong supporting governance structure behind them, and have visible executive leadership commitment.
Business intelligence metric should drive value
Business intelligence metrics should focus on core financial and operational targets that make a difference by driving value. They should include both leading and lagging indicators and be reinforced with consequences for not achieving acceptable results.
Business intelligence metric should ensure accountability
For a successful business intelligence program, there must be individual accountability and ownership for the organization’s performance against its goals. Accompanying the consequences for non-performance should be an incentive system that rewards ambitious goals.
Can your business intelligence metric be easily executed?
Business intelligence metrics should be supported by user-friendly interfaces, intuitive design, simple-to-use systems and processes that allow management to gain insight from the information. This includes providing information at the right time so that it can be acted upon.
Maintain business intelligence metric quality and consistency
A business intelligence solution’s metrics should represent the single version of the truth. Balance flexibility with standardization and provide consistency and transparency for maximum success.