Several companies invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in platforms in their analytics program (human resources and software dedicated to the exploitation and use of data) without necessarily obtaining a return on their investment (ROI). This perception of non-profitability associates analytics projects with expenses rather than investments, making it difficult to finance related initiatives (acquisition of a new analytics platform, purchase of new data sources, hiring of new analysts , allocation of hours for monitoring and optimization projects, etc.). By developing a strategic plan for analytics, you ensure a significant impact of these initiatives for your business.
HOW DOES A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR ANALYTICS ADD VALUE TO A BUSINESS?
- He will ensure that your data and analytical infrastructure effectively supports the execution of your business strategy and your digital strategy;
- It will allow you to improve the contribution of each analytics platform to the success of the business strategy;
- It will allow you to collect relevant data and develop the right (flexible) analytical infrastructure, the right processes and the right resources to create value for your company, value that can translate into greater customer satisfaction, loyalty size, more efficient operations and a more differentiated product or service offering.
HERE ARE SOME CHALLENGES THAT A STRATEGIC PLAN CAN SOLVE:
- Various data sources (mobile, website, points of sale, CRM, call center) and various data formats (structured and unstructured) in the organization, all without having a complete portrait of consumers;
- Data not relevant to stakeholders;
- Underdeveloped analytics and data culture (Does the company consider data when making decisions? Is it data driven ? Does it exploit the full analytical potential, both predictive and prescriptive?);
- Low quality (reliability) and availability of data collected;
- Lack of skills to effectively operate analytics platforms.
A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR ANALYTICS IS MADE UP OF FOUR PHASES:
PHASE 1 – UNDERSTANDING THE ORGANIZATION'S BUSINESS CONTEXT.
Understanding your business and its environment is essential to developing a successful strategic plan. Some components must be studied:
- The mission and vision of your company/organization;
- The organization's business objectives, goals and performance indicators;
- The strategies put in place to achieve these objectives;
- organizational culture;
- The competitive environment;
- Current and potential customers;
- Products and services;
- The results of a SWOT analysis;
- Industry trends (technology trends).
Keep in mind that some of these components can themselves be the subject of a strategic plan for analytics or a data strategy. The field of analytics concerns several fields of expertise: consumer data analysis, product analysis, marketing data analysis, business analysis, people analysis and competitive intelligence. In short, analytics is a science that can be applied to all fields where data is available.
PHASE 2 – ASSESSING THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ANALYTICS PROGRAM AND SETTING GOALS
A realistic plan cannot be developed without clear objectives and an honest evaluation of the program currently in place. To do so, it would be important to answer the following questions:
- What is the mission and role of your current analytics program? Is this role clear and unequivocal within your organization?
- What type of data do you collect? Is this data relevant to your business? Are they reliable? Is there some form of data governance in place?
- What analytics platforms do you work with? Are they fully exploited? Are they easy to use?
- What types of skills are available in your organization? Are they qualified? Would you need additional resources?
- What is the level of maturity of your organization in analytical terms?
- What processes are in place to support analytics programs? Can they be optimized?
- Where do you want to be in analytics in two years and why? How can your goals create value for your business?
PHASE 3 – IDENTIFICATION OF GAPS BETWEEN THE CURRENT STATE AND THE FUTURE STATE
To develop a plan, the gap analysis will allow you to compare where you are now (current state) and where you want to go (future state), and thus discover the missing components to get there. A simple example would be:
- Current Status: I am currently collecting behavioral data about visitors to our web/mobile site (What are visitors doing on the site?)
- Future state: I would like to know what visitors are doing on our digital properties, but also why they are doing so.
- Gap: I need to collect data related to user feedback or opinions on specific actions taken online.
PHASE 4 – DEVELOPING THE PLAN AND ROADMAP
Once you have identified the different components that will allow you to reach your future state (ie the result of your gap analysis), it will be important to design a plan with the steps to achieve your goals. At this point, your priorities should be set based on the value that could be generated for your business. A roadmap should be developed to establish the chronological order of the different phases of your plan. The budget for each phase should be considered. Depending on the scope, the plan may include several components: data, platforms, processes, culture, and skills/team.
The strategic plan for analytics requires the involvement of multiple stakeholders in the organization (IT, product, marketing, finance, senior management, etc.), and their agreement on a common vision is of importance. critical for the adoption of your plan. To navigate the complexity of this process and perform an objective assessment of their analytics program, many organizations rely on external consultants. Adviso can become your partner to fully deploy your analytics program.
