Business Intelligence/Data Management Capabilities
March 31, 2008
The Beauty of the Wheel!
Or is it the ‘Magic’ of the wheel….
Communicating an idea efficiently is challenging, especially when that idea covers many IT functions that can each by themselves stand alone. In an effort to communicate our Business Intelligence and Data Management capabilities in a way that takes less than a 7 day training, we put together this graphic. Of course, the colors were selected by IT guys and not by our marketing department, but we feel that we have captured the essence of our complete capabilities within the BI/DM space - the stages and relationships of our capabilities as well as the breadth of our talent.
Internally, we call this model the FABI Wheel. Why FABI? It stands for the (Henry) Ford Approach to Business Intelligence, and was inspired by our smart guys (and gals) here at LUCRUM. This unique approach is important because it is an approach to thinking about business intelligence and data management in a way that is not driven by technology or bad habits. It is driven by the pursuit of delivering value quickly by unhiding data in a method that puts ownership in the hands of the business people. We know that BI is a journey, we have been there before and this is how we think. Let me explain…
First, the outer wheel has three sections; Strategic, Tactical and Operational. This communicates that LUCRUM has offerings in each of those areas. We have a mature strategy and can engage at these levels.
Strategic. This is the level that can set us apart from others. It is here that we help our customers set direction. If we engage here correctly, we will win a client for the long term. At this level, we are architects (helping to ‘plan the city’, where the city represents systems) - we build relationships and architect solutions here.
Tactical. This is where we are the builders. We deploy as warehouse architects and engage to carry out the plan. We are builders and implementers. Our unique collaborative and iterative approach sets apart from the rest. We focus all our energies on delivering value and doing it quickly!
Operational. This is where the results are seen. This is the 10% of the ice berg that is visible. We are deploying here, always listening and always understanding. We are working to bring the parts of the customer’s organization together - we are working as facilitators of change.
Second, the outer wheel is self-sustaining and self-connecting. It’s easy to see the transitions; but notice the transition from Operational to Strategic. Within the operational phase we are always listening and always understanding…so that we can complete the feedback loop and build ‘the next strategy’. As we deploy reports, cubes, dashboards, we are touching the area of the business that is strategic, they need the unhidden information to make the best decisions. Well, there is always that next round of unhidden information and it is here that we make relationships and bridge for the next opportunity - which naturally begins with strategy; we are either building out the strategy to the next level or developing game changing strategy with the customer. It’s how we provide extra value to our clients and mature our relationships.
Third, the inner wheel does have connections to each of the arrows both before and after. These connections are fuzzy, but real. As we operate within one arrow, we have direct opportunity to grow our business in both the next one and the previous one. For example, if we are building a warehouse, we will have visibility in to the next effort, reporting. But don’t forget the previous arrow’s opportunities ‘data integration’. If we get tasked with the data integration portion, don’t forget the previous opportunity ‘MDM and Metadata’. It’s not possible to integrate without a strategy for MDM and Metadata - how far we go with this depends upon our relationship with the customer. The magic of the inner wheel is to help us understand both where we are and where the opportunities come from (looking forwards and backwards at the same time) all to deliver value to the client so that they are successful.
Fourth, finally, putting it altogether, we are focused on getting the right information to the right people delivered the right way at the right time…so that our customers can engage their business and succeed. This is the heart of the wheel.
~Scott Felten
Sphere: Related ContentRun IT as a Business: Part 1, Why…?
February 27, 2008
So I picked up the rough piece of wood and the even more rough piece of sandpaper. I am thinking to myself; my dad’s loosing it here. Wouldn’t I use something smooth to smooth out the wood? I was 9, I was wrong and of course, Dad was right. I stored that bit of information for future use; it takes rougher things to make rough things smooth. Not sure why, it just works.
Fast forward many years and many innovations. We find ourselves in a strange marketplace. Technology has advanced greatly, prices have dropped, capabilities abound. But, more importantly, the mystery of IT is gone. No longer do we have two classes of people; those who “know computers” and “those who don’t”. No longer can IT go away for a year and bring a solution to the business and everyone is happy. The business has called our bluff. Everyone knows technology…better stated; everyone has been assimilated.
Now the challenge for IT: How do we exist? This is rule number one, the rule of self-preservation.
