Business Intelligence & Dashboard

According to Harvard Business Review, before thinking about AI and Big Data, companies should think Data Strategy because cross-sectoral studies show that, on average, less than half of an organization’s structured data is actively used to make decisions and less than 1% of its unstructured data is analyzed or used.

More than 70% of employees have access to data that they should not, 80% of the time of analysts is devoted to the discovery and preparation of data. Data breaches are common, unreliable datasets are spreading in silos, and enterprise data technology often does not live up to demand.

Having a Chief Data Officer (CDO) and a data management function is excellent but not necessarily possible in all organizations. On the other hand, each organization should, at its level, define a coherent strategy for the governance, analysis and deployment of information assets (data).

In short, a Data Strategy!

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According to a recent New Vantage Partners study, many large firms are still lagging behind and not making the most out of the 3 sources of actionable data for the benefit of their company. However, everyone is gargling Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in recent years; amazing, no?

Even more, according to another Forrester study, 73% of enterprise data is not used!

The good news is that all companies can still do well with the implementation of a Data Strategy. Especially since the main obstacle to implementing such a Data Strategy is the “People”, according to New Vantage Partners.

Towards a data-driven enterprise culture

Indeed, the same study reveals that for nearly 50% of companies, Personnel is the main source of resistance to change towards a data-driven enterprise culture.

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While diving in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence is booming, many companies are still struggling to take full advantage of their business data, leaving dormant an underutilized asset with enormous potential.

Which is surprising to say the least since the vast majority of companies have implemented technologies that have accumulated billions of billions of data over the last two or three decades. We are talking about Big Big Data.

Your business data, an underused or underestimated asset?

A recent New Vantage Partners survey of 60 large companies, reviewed by Harvard Business Review, revealed that the majority of these companies have plunged into the world of analytics for a long time but very few have actually implemented a data-driven enterprise culture.

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So the combination Big Data plus IoT will enable predicting and personalizing in real-time Clients Relationships, do risks analysis, redesign products by extrapolating the impact of some functionalities, offer custom heath care, reduce maintenance costs, up date your website in real-time, identify new opportunities, etc.

Or so they say!  Why?  How?

Big Data is basically the analysis of astronomical quantity of data so to extrapolate patterns and therefore predict behaviours, be it consumers or machines, consumer behaviour and satisfaction or performance and durability, etc.

So if you put together,  Big Data plus IoT, you now have access to the physical world of connected objects, and to data from M2M (Machine to Machine) relationships but also M2P / P2M (Person to Machine).

The more Big Data plus IoT will accumulate data over the longer period of time, the more its predictions will be right and sound…

And this formidable combination of Big Data plus IoT is already running at full speed as we speak, changing our lives even though we are not aware of it. Having doubts?  Well, read this carefully:

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Everybody knows that, Big Data comes with its data cleaning and labeling issues prior to revealing its magic, you have to properly feed the Big Data visualization tools with the right data. That’s for Big Data.

But what about enterprises, what’s their excuses for not making the most of their data and not acting upon priceless customer insights provided by their, who knows, BI experts, Dashboards Metrics, IT Consulting Firm, CRMs, Databases drilling, etc.? None really, considering the incredible technology budgets CMOs have been granted in the last decade or so… because, let’s be honest, the responsibility mostly falls on the shoulders of CMOs, they’re the ones that should be looking for such valuable data to enhance the customer experience and better understand the customer journey.

But the fact is: “only 28% of businesses believe they are generating strategic value from the data they collect,” based on numbers from Business News Daily. Blame it on the CMOs. Well, that’s what C-suite’s have been doing, grading them only “C” in 2015, in terms of efficiency. (source: VisionEdge Marketing)

So, the pressure is on for CMOs to get good at data… very good and very fast!

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The main Big Data problem today is that data still has to be labelled and categorized manually and this is what keeps the marvels of Big Data out of reach for most enterprises. Some may argue there might be an even bigger Big Data problem for businesses operating in th real world.

Big Data is getting… well, pretty big, especially when coupled with IoT. It is expected to change the landscape of Marketing, and of the way businesses do business, by enabling predictability of sales and customers’ needs and expectations, thanks to real-time analysis and visualizations of huge amount of structured and unstructured data gathered from the digital realm (mobile apps, web, website, social media, etc.).

And that’s great if you’re a large company with large resources, with big budgets and big clients, mostly operating in the digital world and producing huge amount of data to dive into so to extract those Marketing Intelligence pearls that will provide you with a competitive edge.

Many predict that Big Data-savvy will be a must of the next generation CMOs’ successful profile.

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Most companies, even if they don’t know it, already have way much more data than they can efficiently handle; they are literally drowning under data! So, do you believe the Big Data promise? That it’ll make a difference in your business performance and profits?  Not so evident!

But first, let’s see what we are talking about?  What is Big Data?

And when did it turn out to be BIG?

