Business Analytics Competence Center & People

Business Intelligence (BI) and Corporate Performance Management (CPM) has been with us for over a decade now, resulting in successes and failures. Previously these initiatives mostly showed a focus on controlling costs & improving operational and sometimes tactical "performance. Today however, the world of BI & Performance Management is changing: sophisticated analysis for looking forward including advanced analytics, integration with CPM applications and fact-based decision making become more central to the strategy of organizations and can result into major competitive advantages. These organizations are using BI, not as a commodity, but as a way to differentiate and as such move from tactical to strategic Business Intelligence & Performance Management.

In order to do so, the way companies run their BI & PM programs and projects needs to become more sophisticated too.

Successful BI & PM requires tools, hardware and data. But it also requires change in organizational culture, change in employee behavior and corresponding skills, to name but a few. It is clear that the development of these required BI-related capabilities must be facilitated. We're not purely speaking about a data warehouse or a BI / CPM team which is delivering in a project mode, but a team which can ensure that the required BI tools are available, which can educate & train users on analytical techniques and decision making and which can ensure that BI supports the company's business strategy. In summary: a cross-functional team which has well-defined tasks, roles, responsibilities and processes for supporting and promoting the effective use of BI and Performance Management across the entire organization.

More and more organizations are therefore setting up a BICC, a Business Intelligence Competence Center or PMCC, a Performance Management Competence Center, to answer all these key questions:
  • How to get the most out of BI by combining business & technical skills ?
  • How to manage, measure and sustain our investments in BI?
  • How to implement a comprehensive BI strategy that supports organizational goals and address the information requirements from the business?

element61 has extensive experience in setting up & managing BICCs. Our skill set includes:

  • BICC definition & setup: It is important that the BICC or PMCC concept is properly introduced and well understood by the organization. What are the potential benefits for the organization ? Which BICC functions will be supported ? Identification of possible staffing, their required skills set and corresponding tasks, through a variety of RACI models. What implications can arise when a BICC were to be set up ? What is the most appropriate funding model ? How should a BI roadmap look like ? What about the communications' aspect ? How to monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of the BICC ? All these questions are answered in the elementary for BICC/PMCC definition & setup approach.
     
  • BICC assessment: All ingredients which are required within a BICC definition & setup track will be assessed here. This is done by performing a thorough gap analysis, in which we will evaluate the overall BI strategy, and by pinpointing the gaps between the current and the desired BI strategy. What's working and what can be improved ? Which actions need to be taken on the short term and on the longer term in order to move one or more steps up the BI maturity ladder?
  • Interim BICC management: our experienced consultants are well-positioned to -on a temporary basis- become part of your teams or even lead your BICC team whilst you are recruiting for the permanent BICC management position.

element61 can help your organization in moving from a back-office BI approach, only dealing with data acquisition and information delivery, to a real BICC / PMCC which will also be able to cope with the overall BI program, analytics, data stewardship, support, training & vendor management functions.

Contact us for more information or with your specific request.