Get Smart: Business Intelligence for the Masses

Author: Kristen Craft

September 2009

How do you compete (or survive)? Today, more and more companies are turning to some form of Business Intelligence to enable smarter decisions and improved focus.

Long considered an expensive and arduous undertaking, the concept of “Business Intelligence” has often been thought of as only applicable to “the big guys”. Not so anymore. In fact, with the tools commonly available today, effective business intelligence is very much a reality for a growing number of smaller and mid-sized organizations.

Many mid-sized companies find themselves in a business intelligence vortex: They are large enough to have more transactions than can be tracked by gut feel, but they are small enough to not have the budget for a large scale BI initiative.

In many cases, these companies have the advantage of nimbleness over their lumbering competitors. In general, it’s much easier for a smaller company to react quickly to changing and predicted market dynamics than a very large organization. The key is the quality of that reaction.

So how does one react in a smart way? Having a keen understanding (AKA: Business Intelligence) of both external and internal profit factor by is a good start. How are the needs and behaviors of your customers and prospects adapting in
response to the changing market forces? These needs and behaviors will likely manifest themselves in your data, such as purchasing transaction volume, frequency, realized margin, product mix, projected sales, etc.

From travel expenses, to ordering, to collections… how efficient and frugal is your organization? Areas for potential improvement can also be discovered within your systems, leveraging data points such as days sales outstanding, expenses by customer/employee, and lag times between each step of major processes (e.g., order to ship), etc.

What is Business Intelligence?
Effective business intelligence doesn’t necessarily mean the deployment of expensive cubing software with a fancy brand name. It can be, but doesn’t have to be. A successful business intelligence effort simply starts with the need to answer a single question or set of questions about your business. Those larger questions are then organized into a set of finite, measurable questions that together can help you to arrive at your larger answer.

Example:
Step 1 – Identify your “Big Question”: Are we overspending on client entertainment?
Step 2 - Break it down into measurable questions, such as:
• On what clients and activities are we spending our entertainment dollars over the past 12 months?
• Of the 20 clients on whom we have spent the most in entertainment, how much gross profit was generated from those same clients?
• What is the spread of that client spend across sales reps?
Step 3 - Chart the results and determine any corrective actions

The answers to these questions may take a variety of different formats, varying in effort and complexity, depending on who will be using the information and how they plan to use it:
• Static reports
• Graphical dashboards
• “Slice and dice” query tools
• Real-time and Historical views

Tips for Success
Want to have a successful Business Intelligence effort? Here are a few tips:
• DO create a defined BI Team, including a point person/project manager, subject matter experts (the people who know the data you plan to analyze), and technology support.
• DO control your project scope. Plan your efforts to deliver some value to yourself at least every 2 months.
• DO jump in. Getting wrapped up in a lengthy technology decision before starting is a difficult task when you have never done BI before. Better to use what you have to at least get started, and let your results help to drive your requirements for a larger tool investment if that is justified.
• DO keep your focus. Keep the Big Question in front of the team at all times. It can be tempting to fall into “analysis paralysis”, so you’ve got to keep the team focused on the reason for asking the questions to begin with.
• DO have fun! Business Intelligence is a journey, and you may surprise yourself with what you find!

About the Author: Kirsten Craft has over 15 years experience in the technology industry, working with clients as well as internal process improvement initiatives. She currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Software Information Systems, LLC

Rocky Bowermaster is the Dayton-area representative for Software Information Systems, LLC. He can be reached at (937) 271-4993, or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .