A BI strategy is a blueprint for deciding how you plan on using data in your company.
To create a BI strategy, you must identify three things.
1) How will you deploy the BI platform?
2) How will you collate data for analysis?
3) And how will you help people at your organization make informed, data-driven decisions?
A BI strategy will allow you to address all your data problems and needs, develop a cohesive system, and keep it maintained.
What happens when you start implementing BI without a strategy? Basically, you focus too much on getting those graphs but no one in the company has an understanding of why and how to use them.
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Life before and after a BI strategy
Below is a handy illustration of life before and after a BI strategy.
| Without a BI strategy | With a BI strategy |
| Multiple versions of truth; people refer to different data when making decisions | A single version of the truth that leads to effective business decisions |
| Unclear names and definitions, leaving everyone confused | Consistent terminologies |
| Data quality is an after-thought | Data quality is a priority |
| Personnel overhead with different departments having their own BI | BI specialists and analysts maintaining the BI ecosystem |
What is a BI strategy?
A BI strategy is the plan that managers implement in order to prepare for, choose and begin using a new business intelligence platform.
A BI strategy will help you have a plan prepared in advance and can prevent hindrances in the process.
A business intelligence strategy involves planning a budget, incorporating stakeholder input, identifying goals, choosing software and rolling the selected software out.
Steps to create a successful BI strategy
Your BI strategy needs to align with your business goals and vision. A BI strategy will place trusted, relevant data in the hands of employees so they can make informed decisions every day. You can start this transformation now by following our guide.
1. Get Input from Stakeholders
Before you get started, you will need input from your shareholders. Determine who will be using the software, the kind of budget you have, what kinds of tasks the software will need to perform and what specific workloads you expect the software to take over. While it’s never possible to make everyone happy, getting as close as possible will reduce the likelihood of friction down the line.
2. Define implementation goals
It’s important to understand what you want from the BI software from the get-go. You will have to ask a series of questions in order to narrow down your needs. What data will you be collecting? Where is the data stored? What insights do you hope to draw from this data? Does your data need to be in real-time or can it be aggregated over time? Which KPIs do you need to track? Who will be using the software?
These questions will help you choose the software you need, how broad the scope will be and what your end goals are.
3. Make a budget
Developing an accurate budget is key to successful BI implementation. The only way to get an accurate estimate is to ask for a quote from the vendors you are shortlisting.
Don’t buy the priciest version of a software solution with shiny features you will most likely not use. By the same token, under buying can result in an underdeveloped system that does not serve what you need. Stay realistic and moderate when planning a budget.
4. Know your requirements
When creating this list, make sure to check with the users who will be directly interacting with the software.
Do they need to share reports with people both in and outside the organization?
Do they need detailed drill-down functionalities?
Does the solution need to incorporate data from SQL, relational and transactional databases? Determining what you need is the crucial first step when choosing BI software.
This requirements checklist can help you get an idea of what features are out there as well as what each one does. Then you can make your own list and submit it to vendors to get price quotes and demos.
5. Compare vendors
Identifying your requirements helps in eliminating vendors who don’t provide a feature you require or who don’t consistently deliver real value and functions. You can compare different business intelligence vendors based on how they are rated for different features. Combining this comparison report with reviews and eventual demos will help you choose a solution that is right for your business.
6. Submit an RFP
Once you’ve gathered your requirements and narrowed down your vendors, you are now prepared to submit the RFP to your selected vendors. By requesting proposals, you ensure accurate pricing for your customized business needs. This is also how you begin to build a personal relationship with the vendors who will eventually be supplying your BI solution. In this step, it is important to be very clear with your needs and get clarification from vendors about features and capabilities for individual platforms.
7. Request demos
You can request demos from the vendors you shortlist. Taking the software for a trial run and seeing if it can perform the necessary tasks in a user-friendly way is the only foolproof way to choose the right system for your business. It also helps you determine whether the platform will actually be able to deliver on the features you want.
8. Plan user training and workshops
Usually, vendors offer some combination of free knowledgebase, help documents, video training, FAQs, forums, live classes and in-person seminars to get you set up and comfortable with the software.
These offerings vary from vendor to vendor and usually come at different costs depending upon the platform, yet are quite standard.
Decide what kind of training you’re looking for to get an accurate price quote for it. Reading reviews is another great way of getting this information. This way, you will be prepared for what to expect and what you need from the vendor during implementation.
Benefits of a BI strategy
Business intelligence itself offers a huge range of benefits, but there are plenty of perks for having a BI strategy before buying. Let’s discuss each of them in detail.
1. Saves time
A good business intelligence strategy should help you choose, purchase and implement a software solution in the shortest, smoothest way possible. By having an established plan, budget and training outline, you’ll save time that would otherwise be spent determining all these factors.
2. Saves money
When you determine the exact features you’ll use, you save money by preventing a bloated bill with features you would not even use. You’ll also save cash on costly labor hours by reducing the time spent on the process, as mentioned above. Being prepared for the training offerings (and associated cost) will help you budget accordingly and reduce unforeseen expenditures.
3. Gives a competitive edge
When you build a delivery strategy beforehand, you know your exact requirements. This helps you shortlist vendors that best deliver the features you are looking to implement. You get demos and accurate price quotes. You can even take the systems for a test drive and ensure they meet the requirements. In doing so, you inevitably choose a platform that delivers your key requirements and has a user interface you and your team are happy with.
You can then start the training process confidently. At this point, you have saved time, money and stress in your business intelligence software search. In the end, a delivery strategy can make all the difference.
Pitfalls and challenges
There are plenty of problems you might encounter without a business intelligence strategy that should urge you to consider implementing one. Try and avoid certain pitfalls when you start. Let’s dive right into them.
1. Poor chance of successful adoption
According to Gartner and Forbes, BI adoption is only around 30% in most industries. If you want to avoid being one of those on the outside, a pre-planned business intelligence strategy is key to successful adoption.
2. Risk of overspending
Companies are more likely to overspend if they don’t have a strict plan. If a vendor proposes the need to have advanced real-time data updates on dashboards, clueless enterprises might blindly agree. Then if they don’t use that feature, it will be a useless money pit slowing down the system and making it harder to use. This is less likely to happen when you have a strict plan. You can always add on later as your business grows.
3. Loss of time
Having a defined plan of attack is always a better strategy than moving forward blindly in the business world.
4. Frustrated employees
Most business intelligence adoptions fail. This is largely because employees struggle to use the system. If the interface isn’t user-friendly or if the software is too bloated and difficult to navigate, of course, the employees aren’t going to use it. This frustration leads to unsuccessful use and adoption of the software, costing you money for training or switching to a different system entirely.
Effective BI strategy implementation
Implementing the BI software platform will be a project within the overall strategy. Your IT department will be heavily involved and may have its own ideas for deploying the BI tool.
However, they should often be communicating with the BI team on their progress, using an agile or traditional project management plan with a built-in feedback loop.
Before deploying, establish the reporting structure for the BI team.
Where do they live in the broader organizational chart?
Decide who the BI team reports to and what the format is for these reports.
Lastly, work with IT to decide security permissions for the BI stakeholders.
You want stakeholders to be able to access and work with the data, but also need to ensure data is secure.
Break up your implementation into phases with a feedback loop built into the plan. Enable your stakeholders, BI team, and IT to give each other feedback as the project progresses.
