› Conclusions Paper
The Analytic Enterprise
How to become a data-driven company
Contents
Acknowledging and Addressing Cultural Barriers..... 1
Cultivating Analytic Skills and Talent ............................. 2
The Hiring of Several People to Fill the
Data Scientist Role..................................................................2
The Changing Role of the IT Department ........................3
The Rise of the Chief Analytics Officer ..............................3
The Emergence of Centers of Excellence.........................3
Taking an Integrated Approach to Analytic Transfor-
mation................................................................................... 3
Five Components of an Effective Analytic Strategy.... 4
Conclusion........................................................................... 4
Learn More.......................................................................... 4
1
Organizations today are amassing huge amounts of data from a
variety of sources, including mobile apps, social media and
Acknowledging and Addressing
more. Yet, the organizations with the most data don’t necessarily Cultural Barriers
prevail. Rather, it’s the ones that place data at the heart of all
A defining part of an organization’s environment is its culture.
their decision making that compete the most effectively.
Without a data-driven culture, employees have no incentive to
use the technology put before them. Resistance often presents
So how do you transform your organization from one that
itself in the form of, what some call, the “three buts.” Employees
simply collects data to one that is data driven? By overcoming
might say to you: “But I know my business. But this is how we do
two major challenges. Most organizations are familiar with the
things. But I remember when… .”
first challenge of installing the requisite technology
infrastructure. But the second challenge often proves to be the
So the first step in deploying any new technology is
bigger one: You have to establish an analytic culture.
acknowledging the cultural barrier. Since a corporate culture is
shaped by how an organization makes its decisions and how it
Changing an organization’s culture is a huge endeavor. It
rewards its business units, shifting to a data-driven culture
requires addressing the underlying factors that drive employee
requires you do the following:
behavior, acquiring the necessary analytic skills and talent, and
developing a strategy for embedding analytics end to end,
• Treat information like a corporate asset. It is not enough to
throughout the entire organization.
simply talk about information being a corporate asset. Those
values need to reflect in an organization’s behavior. That
means dedicating the time and effort into forming theories,
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testing hunches and searching for patterns in the data.
• Communicate key measurements. Culture is defined at the
Characteristics of the
top of the organization. To drive new behaviors, business
Analytic Enterprise leaders need to set up rewards and incentives that support
data-driven decision making – and build those incentives
An analytic enterprise is agile. It uses fact- into strategic and operational planning.
based information to predict market • Value collaboration between business units. A data-driven
culture promotes a collaborative environment where
changes and drive its business strategy. information is openly shared and where business units
While any organization can run an ad hoc interact and meet routinely – e.g., marketing meets with
sales, sales meets with R&D and so on.
analytic event, the analytic enterprise
• Create an environment that supports exploratory analysis. In
employs ongoing, repeatable processes
order for employees to experiment with new ideas and
that provide value quickly. The analytic hunches, they need access to the resources that enable
enterprise encourages collaboration and informed decision making. Data needs to be integrated and
skills need to be made accessible.
information sharing between business
units, and it embeds analytics at every
corner of the enterprise – not just within
marketing or R&D.
2
Traditional Methods for
Cultivating Analytic Skills
Acquiring Talent
and Talent
To create a data-driven culture, you also want to invest in • Build. You can train existing employees on
attracting people of all skill levels who are comfortable and
capable of working with petabytes of data and turning that data
new techniques. An advantage is your
into business decisions. And you need leadership to drive that employees are already familiar with your
change. industry and your business environment.
In addition to traditional means for acquiring talent, data-driven • Borrow. Some organizations use
organizations are employing new methods for raising their
analytic maturity. Consider the following trends.
consultants, not only as an augmentation,
but also to train existing employees.
• Buy. You can hire mid- or senior-level
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resources from the outside who can lend a
Asking the Right Questions fresh perspective to the business.
In the past, organizations rewarded
individuals who had the answers.
The Hiring of Several People to Fill the
Data Scientist Role
When it comes to data-driven
The true data scientist is an elusive, highly sought-after
decision making, however, asking individual. In addition to years of formal training, this person
the right questions is even more needs to possess several innate abilities – including empathy,
creativity and curiosity – along with communication skills to
important. Data exploration plays a
make sure his or her insights have impact. Because it is difficult
large role in any analytics project. for businesses to fit such a large variation of skills under one job
Every query leads you deeper into title, many companies are hiring several people, instead of just
one, to fill the role of the data scientist.
the data. So while you may need
highly skilled talent to combine
analytical techniques and arrive at
an answer, having people who can
ask the right questions is invaluable.
