While working with a client this week I was reminded of how starting a business intelligence program can be overwhelming without good support. I’d like to correct a few common misnomers to help lighten the load. 

 “My data must be perfect.”  We would all like to work with pristine data when doing BI but this is just not realistic.  Business data is dirty.  A good BI program knows how to clean and restructure the data into a useable format.  A more advanced program can even assign data quality to indicate the accuracy of insights when making decisions.  Imperfect data can produce valuable insights. 

 “I have to start big.”  Enter Admiral Ackbar – “It’s a trap!”  You should not do everything at once.  Your BI program needs to naturally progress and mature.  It is a living process cultivated to produce valuable insights.  Start with a few business processes and gain insights from them.  Find out how to get your business to act on these insights.  Then add more.  You’ll be surprised at how quickly your BI program grows. 

 “I must find a life-altering insight.”  BI is not a get-rich-quick scheme.  It rarely provides a huge insight on day one.  Your primary BI goal is to build a program – a repeatable process that produces insights.  Then trust the program.  Process and reprocess your business processes until they are fully optimized.  You will eventually find the big one.

Here at ConradBI, we have fallen into the traps and overcome them through the years.  We’d love to share our experience to give you an advantage when starting your BI program.