Let’s set the stage properly and call it what it is. Within a company, IT is a monopoly and monopoly is bad for everyone. Decomposing this brings us through the following:
- Single source for anything is called a monopoly. A monopoly means there is no competition and this is bad. My daughter recently hurt her ankle playing soccer and needed an MRI. If we were in Canada or France, the average wait time for an MRI is months. This is because their governments have a monopoly on healthcare. Since there is no monopoly here in the US, we simply asked who was the best, how much they charge and who could see us right away. After all, these companies are competing for my spend. It turns out that we could been seen right away. The place was new, the staff was friendly and the rates were competitive (we have a high deductible policy and are incented to ‘shop-around’).
“Competition is rough! Yes, well stop whining. Sandpaper is also rough, but look what it can do to the wood!” S.Felten (you can quote me on that 
)
- Not having competition, IT is left unchecked. Without sandpaper, the wood remains rough and unfinished; it doesn’t look pretty and it can actually hurt you when handling it. When IT is left unchecked, it is left to its own perceptions of strategy, tactics and operations. The best that IT can do is to rise to their own level of understanding and take on the characteristics of their leader. They approach the business from the comfort of their passions and toolsets, holding on in emotional ways to their solutions that they birthed in years past. In rare occasions this is ok. However, most of the time the value that IT brings is not calibrated to the value that the business needs.
- Unchecked IT bloats in the areas of Time, Money and Service. Competition works on every aspect of the iron triangle (Time, Scope and Money) – keeping them in check. Left unchecked, IT has the tendency to slip on time to market for solutions. Without the urgency of someone nipping at your heels, you tend to walk when you could run. Since IT is already budgeted and accounted for, what is the cost? Cost gets lost when you don’t pay cash. It’s hard to see the real costs for IT since they are spread out between divisions, projects, programs and departments. Finally, the level of service is hard to keep high when you don’t “have to” incur the pain of customer service; lets face it, we nature tells us to avoid pain.
- The business must move forward and often goes around IT. When we first heard of outsourcing, admit it, we panicked. You’re going to let who do what? We all get frustrated when we hear of shadow IT groups popping up in marketing, finance, operations, etc…IT has a genuine concern and desire to use their powers for good, to make things better, faster and cheaper, to dispel the powers of evil. These are noble goals, but we have to think at the enterprise level. IT for IT sake is not valid. We must partner with the business at the most intimate levels. Did you hear the one that goes:
Q. What’s the difference between a data architect and a terrorist?
A. You can negotiate with a terrorist.
Let’s face it, we need to compete to stay in existence. But we also need to remember that this competition is good. Remember the sandpaper – we all want a quality, finished product that is both nice to look at and doesn’t hurt when you touch it.
Next post: “Run IT as a Business: Part 2, How?”… Coming soon.
Happy Sanding!
~ Scott Felten
Sphere: Related ContentTurducken (Slicing customers differently)
February 26, 2008
Talk about complexity, I will never forget the day that I first learned about Turducken! For those of you who don’t know, a Turducken is exactly as it sounds; a chicken stuffed in a duck, stuffed in a turkey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turducken). You know, the classical hierarchal relationship of meat taken to the extreme. They go for about US $100 after shipping, but the adventurer can stuff their own. When I think of customers I sometimes think of the Turducken – Let me break this down a bit.
I have always thought that the most important thing that a company can do is to keep their customers. Makes sense to me, after all there is that great concept that its “X times as expensive to attract a new customer than to keep one”. Now don’t get me wrong, I would walk on broken glass without shoes uphill in the snow to help my customer with their Oracle Forms 4.5 on top of a My Sql implementation in a Citrix environment running off of a 1982 walkman radio. But when businesses say customers, they know what they are really talking about. But let’s decompose this a bit more.
You all know those sayings – the ones we all know and love…
- Customers are great!
- The customer is always right!
- Customers may not be right but they are never wrong!
- Our Customers are number 1!
Well, over the years I have come to modify that statement a bit and here’s why. “Customer” is a large group to take into analysis at face value. Customers are a complex group. Companies shell out a lot of moolah to understand this group. After all, this group is responsible for the business’ inertia. When companies wish to understand who their customers are, they don’t simply run a ‘customer listing’ and read through it while attending some boring IT meetings about data governance. They spend big money and they head down the road that ultimately leads to … Segmentation.