The true nature of Data and the Big Data promise

Data comes in two forms: structured and unstructured. When you join the two, it becomes Big, really BIG.

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This is Big Data era right? And everyboy is just so happy with all this new Intelligence pouring in and all these KPIs literally falling from the skies which will all of a sudden enlighten us and magically empower us with infallible decisions and grant us assured success, right?

And we’re all writing down new figures of « big-data augmented » sales and revenues and God knows just how fantastic everything will be from now on for us all!

Well, the thing is I don’t want to kill it for you all but really, don’t you feel that as CXO we’re all already pretty much flooded with data, information et metrics of all sorts?

Two considerations I’d like to submit to you.

Question of Intelligence, what KPIs and not even Big Data will ever tell you!

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In this post, we will present 5 KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that are crucial to have on your Manager Dashboard if you’re to get a crystal clear vision of your Financial Services or Banking Products Sales Funnel.

There are well-known Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in Sales which, just like images, are worth a thousand words, and especially when it comes to Financial Services or Banking Products Sales, a field of activities where more than anywhere else, performance is law, right?

Some Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can literally take your Sales Department to a whole new level; unfortunately, very few realize that.  We are thinking about all these C-level Managers here that we have come to run by over the years as a Software Developer and which have told us: « You know what? When it comes to Business Intelligence and those metrics that can tell you what’s happening with your Sales Force… well, the truth is, I’m pretty blind! »

Not that we would pretend to know or to understand perfectly the subtleties of operations of  all the many businesses at work in the field of Financial Services or Banking Products but just that, with 30 years of experience as a Software Developer including many large mandates for Banks and Financial institutions, well, we have acquired a certain expertise about what information exactly it is that Managers need and require to make sound decisions and to base their Business Development and Sales Strategy upon.

So what does the Manager – Sales Director – Marketing Director (CMO) really need to to get a clear vision of his actual Sales status?

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Managing growth while successfully controlling your expenses, retaining your critical resources and facing competition; and simultaneously increasing profit margin, of course, to please shareholders!  Well, it’s not an easy business to be a manager these days. And very few can boast being a visionary one!

One of the key factors of success is certainly productivity, or  the ability to  increase productivity!  And this, nowadays more than ever, goes through technology.

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The world changes… mostly due to new technologies proposing or enabling new ways of doing things, new visions of the world!  And that’s the way to look at Tablets which are now standing in between Smartphones and Laptops but will soon stand, in our opinion, above both!
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I am an SMB owner and like many others, I feel more and more not only questionned but also concerned with the global environmental situation and, honestly, quite worried for my children’s future. As a SMB owner, I want to have a green envitonmental footprint.  So, here it goes…

For more than a decade now, the conssumer has been the target of many awareness campaigns in regards to the environmental impact of his choices and decisions. More so, in recent years, there’s not a month that goes by without having Mother Nature reminding us one way or another that something is not right with the climate and the environment.

It comforts me to think that average Joe has come a long way in terms of awareness of the environmental impact of his every moves and decisions but what about all these SMBs’ owners?  but what is your SMB’s environmental footprint?

The green environmental footprint enterprise – myth or reality?

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In today’s business reality, not only do we take for granted that the right information will be accessible anytime, anywhere but also that it will help us make more enlightened decisions instantaneously, on-the-go !

The ability to adjust our business offering in real-time, to make some real-time Marketing. It can constitute an undeniable competitive advantage.

Real-Time Marketing – first, a corporate vision

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Everybody talks about BI (Business Intelligence) and its virtues since a few years; everybody wants BI seeing in it a miracle remedy to its enterprise or Sales Force performance or thinking it could be the new growth vector they’re looking for. And probably with good reason but it can’t be done with a blink of an eye, there has to be a sound analysis done before mobilizing Business Intelligence!

Challenges of Business Intelligence

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You are a mobile worker and you have just got yourself the brand new iPad2 and it’s killing you… you just feel like not bringing your laptop on your next business trip or client meeting.  Now, is this a good idea?

Only 4-5 years back; I would have answered this: tell me about your IT systems and I’ll tell you how things will turn out because at the time, most mobile workers were greatly depending on the « back-end office » to do business; and then came the BlackBerry which enabled real-time business and conversation with the Clientele and afterwards, new Smartphone devices with stock and calculus and synchronization and display capabilities have made us all almost fully autonomous in terms of Mobility, but let’s be honest, it’s still not a laptop!

So what’s new with Tablets, really?  Well, many things but maybe first and foremost they are the best mid-term between working / display surface and easiness of transportation!!!  I don’t want to provide free advertising but the new iPad 2 is only 8,8 mm thick for a weight of 601 g, it can hold into your hands but with a display screen far more superior than that of a Smartphone.

And with a touch-screen tablet, iOS and Android that is (and a few others…), everything becomes so instinctive: launching an application, surfing the Web, consulting your emails, watching a movie or reading a book; it’s almost child play. Having doubts, take a look at this picture!!!

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