Navigating the choppy waters of technology, data design, interface design, business acumen and human interactions in establishing a successful BI implementation can be a daunting task, which is what led Synergy BI to develop its recently launched new InfoMotion service.
Principal consultant, Gillian Staniland, says the three key outcomes of InfoMotion are to:
* Help users articulate their need for information;
* Chart a living BI roadmap; and
* Draw up a transition and change facilitation plan.
“By achieving these three key outcomes, users are positioned to up the value of their current BI solution, no matter where they are in their BI journey.”
Staniland says that with its new service, Synergy will lead key business users through one-on-one information discovery sessions to help articulate their current needs, frustrations and future goals.
“We not only take heed of which numbers business users are looking for, but how they will use these numbers for operational, tactical or strategic action. We also consider whether some sort of visual graphic will help them make sense of the numbers, or whether they need to interact with other people and discuss concepts before publishing their insights.”
These sessions can be described as more like conversations than typical “user requirements interviews” and their aim is to jointly discover users' modus operandi, or individual work style.
“InfoMotion involves the mapping out of business users' current information sources, their outputs, and the network of colleagues they interact with, all of which enable us to collate individual maps to create a complete picture of the as-is situation,” says Staniland.
It is this consolidated map that allows Synergy BI to employ InfoMotion to visually depict problem areas in a non-threatening, constructive manner, and which leads consultants to the next important stage.
“The next step is to create a living roadmap to chart a realistic path to measurable business value,” explains Staniland. “This roadmap is revisited regularly to keep up to date with changes in both the business world and new technology opportunities, and to track new pressures. We can use this roadmap to stay nimble, while at the same time not be distracted by the overarching goals.
“As the roadmap evolves, it helps to keep a handle on increased ROI,” says Staniland, adding that by marketing their success, teams stand a better chance of co-opting business specialists for data governance initiatives and ensuring a voice at a strategic level.
Staniland says one of the many roles that BI professionals play is that of “interpreter”.
“We are uniquely placed to interpret business drivers and translate these into detailed, structured requirements for IT development. The ability to bridge the language barrier between business and IT can be a turning point for many BI solutions. We guide your business analysts to write practical specs for the developers, which will ultimately result in an intuitive solution that matches each user profile.”
In recent years the volume of data collected by businesses has exploded, leaving many of them drowning in a sea of uninformative spreadsheets and overwhelming reports. “The result is that too often, people who were never trained to do analysis, face an urgent need to uncover the valuable information hidden in their data.
“To this end, Synergy BI consultants have, for many years and across many industries, been helping companies deduce what the data is telling them.”
But, answering today's questions invariably triggers new ones, she says.
“This constant changing and moving of goalposts is part and parcel of the BI landscape. Having experienced consultants on hand to help navigate these choppy waters ensures that BI solutions become deeply embedded in normal business functions and processes, while keeping an eye on real priorities.”
Staniland says Synergy BI consultants have a deep passion for business intelligence, and have been freshly inspired by visionaries such as Dan Roam, Edward Tufte and Stephen Few, the disciplines of user experience design, information architecture and change management, and visualisation concepts made popular by http://www.informationisbeautful.net and http://www.vizthink.com.
View Synergy's online presentation on 'Why Business Intelligence Projects Fail'.
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