Executive analytics: Nine strategies to deliver digital solutions

© 2014 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved | U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd
Executive analytics:
Nine strategies to deliver digital solutions

Common pain points
© 2014 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved | U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd 2
•Unactionable, indigestible data
•Too many dashboards
•Data delivered in a vacuum
Most executives face common pain points in their business intelligence (BI) and reporting solutions:

Business context
The nine strategies
Improve the executive decision model and transform the organization
Executive decision model
Internal analysis
External information

Strategy

Select an analytic platform
Should address both enterprise and executive requirements
•Dynamic andimmediate data
•Visual interfaces with interactivity
•Multidimensionalanalysis
•Unstructuredinformation discovery
•Personalizationto end users
•Actionframeworks and alerts
•Device agnostic
Look for these platform capabilities:

The Platform
Lays the foundation for future executive analytic strategies

Discover, predict and prescribe
Strategy

What are analytics?
Predictive analytics builds on descriptive analytics by combining historical data with various algorithms and rules about what might happen in the future.
Prescriptive analytics builds upon both descriptive and predictive analytics; it predicts what will happen, when it will happen, why it will happen —and what the best course of action is to optimize outcomes and reduce risks.
Basic analytics
Descriptive
Predictive
Prescriptive
Advanced analytics
Descriptive analytics uses historical data to understand what happened and why.

Understanding the maturity model and need for a comprehensive framework for flexibility is the key to unlocking the value of advanced analytics.
Prescriptive analytics is a key differentiator between industry leaders and followers.
Advanced analytics

Facilitate the conversion of measures to KPIs
Strategy

Key Performance Indicators
Essential to gauge what "right" looks like.
•when they are on course
•when they need to right the ship
KPIs can present a view to let executives know:

Link strategies to measures & reports
Strategy

Linking strategies
Measurements
Detailed reports empower leadership
to understand why a strategy is
succeeding or failing.
Identify financial and nonfinancial measures
that serve as the indicators of the health of
the business and gauge its strategy.

Invoke multidimensional balanced scorecarding
Strategy

Balanced scorecarding
Multidimensional applications should effectively sort analyticsacross several factors
Views by business line, geo location, productor salespersonare just a few ways to review a strategy to see if there is true alignment across all facets of the business.

Provide online content management for strategic planning
Strategy

Online content
Making the strategic plan digital, and storing it in an integrated platform with performance management, analyticsand BI, would bring the plan into the daily reporting process.
This process helps provide context to the data.

Prompt user actions, alerts & online collaboration
Strategy

Prompt the user
The use of prompts accelerates the ability to react swiftly to assess critical changes.
Moreover, the accessibility of data allows for a clear perspective of the problem-solving process, helping get the right answer from the right people.
Swiftly assess critical changes

Apply advanced visualization techniques
Strategy

Visualization techniques
Advanced visualization techniques will allow different subsets of KPIs to be cross- referenced to related subjects and provide a true 360-degree picture of performance, as well as the interdependence of certain measures.

Access via executive digital devices of choice
Strategy

Device access
Executivesmust be able to access dashboards and key metrics at a glance or on the move. They need the ability to make key decisions in real time.
Key metrics on the move
Additionally, executives in board settings can access reports along with the drill to detail when questions arise on the fly.

•drive key benefits
•decrease time to discovery and insight
•yield faster decisions and responses to change
Executive analytics brings the ability to discern relationships across subject areas and divisions, increasing enterprise collaboration and executive context.
Summary
Executive analytics strategies have the capability to:

Ross, Jeanne W.; Beath, Cynthia M.; and Quaadgras, Anne. “You May Not Need Big Data After All,” Harvard Business Review, December 2013.
“Until a company learns how to use data and analysis to support its operating decisions, it will not be in a position to benefit from big data.”

Want to learn more?
Contact me to schedule your executive analytics workshop.
Read our whitepaper on Executive analytics
Learn about our Oracle Solutions
John Stilwell
Grant Thornton LLP
T 913.272.2721
E john.stilwell@us.gt.com

Executive analytics: Nine strategies to deliver digital solutions

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