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7
Pillars for
Successful Analytics
Implementation
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A l e a d e r ’ s g u i d e t o i n c o r p o r at i n g
B i g Da t a a c r o s s t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n

J e s s e Ha r r i o t t
jesse.harriott@gmail.com

You
You may remember
the days before the
Web, before Big
Data, before social
media and before mobile, when an annual
customer survey, a customer database with
basic information, retail purchasing data from
a third party or credit reporting information
was about as rich or as detailed as a company’s
data would get. At that time, companies were
flying by on less information than they needed
and the flow of deep customer, competitor
and industry information didn’t exist as it does
today. Gut feel, or instinct, was a prized business
characteristic and it, rather than data, drove
many corporate leadership decisions.

, marketing insights
spring 2013 35
 N
ow almost every aspect of life analytics implementation. The pillars are
not designed to be followed in any par-
can be tracked in one way or ticular order. Regardless of the specific
situation, the pillar framework can be
another, whether it be data from thought of as similar to the foundation
Web behavior, mobile phone of a house: One needs all of the areas
of support in order to make the house
usage patterns, in-store shopping activity, public stand strong and not collapse. Therefore,
surveillance videos, GPS tracking data, automotive the goal of the BASP framework is to
focus the organization’s attention on the
driving patterns, physical fitness data, social media areas that are key to analytics success
and will lead to the greatest return on
data, satellite imagery, video streams, car telematic investment.
data, the list goes on and on. As a result, data is The BASP is a framework that a CMO
or CEO can get behind, yet the individ-
the business focus “du jour.” Companies now ual analyst or manager also can use it as
say that they are “data-driven” and only make a blueprint to take analytics to the next
level at her organization. The pillars are
quantitatively based business decisions. However, as follows:
companies also are overwhelmed by the data at
• Business Challenges: Align analytics
their disposal to analyze against critical business initiatives to the most pressing busi-
ness problems that your organization
questions. The issue today is not the lack of data, needs to address.
but rather how to prioritize, access and use the • Data Foundation: The data founda-
tion that will support the business
deluge of data in real time so that it has its greatest analytics process must be strong in
impact on the business. terms of reliability, validity and
governance.
• Analytics Implementation: It’s
crucial that you ensure that analytics
solutions are developed and provided
to the enterprise with the end goals in
mind.
While some businesses don’t even Analytics, I’ve noticed several common • Insight: Analytics must transform
know where to start, others are still themes regarding companies that are data from information into intelli-
struggling to move beyond basic re- successful with analytics initiatives ver- gence and insight for the organization.
porting. In some instances, executives sus those that are not. • Execution and Measurement: Ana-
don’t have a clear understanding of how From this knowledge, the framework lytics must be put to work, and must
analytics can impact the organization. called the business analytics success lead to organizational action and
This article outlines a non-technical pillars (BASP) evolved. The BASP cap- provide guidance on how to track the
framework to help business leaders tures the key activities and similarities results of the actions taken.
extract value from multiple big and little that thriving and successful business • Distributed Knowledge: Analytics
data streams across the organization. analytics functions share. The BASP can must be communicated in an effec-
The following insights are grounded in be used by the analytics professional as a tive and efficient manner, and made
lessons learned from firsthand experi- self-check on what is or isn’t being done available to as broad a group of stake-
ence in analytics leadership positions, well. The BASP also can be used by a holders as is appropriate.
helping companies large and small make non-analytics business leader to assess • Innovation: Analytics must be relent-
the most of their data assets. Based on what is or isn’t working with his analyt- lessly innovative, both in analytical
my experience, and based on my inter- ics strategy. approach and in how they affect the
views with other analytics leaders for The BASP framework contains sev- organization, by developing solutions
my recent book, Win With Advanced en pillars that are critical to successful that will “wow” customers.

36 marketing insights
spring 2013
marketing insights
spring 2013 37
 Let’s take each pillar, one by one, and
Business analytics success Pillars dive a bit deeper.

Business Challenges
A critical step of any business analytics
implementation requires a clear under-
standing of organizational objectives, or
“business challenges,” to ensure that any
solution is aligned with and addresses
BUSINESS ANALYTICS the company’s biggest or most pressing
needs. This concept may sound obvious,
but it’s a deceptively simple concept that
is often difficult to follow consistently.
Any business analytics initiative must be
BUSINESS CHALLENGES

