How would you start doing Analytics?
Posted by Ajay Kelkar on Sun, Mar 14, 2010
Recently a client asked me an interesting question: How would you start analytics in an organization? The question was interesting from many perspectives:
1. What exactly is analytics and does the name describe the function?
2. How should one go about starting doing the work that analysts are supposed to do?
3. Where should the Analytics team report-is it part of a marketing team or somewhere else?
4. What kind of issues should analytics try and solve?
5. How much money needs to be invested to really make Analytics work?
My experience across both Retail & Retail banking has been that it is best to start small, very small! A lot of analytics can be done on an excel sheet and does not require a PhD in statistics to do. The simpler the analysis the “lesser” is the barrier in implementing the call for action that emanates from it. So my first suggestion to anyone starting out this kind of work is to follow the well know “KISS principle”(Keep it simple stupid). The most important next step from here is to choose the business area where you want to make an impact. I would go for the counter intuitive bit here and try to make your analysis work for a business unit that is not doing so well. Businesses doing very well, have a lot of competing ideas clamouring for a share of the credit. It’s in the businesses that need help, that you will find maximum support.
And finally I would say that choose business themes that are close to the CFO’s heart! The CFO’s support for analytics is probably the most critical part of what you would do-this forms the building blocks on which you can scale up your efforts in the years to come! I have often come across situations where organization seem to believe that investing in top end statistical resources and buying high end technology is enough to extract value from analytics. The truth is vastly different and I strongly believe that embedding simple ideas and focussing far more on execution is critical for an organization to succeed in analytics based strategy.
Here is a very interesting article that talks about how organization structure is the key ingredient that allows success in large CRM program implementations. Read this Mc Kinsey article here: Turbocharging Marketing
Stronger customer relationships have grown increasingly vital to companies vying for competitive advantage in today’s complex, multi-channel marketplace. Many proactive players, acknowledging the need for greater focus on strengthening customer relationships, have invested millions of dollars in the databases and technology required to support a customer-centric approach. In spite of their efforts, many have failed to elevate CRM performance to their targeted level. — McKinsey & Company, “Marketing Organization: The Key to Turbocharging Customer