Segmentation is the classification or taxonomy of the business’ customers. They are usually based on habits or lifestyles plus some kind of loyalty factor. This data is usually derived by their purchase behavior – at the purchase or cart level. There you go; you now have X-subsets of customer. The theory is that each has their own set of core beliefs, common principles and behaviors. The goal is to then approach them in a more intimate manner, allowing both a level of customization and attaining some economies of scale.
However, let’s take another look at customers. This time lets add two driving forces; Business Intelligence and a potential recession. The impending economic fear will be the catalyst for innovation, as it always is. To maintain market share or to at least out pace our competition, companies will need to do something different and the conditions seem to be perfect. Lets pick up the story from above and write the ending.
Tom is returning from lunch when he just happens to walk past the marketing folks. They are talking about how to approach the “young and fun city dwellers” segment and how that must be different than the “impoverished with kids in college” segment. As he rounds the corner, he passes the finance folks as they make mention that yesterday’s margins are down 3.2% and that translates to a need for some kind of new report because it will impact profitability. Almost back to his office, he passes the sales folks who are chattering about how the “young and fun city dweller” are buying more and that even the “impoverished with kids in college” seemed to spend their tax refunds this week. And it hits him…
What if we combine this data? What if we work together? What if we look at customer loyalty and segmentation, but we add a dimension called ‘profitability’? Like reading the last 20 pages in a good novel, Tom plays this through and nets out as follows:
If we look at our segmentation of customers, within each group:
- We have customers who are loyal and profitable – these are out best customers. Our number one job is to keep these customers. Things I can do are; understand who they are and engage them on a more intimate level, customized for them (special offerings, internet bindings, tools, tips, personalized greeting, etc…), surround them with rewards and incentives (redirecting the money spent on the next group).
- We have customers who are not loyal and not profitable – why do we waste our resources on these folks? Or maybe it makes sense to cut them off completely. Recently Sprint gave their top 1,000 problem customers the boot (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR2007070602131.html). I’m not going to mention the online movie delivery service I use, but it seems the more I rent the longer it takes to get my movies. If I rent only a few, I get really good service. Coincidence?
- Now we need to understand how to make our profitable but non-loyal customers more loyal. How can we deliver better service, what promotes loyalty, maybe we should ask this subset?
- And we need to understand how to make our non profitable but loyal customers more profitable. Can we push higher margin items, does it make sense to engage them with alternatives, blend costs/products to move margin?
Of course this is only the beginning. BI can bring a depth of understanding to those who look across the enterprise to bring data together. The above scenario is only the tip of the ice berg – it’s the beginning point of an in-depth analysis that will deliver real and actionable information. Look for information to unhide and your customers will flock to your side!
Now for the perfect customer saying, feel free to quote me on this:
“Our best customers are best!”
It’s the perfect storm out there and BI just might be the generator that keeps your business’ lights on. If you do lose power, please make sure to eat up that Turducken – it only lasts a day in the fridge!
~ Scott Felten
Sphere: Related ContentThe Magic of the Dash (BI, the journey)
February 25, 2008
My wife and I and our three daughters lived 12 hours from her side of the family and 10 from mine. Family is very important in our lives and we always have made the choice to stay connected. My daughters are all teenagers now and one thing is for sure, I have learned a lot on those drives.
Maybe it was the fact that I was the only male in the family or maybe it was personalities, but when I would look at the situation – we are in Virginia Beach, Virginia now and we want to be in Toledo, Ohio by tonight – I focused on the destination; Toledo. I focused so much that I would try anything to keep that van moving forward (and oh did we have a van, a Volkswagen Vanagon, the Wolfsburg edition with the pop-up table and rear facing seats). I figured that we would not stop for bio breaks for at least half way. Any stopping for food was strictly against the plan. We brought food and supplies. On occasion we visited the drive-thru. Of course being outnumbered, I was often outvoted. I still remember the times, having lost the vote, sitting at the rest area in the food-place of choice; Everyone was smiling and talking; sharing stories and thoughts, but not me. I was too busy looking out the window…looking at all the cars I just got done passing and wanting the chance to pass them again…wondering why in the world we are not moving towards Toledo, the common goal.