D ATA F O U N D AT I O N

grounded in critical business challenges

I M P L E M E N TAT I O N

EXECUTION AND
MEASUREMENT —challenges or questions for which the

I N N O VAT I O N
KNOWLEDGE
DISTRIBUTED
A N A LY T I C S

INSIGHT

answers will result in the company in-

creasing its revenues or reducing its cost.
It’s very easy for the analytics effort
within an organization to drift gradu-
ally into issues of intellectual curiosity
or merely to be a support function that
answers questions at the whim of senior
business leaders. This is how an analytics
function can gradually turn into a cost
SUCCESS PILLARS center rather than a function that adds
economic value to the organization.
The BASP is a framework that a CMO or CEO can get behind, yet the
Data Foundation
individual analyst or manager also can use it as a blueprint to take
analytics to the next level at her organization. At more progressive companies, dis-
parate data sources once relegated to
• Business Challenges: Align analytics initiatives to the most pressing single departments or to silos within
business problems that your organization needs to address. the organization are being integrated
• Data Foundation: The data foundation that will support the business into a unified data foundation. More
analytics process must be strong in terms of reliability, validity and and more, companies are leveraging
governance. data across departments and breaking
down traditional data silos in order to
• Analytics Implementation: It’s crucial that you ensure that analytics
address the business challenges of the
solutions are developed and provided to the enterprise with the end
goals in mind. organization. This usually is driven by
the fact that the critical business chal-
• Insight: Analytics must transform data from information into intelligence lenges cut across departments and, as
and insight for the organization. such, require data from multiple places
• Execution and Measurement: Analytics must be put to work, and must to address them. However, the issue
lead to organizational action and provide guidance on how to track the of a strong data foundation is a com-
results of the actions taken. mon source of frustration for senior
executives. Without data sources,
• Distributed Knowledge: Analytics must be communicated in an effective
definitions and auditing that cut across
and efficient manner, and made available to as broad a group of
stakeholders as is appropriate. departments and silos, companies
with well-intended advanced analytics
• Innovation: Analytics must be relentlessly innovative, both in analytical capabilities will struggle to speak the
approach and in how they affect the organization, by developing same language across the organization.
solutions that will “wow” customers.
This problem often is exacerbated by an
inability to agree on a universal defini-
tion for each metric.

38 marketing insights
spring 2013
 For example, what is considered a
“customer” to marketing may differ from
what is a “customer” to finance. In this
case, championing the importance of
analytics as a way to standardize the data
across the organization can ensure that
everyone is speaking the same analytics
language. If this is not done, analytics
efforts may be undermined, and wasted
effort will be spent on reconciling dif-
ferent data sources and dealing with the
“dueling data” problem.
Analytics Implementation
The third pillar in the BASP framework
relates to how the information-based
solutions are developed and provided to
the enterprise. This pillar obviously is
broad and complex. However, the most
important point for success is to start
with the end in mind. How will ana-
lytics solutions be used by your cus-
tomers, and what actions do you hope
they will take? Successful implementa-
tion requires a relentless focus on the
internal and external customer. Start
by imagining how internal customers,
whoever they may be (e.g., marketing
leaders, salespeople, service reps, etc.),
might leverage the information or tools
that the analytics organization will
provide.
Insight
The key to business impact, and often
the most difficult aspect, lies in the
ability of your business analytics team
to take raw data and turn it into a
compelling narrative that address-
es specific business challenges and
results in business action. Like any
architect, you’ve got to know your
customer—whom you’re building
for—before you start construction. In
business analytics, fulfilling any com-
mission starts with statistical story-
telling, addressing what has happened,
why it happened and, most important-
ly, what’s going to happen.
Execution and
Measurement
Analytics must be put to work and
must lead to organizational action, and
W
hat is considered a “customer”
to marketing may differ from what
is a “customer” to finance. In this case,
championing the importance of analytics
as a way to standardize the data across the
organization can ensure that everyone is
speaking the same analytics language.
also must provide guidance on how For example, there are salespeople in
to track the results of the actions the organization who likely know more
taken. The goal should be to elevate the about the competitive threats that the
discussion on how to monitor, measure company is under than anyone in strat-
and analyze the business performance egy and development will ever know.
of actions taken by the organization. Also, specialists in the product organi-
Every business decision or action has zation can quickly make sense of Web
implied questions for the future in or- analytics data that might take a pure
der to understand whether there was a analyst a lot longer to interpret. This
successful business outcome. The exe- can be challenging in a command-and-
cution and measurement pillar is about control-style management structure, but
effectively following up on the results by distributing the knowledge and data
of action-based decisions across the across the organization in a thoughtful
organization. Business performance manner, analytics will have more pos-
tracking and measurement should itive impact on the organization and
be an integrated process that assesses will benefit from the collective wisdom
the performance of analytics-driven within the company.
changes.
Innovation
Distributed Knowledge Innovation sounds like common sense
There must be a concerted effort to and even a bit trite, but it’s surprising
disseminate insights across the orga- how many business analytics functions
nization. Traditionally, analytics has fail in this area. It seems to be too easy
taken an old-fashioned “typing pool” for a business analytics function to fall
approach, whereby a business leader into the trap of providing the same in-
submitted a request to the analytics formation to internal customers because
team for some specific information or it’s what has been provided historically,
an answer to a question. However, the or because someone asked for it month-
distributed knowledge pillar focuses an- ly eight months ago—yet the analyst
alytics toward using the wisdom of the can’t explain, specifically, if and how
organization to create greater enterprise the information is being used by the
value from its data, as well as to get the business today. The analytics function
organization moving more rapidly to- must be relentlessly innovative, both in
ward the truth and away from corporate analytical approach and in how it affects
myths and legends. the organization.
marketing insights
spring 2013 39
 Case Study: Restaurant.com
As part of my research for my latest
book, I had the chance to interview
Christopher Krohn, president and
CMO of Arlington Heights, Ill.-based
Restaurant.com, regarding his company’s
best practices surrounding analytics.
“The restaurant industry has historically
been bifurcated between large, national
brands that leverage extensive analytic
capabilities and smaller independent
restaurants that have limited analytic
capacity,” he said. Increasingly, restau-
rant owners are realizing that factors
such as diner repeat purchase rates, food
cost management, labor scheduling
efficiencies, marketing investments and
other key aspects of their business can
be improved by insights coming out of
analytics.
Restaurant.com is partnering with
restaurant owners to use analytics to
improve their profits, and also to help
diners choose the right restaurant for
their needs, regardless of the dining
occasion. Restaurant.com’s approach
to analytics exemplifies the BASP
framework in many ways. For example,
the BASP framework asserts that you
should begin with the critical business
challenges and align analytics to address
them. Restaurant.com is focused on
ensuring that analytics are directed at
the organization’s critical business ob-
jectives. Specifically, the company uses
analytics in three primary areas. First,
it assesses its business’s opportunities
and performance in each local market
around the country, analyzing restaurant
penetration rates, sales force targeting
and account management effectiveness.
Second, it uses analytics to measure
the impact of its B-to-C and B-to-B
marketing efforts, identifying channel
opportunities or customer segment
opportunities to profitably grow the
business. Third, Restaurant.com uses
analytics to build predictive models for
financial forecasting and budgeting, and
to evaluate the ROI of business initiatives
and investments.
In terms of the organizational struc-
ture for analytics, Retaurant.com com-
mitted to a centralized model reporting
40 marketing insights
spring 2013
directly to the president and CMO in
order to ensure that it remains a data-
driven organization. According to
Krohn, the decision to organize analytics
in this way was driven by several factors,
including the need for a deep compe-
tency in a variety of analytics disciplines
and to effectively allocate those analytics
resources across the various areas of the
business in the most impactful way. The
decision to structure analytics centrally
also was driven by the desire to ensure
that analytical insight remains entirely
objective.
R estaurant.com’s restaurant owners are
using analytics to improve their profits
and to help diners choose the right restaurant
for their needs.
A centralized analytics team reporting
directly to the company’s president also
helps the organization examine data with
an unbiased view, rather than running
the risk of individual departments
aligning analytics outputs to their own
particular agendas.
Restaurant.com has learned a lot
from the journey to implement analytics
effectively. First, Krohn advocates that
any organization looking to implement
analytics effectively should work to ob-
tain a commitment from senior manage-
ment that data-driven decision making finance, marketing and sales teams talk
is an organizational imperative. Without about “net revenue,” for example, they all
that commitment, he believes, “analyt- use the same definition and pull their re-
ics resources can sometimes risk being ports from the same data sources. Also,
perceived as an expensive luxury.” it’s important to create a prioritization
Second, Restaurant.com worked hard process for analytics projects that forces
to build consensus on the tools, sources tradeoffs in allocating resources to differ-
and data definitions that will be used ent business initiatives and departments.
so that there is consistency across the Many organizations say that they
organization. When Restaurant.com’s have too much data and not enough
understanding of that data. However,
Restaurant.com has worked diligent-
ly to build a solid data foundation
and leverage its information in a way
that leads to understanding. It has
identified its top customers and their
behaviors. In addition, the company
prioritizes data collection initiatives
so that it can augment the data that
it already has, and it focuses on data
management initiatives to improve
data integrity and data security.
Restaurant.com is still working to get
all of the systems in place to take coor-
dinated marketing and management ac-
tions based on the knowledge generated
from its analytics initiatives. According
to Krohn, the process of turning data
into business insights, and insights
into informed management actions, “is
a journey, not a destination. We will
always be working hard to better under-
stand the data we already have.” mi
✒ Jesse Harriott is chief analytics officer at
Constant Contact Inc., an online marketing solutions
provider based in Waltham, Mass. Prior to Constant
Contact, Harriott was chief knowledge officer at
Monster Worldwide Inc. He is the author of Win With
Advanced Business Analytics and Finding Keepers .
marketing insights
spring 2013 41