Business Intelligence –
Turning Data into Profit
By: Ryan Rigby
Who am I? • 15+ years experience in Business Analysis, Product
Management, Project Management and Management
Consulting
• Past President of IIBA Vancouver Chapter
• Certified CBAP, PMP, Agile Scrum Master and Product
Owner
Key Learning Points
• What is Business Intelligence (BI)?
• The Business Intelligence Recipe
• Real World examples of Business Intelligence
• Visualizing Business Intelligence
• New Business Intelligence terms
What is BI?
Business Intelligence (BI)
The right information in the right context to the right person at the right time, which in turn, gives organizations the insight they need to achieve real business agility
Set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information used to enable more effective strategic, tactical, and operational insights and decision-making
Identifying key trends and patterns in your data that have the potential to unlock new growth opportunities, streamline processes and/or reduce costs
Impressions of BI
BI helps answer Business
Questions like…..
I know that half my advertising budget is being wasted but which half? –
Lord Leverhulme
Who are my customers?
Which of my customers are the most profitable?
Which of my customers with the least cost could I turn into more profitable customers?
Which of my products are the most profitable?
What are my highest costs?
Which costs can I cut and how, with the least impact?
How do we find the best employees?
What do our employees think of us?
What can we do to retain employees?
More reasons on why BI is
becoming so important today
• Evidence Based Decision Making
• Cloud Enablement
• Advancement of Analytics
• Companies who use BI have a 6% higher productivity
• 1.5M shortage of people in the US to support BI in the coming years
• From Wall Street Journal - 18th Sept 2013
• 44% of CIOs from Fortune 500 companies said that BI is one of their top priorities
• 51% of Fortune 500 companies plan to increase spending on BI in the next year
Is business intelligence just for
management? Strategic vs. Tactical
Strategic BI
• Historical Data Analysis
• Data Centric
• Future Oriented
• Typically involves the ‘thinkers’
in the company
Tactical BI
• Deals with the here and now
• Uses Real-Time Data
• Activity Centric
• Provides information to support decision making to
align with strategic goals
• Involves whole company
across all departments
Business Intelligence Done Right
Turns:
• Raw Data into Information
• Information into Knowledge
• Knowledge into Decisions
• Decisions into Profits
The Business Intelligence Recipe
Business Intelligence Recipe
Step 1 - Bring in your BA & PM (Team)
Business Intelligence Recipe
Step 2 - Identify and engage stakeholders across the
organization
Source: Alec Sharpe – Clariteq Systems Consulting Ltd.
Business Intelligence Recipe
Step 3 - Determine what Business Questions are we
trying to address?
Business Intelligence Recipe
Step 4 - Determine your metrics for answering the
business question
Business Intelligence Recipe
Step 5 – Determine your sources of raw data
Business Intelligence Recipe Step 5 – Determine your sources of raw data
Business Intelligence Recipe
Step 6 - Turn that Data into Information
Business Intelligence Recipe
Step 7 - Get the information in front of the Right Group
and Analyze it (Knowledge)
Business Intelligence Recipe
Step 8 - Identify and implement new changes
(Decisions)
Business Intelligence Recipe
Step 9 –
• Rinse & Repeat
• What else can we learn? Additional business
questions
BI Project Methodology How is a BI project different then a traditional project?
Business analysts have typically worked to a requirements-based model, answering clearly-defined business questions. BI however, demands a different approach, using opportunistic analytics and exploring answers to ill-formed or nonexistent questions. (Gartner)
Where is the value in BI?
Real World Examples - Airlines
• Average Airline profit margin 2% (run a loss 6yrs out of 9yrs)
• To buy –
• 737NG is $70M
• 787 costs is $210M
• To lease –
• 737NG - $250k+pm
• 787 - $750k+pm
• Airline issues -
• Maximizing Revenue
• Lowering Costs – Delays, Fuel, Maintenance
Real World Examples
• $82B in revenue, $4B in profit (2012)
• 172,000 employees
• 12,000 airplanes currently in service (75% world fleet)
• Production rate –
• 737 – 38 airplanes per month
• 787 – 10 airplanes per month
• 787 Program Cost (2011) $32B
• Boeing handled 1.1B parts last year
• 60 Petabytes (60k Terabytes) of data on its network
• 787 Battery Problem
Real World Examples – MEC
• 40 years old
• 4M Members
• Started in 1970 – 6 employees, $65 startup capital
• Today – 1,800 employees, 17 stores, $300M revenue
• New logo announced 18th June 2013
Real World Examples – Smarter
Cities • City of Oakland has used SeeClickFix
• IBM developed algorithms to identify efficiencies in municipal water provision
• Fehr & Peers has produced network simulations to inform the design and operation of transportation systems from Silicon Valley to Kunming, China
• UrbanVision 3D simulator to help the public more fully understand their choices for development
• Carnegie Mellon has campus-wide sensors for monitoring water, power, infrastructure, biometrics, and others systems.
• Oakland has implemented map based infographics for crimespotting.
• City of Minneapolis has a tool to integrate data streams for events, permits, incidents, and infrastructure.
Visualizing Data - Historically
Visualizing Data - Historically
Visualizing Data
Visualizing Data
Visualizing Data
Visualizing Data
Visualizing Data
Visualizing Data
Visualizing Data
Visualizing Data
Visualizing Data
Visualizing Data
BI Buzz Words – Big Data
Big Data is the term for a collection of data sets so large
and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-
hand database management tools or traditional data
processing applications. The challenges include capture,
curation, storage, search, sharing, transfer, analysis, and
visualization.
BI Buzz Words – Web Analytics
Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis
and reporting of internet data for purposes of
understanding and optimizing web usage.
Web analytics is not just a tool for measuring web
traffic but can be used as a tool for business and market
research, and to assess and improve the effectiveness of
a web site.
BI Buzz Words – Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics encompasses a variety of techniques
from statistics, modeling, machine learning (learning
engines), and data mining that analyze current and historical
facts to make predictions about future, or otherwise
unknown, events
Review
• What is BI?
• BI Recipe
• BI Real World Examples
• Ways to visualize complex data
• BI terms
BI Recipe
Steps
1. Bring in your team
2. Identify and engage your stakeholders
3. Identify which business questions to address
4. Identify your metrics
5. Identify sources of raw data
6. Turn the data into information
7. Share the information with the right group (knowledge)
8. Make Decisions
9. Review – Did our profits increase? What other questions can we ask?
Final Thoughts
• BI does not show what one is not doing
• Data offers no knowledge about potential markets where a
company does not yet compete, human intuition and
experience still play key roles.
• You must continue to ask the right questions and, if
necessary, seek out data you don’t already have.
Questions?
Contact Information
www.flightpathconsulting.ca
www.vancouverba.com
@ryan_rigby
www.linkedin.com/in/rigbyryan
Sources
http://DavidHubbard.net/