Coaching BI

What's It Take for BI to Succeed?

Incremental growth is one major characteristic of successful BI projects, according to a report from The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI).

The study, "Smart Companies in the 21st Century," surveys succeeding and failing BI implementations and what differentiates them. In 90 percent of succeeding BI developments, for example, the BI project team and business are "very" or "fairly" well aligned.

Major findings from TDWI demonstrate that success stories typically involve: steering committees that reevaluate the project every six months to help it adapt; employees who communicate very openly; business sponsors who appoint drivers to lead BI projects; and a company that's characterized as an "early adopter" and aggressive implementer of IT. Enterprises that are struggling with their BI solutions deploy their projects, on average, in 9.6 months and don't upgrade as often (once every four months).

Wayne Eckerson, director of research for TDWI and author of the report, says "Well-designed BI systems are adaptive by nature; they continually change to answer new business questions." He adds, "The best way to adapt effectively is to start small and grow organically."

— Jill Duffy

In this Issue: