When you buy a product its value is immediately appreciated as it is used, but in service industry where the benefits are intangible it takes longer to recognize the value or benefits immediately. In SaaS (Software as a Service) business, organizations adopting these solutions, take even longer to see the value, as the initial period of implementing a platform like Business Intelligence (BI) takes months, that is, if done right.
Businesses can be immensely benefited by this valuable metric called Time to Value (TTV) while implementing a BI solution. For the uninitiated, TTV is the length of time it takes a customer to start benefitting and realizing value from a product or a service. For a BI solution, the value you get can either be in the form of the first set of real time dashboards or it could be when you actually start identifying issues and opportunities uncovered through those real time dashboards. Therefore, in most cases Time To Value is a perceived value. It is extremely important for businesses to identify & recognize this perceived value to set the expectations right internally, ensuring success for the project.
Too many team members involved in the implementation of a BI project means multiple points of failure. Each member is prone to committing errors and hence, there are high chances that the project might fail or get delayed leading to longer Time To Value. There are fantastic modern self-service BI tools available today which require least number of resources as they are simple, holistic and powered by AI. As an example, various layers in some of these self-service BI tools, including connecting data sources, cleaning, integrating and transforming data don’t require highly specialized skillsets.
For a smooth BI implementation, it is important for the key people involved to clearly define the business goals to be achieved through BI. Well defined and laid out KPIs / success metrics will avoid confusions and help realize Time To Value faster. Lack of clarity in BI objectives, many times leads to roadblocks in implementation process. This can delay BI projects by months and create a disinterest among the stakeholders.
Close monitoring of the progress of the project is a critical success factor. It requires active involvement of all key members, timely meetings within the team, regular updates about the project, troubleshooting of errors and removing any bottlenecks in the process. For a faster TTV, tracking and managing delivery timelines is a crucial step.
The timelines, before realizing actual value of a BI solution should be set after detailed and careful analysis of all the steps involved in implementation. Setting carefully evaluated and realistic milestones is crucial. Overestimating the team’s capabilities and underestimating the bottlenecks will set the wrong expectations among the stakeholders. The capabilities of the BI solution should also be taken into consideration while setting the milestones. Learn about the 8 critical factors to consider while selecting the BI tool.
Executing BI implementation in-house can be a challenging process as the knowledge to understand and implement a new BI solution is likely to be limited with the in-house team and comes with a learning curve. An experienced BI partner who has executed numerous projects across the world can help you, not just to set-up appropriate milestones, but also help define BI objectives and goals, leading to a significantly improved Time To Value, enabling you to achieve the desired results sooner.
A BI partner with a team of experienced business consultants and certified and expert data scientists who understand self-service BI tools is better equipped to smoothen the implementation by expertly overcoming the usual roadblocks that come in the way like flawed datasets, restricted access to data sources, change management and time management challenges to list a few.
