BI Marketing as part of an overall BI strategy

BI Marketing as part of an overall BI strategy

BI projects - project management risks

The implementation of a project is always fraught with risks; this is especially true concerning BI (Business Intelligence (BI)) projects, which are relatively prone to risks: In addition to known risks, such as budget- and time- overruns,BI projects have to consider, in particular, the human factor, being significant for project success. Nothing can be closer to the truth: BI projects change existing processes and workflows of the respective employees. Besides, they generate and collect detailed information about the employees work leading to a better control of the business unit and its staff productivity. This increased transparency runs the risk of being rejected by employees and may lead to an involvement of the involved work council 1) . To ensure a smooth progress of the project and an effective use of the selected BI tool,it is extremely important to include the staff and hence receive acception by the project environment 2) . For the successful implementation of a BI project, it is undoubtelty useful to develop a sophisticated strategy first (BI Project Strategy: BI-Roadmap). This strategy has to be integrated in the preparation of a project plan and tracked throughout the entire project life cycle.

Contents of the BI project strategy - project marketing

In order to address risks posed by project stakeholders, the implementation of an appropriate communication structure is important if one is going to be sucessful: It leads to various positive effects. One, by an open and detailed internal communication of the BI project, the participating employees and organizations are convinced – and fears / rejections are taken care of. Two, the internal project marketing improves the flow of information. Thereby, the BI project and the later implemented BI tool, both,can be handled more effectively and used more effectively later ¹⁾. The internal marketing should therefore be connected to the systematic planning and decision-making processes of the project strategy. Thus, the main objective of the internal marketing is “selling the concept to the inside company” ²⁾.

Management of internal marketing

The internal marketing should be designed, managed and performed in a systematic and purposeful way. For this reason, the following typical management processes

1. Step: Analysis

Stakeholder analysis
Analysis of the stakeholder needs and expectations

2. Step: Planning

Objectives of each stakeholder
Strategy of each stakeholder

3. Step: Implementation

Use communication tools

4. Step: Control

Achievement of objectives

should be applied.³⁾.

Internal communication tools

Depending on the target group and the desired scope of project marketing, the following internal communication tools can be applied amongst others within the project marketing framework ⁴⁾:

Intranet site

The intranet site should be the base for the internal communication. With little effort it is possible to reach all stakeholders and employees of the company. The intranet site should provide actual project information, the project roadmap and a link to the project database.

Newsletter

In addition to the intranet site, a newsletter can be useful for a pro-active communication. The newsletter should provide project updates regularly and spread the latest news in a few sentences. It is important to include a link to the intranet site in it.

Presentations, Lectures

Enterprise-wide events always offer a good opportunity to make the BI project visible throughout the company. Short presentations, which demonstrate the benefit of the BI-Project, are supportive in creating a broad acceptance for the project in the whole company.

BI-Workshop

BI-Workshops can be organized regularly and for whole business units. In such workshops stakeholders can be informed about the projects strategy and results. A BI-Workshop is also a good opportunity to give respectively become feedback and input for the project.

BI-Flyers

After enterprise- wide events or workshops it can be useful to distribute flyers, as a reminder. Such a BI-Flyer should contain a visualization of the BI-projects’ strategy as well as address and picture of the contact person.

Conclusion

Project marketing as well as internal marketing demands money and time. The selected BI tools thus have to be customized with respect to the size of the company and the scope of the project. With these tools and strategic project marketing, it is possible to minimize the project risks and to encourage a positive implementation and hence further use of the implemented BI tool ⁵⁾.

References

– Michael Grünbauer 2012/01/06 19:36

¹⁾ , ⁴⁾ , ⁵⁾ Schuller B.,and Staade M. BI-Projekte mit SAP. Bonn: Galileo Press, 2010. Print.

²⁾ Heribert Meffert H., Burmann C., and Kirchgeorg M. Marketing - Grundlagen marktorientierter Unternehmensführung. Wiesbaden: Gabler Verlag, 2008. Print.

³⁾ Belz C., Schmitz C., and Brexendorf T. O. Internationales Internes Marketing. Internationalisierung von Dienstleitungen. Ed. Bruhn M., and Strauss B. Wiesbaden: Gabler Verlag, 2005. 179-180. Print.