Share what you know with millions of people
Focus is the best place to turn what you know into remarkable content
0
Should business analytics reside on the IT or Business side?
What do you think? Who owns it at your company?
Events
- Dos and Don'ts of Small Business Marketing May 29 @ 11 am PT
- Lead Nurturing 202: The Next Generation May 31 @ 11 am PT
- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
- Display Advertising for Brand Awareness June 20 @ 11 am PT
Related Activity
7 Answers
The question is stated as though it is a binary choice and I believe that upper management often perceives it as such. However, if it is not a team effort between the Business side of the house and IT, then the project will probably fail and will definitely suffer. Perhaps Business Analytics should reside on _neither_ side.
Perhaps it should occupy an entirely different piece of ground . . . sort of like a DMZ _between_ business and IT. If Business Analytics can occupy a neutral zone _between_ IT and Business, then it might be able to draw on the expertise of both "sides" and provide benefit to both "sides."
For sure, there is going to be a need for the knowledge of the business that the Business side brings to the table. However, there is also going to be a need for the knowledge that IT brings in the form of not only the knowledge of the "where" of the data but also the knowledge of how to extract the _appropriate_ data and how to analyize that data.
IT will manage and hold the "keys" to the data repositories and system that contain the information needed for analytics, so they have to be included and an active participant. However, the lead role should be someone from the business side who understands the importance of the information and the business relationship of the data. For example, a call center manager will understand the importance of combining phone system data with customer relationship data to measure first call resolution statistics.
I think the best result will be a team, led by the business side, with responsible members from both IT and Security. Ultimately executive sponsorship is needed for those sticky situations when security, access, and business needs collide.
I think it should be an IT function co-located with business with dotted lines into Business Management... ideally because business analytics is so close to IT - being technical work really.
Implications though are largely business oriented and require a lot of business focus.
There is no easy answer and I know there will be differences of opinions but this is what I feel!
This reechoes the jinx of payroll orchestrated by finance and HR departments of many organisations. Organisational design systems predicated on process based structure requires holistic activity analysis of the full process and if the contributory input from each department is not less than 40%, then a new process silo would be carved out, and built from key expertise in both departments. On the other hand, if one of the departments contributes overly, then the process should reside therein. I think every organisation involved in that type of business with such multi-functionalities should implement process based management, in order to optimise the effectiveness of every activity cloud. I think in a process based management system, business analytics would be a unit with contributory input from both functional areas.
Dr Elijah Ezendu
http://advancinghr.blogspot.com/
http://advancingci.blogspot.com/
See this discussion http://www.focus.com/questions/information-technology/should-bi-teams-reside-...
I would say that most often I would expect it to be on the business side to generate any true upside. Yes, IT delivers infrastructure and 'production facilities'. But in my experience, it is asking too much of IT departments to also own the analytics functions. And in many cases a plain recipe for disaster.
Remember data ~= analytics. Having even a functioning data warehouse ~= being knowledgebased
Answer to this question resides on model of the IT structure with in the organization.
I have experienced following IT model (Standard Services, Shared Services, Central Service ).
If we plot each of the model in RAIC Matrix
where RAIC stands for (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed).
STANDARD SERVICES: IT ( Consulted ) , Business ( Responsible & Accountable )
SHARED SERVICES: IT ( Consulted & Responsible) Business ( Accountable )
CENTRAL SERVICES: IT ( Responsible & Accountable ) , Business ( Consulted & Informed )
Answer This Question