3
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The Emergence of Centers of Excellence
What Is a Data Scientist? Organizations that are serious about fact-based decisions treat
data as an asset to be used for business gain throughout the
A data scientist is someone with a solid enterprise. To bring employees up to speed on analytics, many
are forming internal centers of excellence (COEs) – sometimes
foundation in math, statistics and computer called insight centers. A critical objective for this new business
science who understands the business side unit is promoting self-service. The COE assists decision makers
of things. A good data scientist is part and others by providing them with the information they need to
make the most out of analytics. It also serves as a think tank,
hacker, part sleuth – a person with a natural working in conjunction with the business units to develop and
curiosity and storytelling abilities. This deliver new and advanced analytic capabilities.
person can spot trends in the data and
effectively communicate his or her findings Taking an Integrated Approach
to business leaders. to Analytic Transformation
The big data movement has brought with it a host of new
technologies. But acquiring these technologies simply for the
sake of modernizing is not effective. Organizations are complex
environments. Those that push the technology alone do not
The Changing Role of the IT Department mature. To evolve into a data-driven organization, a business
A decade ago, organizations looked to their IT departments to needs to move forward at the same pace, with the following
provide the software, hardware and technical services for the four pillars:
enterprise. But not anymore. In data-driven organizations, IT is
playing a dramatically different role. No longer is it simply sitting • Culture. This is the direction given by the executive team. It is
back and waiting for help ticket requests to come through the how a business measures and evaluates performance. A
pipeline. Instead, the IT department is proactive and involved. It data-driven organization understands, demands and values
works alongside the business units to deploy the data fact-based decisions and strategies. It does not accept
environments and capabilities needed for strategic decision intuition-based decisions or guesses.
making. Today’s IT department has gone from a role of • Skills. This is an organization’s ability to attract, retain,
technology developer to one of technology enabler. And it has develop and empower talent. Business units need access to
gone from simply aligning itself with the needs of the business the skills and resources critical to fact-based decision
units to becoming a full-fledged partner. making. An organization’s HR department should have
appropriate job categories to attract the required talent.
The Rise of the Chief Analytics Officer • Internal processes. Business units need a well-defined set of
Organizations that want to embed analytics in every corner of processes to identify, prioritize and address their information
the enterprise are bringing analytic talent to the top of the and analytical requirements. These internal processes allow
organization. New roles, such as the chief analytics officer (CAO) business units to coordinate support from IT and to acquire
are emerging. The CAO’s chief task is to create a culture of skills when they need them.
analytics. By making room at the table for a CAO, an enterprise • Information infrastructure. The goal of an organization’s
is highlighting analytics as a discrete business practice. What’s technology architecture is to give business units access to
more, organizations that hire CAOs recognize that becoming a relevant, accurate, consistent and timely enterprise
data-driven enterprise is as much a change-management information. That is the ultimate success measure for the
challenge as it is a technical one. infrastructure.
4
Five Components of an Effective
Analytic Strategy SAS Business Analytics Modernization
Creating an analytic culture requires a methodology for Assessment
systematically and pragmatically moving an organization toward
its target environment. A successful, effective strategy includes: As your organization accumulates data, it is
important to consider a strategy for
• Strategic objectives. Your business strategy should drive
your analytic strategy, but keep it simple. Define no more drawing insights from that data using
than three to five achievable objectives, and structure your analytics. SAS offers a Business Analytics
strategy around those.
Modernization Assessment (BAMA).
During this two-and-a-half day assessment,
• Current and desired competencies and capabilities. Next,
translate your strategic objectives into competencies and SAS representatives interview your IT and
capabilities. For example, you might say that to increase business divisions. SAS then uses that
market share by 3 percent, you need to retain a specific
customer segment. information to create a strategic analytics
road map for recommended changes
• Approach to achieving strategy objectives. How will you around people, processes, data,
achieve your set objectives? Will you move in that direction
technology and culture.
for all business units or just one? Will you need external help
or do you have the resources?
• Organizational initiatives to achieve objectives. What are
your milestones and phases for the transition? What Learn More
capabilities do you need in six months? In 12 months? Be
Want to learn more about BAMA? Take the five-minute
specific.
SAS Business Analytics Assessment.
• Performance indicators. Finally, make sure you have clearly Learn about the four pillars of building an analytic strategy. Read
defined measures of success. What does success look like in the book Business Transformation: A Roadmap for Maximizing
six months? In two years? Share those metrics with all of the Organizational Insights by Aiman Zeid.
stakeholders.
Learn how other companies incorporate analytics into their
culture. Download The Analytics Mandate, a joint research
Conclusion report from MIT Sloan Management Review and SAS.
Leveraging data and analytics is something organizations today
Download Anatomy of an Analytic Enterprise, an examination of
cannot afford to fall behind on. It is a mistake to install the
your organization’s analytic physique.
technology and think that is all that needs to happen.
Embedding analytics deeply in the enterprise requires a culture
that recognizes the importance of relying on information-based
decisions. And creating that culture requires a clear, pragmatic
strategy for transformation.
To contact your local SAS office, please visit: sas.com/offices
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