I was a slow learner but over the years, I came to understand the magic of the dash. You see in any journey, there exists a dash; that little mark between the starting point and destination. I wrongly spent my energies focusing solely on the destination. I learned that the journey, that little unassuming dash, is where most of the magic actually took place. For example, consider a person born in 1963 who lives to be 90 years old. There will be a dash on that tombstone; 1963-2053. Guess what, neither of those dates really matter much, do they? No, the real magic is that dash – for that is where living took place.
During our many trips, that dash has built our family solid. During those dashes we talked about each other’s strengths, what made them, them, we traded many jokes, described the young men my daughters would one day meet, talked about the meaning of life; we laughed and we cried, we grieved and we rejoiced. The dash calibrated our lives, helped us understand each other and best of all, built solid relationships. And when we got to the destination, we were ready. We arrived as a family united to take on the world!
The job of unhiding data is a noble venture and a good destination. However, it is also a journey and one that can end with new revelations about your business, new relationships, greater understandings about your products and services and much more. This new information can help you maneuver the business to deal with the actions and reactions of the “economy of competition” – ensuring success! The great danger is to focus on the destination without reconciling that the dash exists. Remember, the dash is where the magic occurs; opportunities where your business can be strengthen and united.
As the pursuit of business intelligence begins, it reaches the momentum of excitement quickly. However it soon comes crashing down because of the realization that; we don’t actually have customer information anywhere, or we have several versions of them, or customer information exists in many places and they are defined and used differently and they are ‘owned’ by different groups who haven’t spoken since 1981. We also find that there has been changes in the way that recognized revenue was accounted for, because Julie quit in 2006, so prior to that, partial work in progress was excluded but corporate made 7 changes within the first two quarters of 2007. From there we find that our processes are also dependent on Jose’ who must manually enter and maintain a massive spreadsheet with many tabs and hidden rows that he inherited from someone. Worse, all of production is riding on this spreadsheet and no one knows how to use it and he has not been on holiday for 3 years and is beginning to look haggard. And so on.
Welcome to the journey of BI.
Being prepared and understanding the dash before entering your BI journey is vital to your BI success. When we actually get to the destination, we want to make sure we are ready. In BI speak, ready means that you have the right information, sourced from the right data, delivered to the right people, the right way and at the right time. Where will your dash lead you? For sure, the dash will lead you to opportunities to understand, fix and ultimately strengthen your business.
Working backwards, some of the places that you might visit along the way are:
Master Data Management. It’s like the big ball of string on Route 66. You just have to stop and look at this one. In the realm of data, there exists certain core data domains that are so important that their value is abstracted above any one program or system’s use and set at the enterprise level – where there is a good chance that no one will own it! Any data that is duplicated or pivotal for analysis or just very important may exist here. As you unhide data, an MDM initiative can help to eliminate redundancies (that is often suffering from data quality issues) and elevate this data from the muck and mire of operations to the grand visibility of a corporate level asset.
Metadata Management. It’s like the Grand Canyon – it means something different to everyone and how did it really get here – could it have really been caused by that little stream? Above the realm of data, there exists a level of enlightenment, where few know the real truth. But that is just it; everyone needs to know the truth. As the complexity of the data ecosphere increases, the strategic role of metadata management must increase as well.
Data Governance. It’s like visiting Washing DC. You know what should happen inside those buildings, but you are just not sure they are really doing what needs to be done. A data governance program stood up by IT and lead by the business is key to ensuring that the business has a framework to manage the quality and strategic direction of data.
Data Policy. When you experience Niagara Falls, you know that there are massive amounts of activity happening even when you are not there. This is the point of having a data policy. When there is no ‘data evangelist’ around, what happens. A data policy sets the benchmark and is vital to extending IT’s area of influence.
Data Principles. Just like that bottle of snake oil from the wild wild west, people will buy anything. If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. Having real principles ensures that the foundation of data is real and solid. The challenge here is to lead a team to the development of these principles and having them be reflected within their DNA.
Written mathematically:
BI Value = (Anticipation of the dash * Opportunities) / Excitement of the Journey
Travel safe,
~ Scott Felten
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