Research08
The Yin and Yang of the IT/Business Relationship
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Key Statement
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Source: Howson
Business and IT’s Differences Are Not Absolute
Yin (IT)
Passiveness
Cold
Water
Yang (Business)
Movement
Initiative
Heat
Fire
Goal: Strike a balance…
Source: Howson
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IT and Business Comparison
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Source: Howson
The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI)
EFP’s tend to go into business roles while ITJ’s tend to go into IT
Your Prof is an “ENFJ.” His type does not thrive in IT.
So, what did he do? He went into IT and stayed there!
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Source: Howson
Further Comparison: Business and IT People
| IT People | Business People |
| Prefer: Concentrating Relying on facts Using logic and analysis Organization Details Representative Careers: Computer Science Data Analysis Mathematics | Prefer: Interacting with people Relying on facts Using a breadth of skills Emphasizing interpersonal skills The big picture Representative Careers: Marketing Management |
Optimally, business people and IT people cover each other’s weak spots
For example, a manager can rely on an analyst to review details, while the analyst
can rely on the manager to communicate the results effectively
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Source: Howson
Using Incentives to Achieve Balance
| Common Business Incentives | Common IT Incentives |
| Rewarded to increase revenue: Designing new products Testing new market segments These incentives include risks | Rewarded for minimizing risk: Cutting costs Providing a stable environment Stable operations require minimal risk |
Move to the Middle…
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Source: Howson
Hybrid Business-IT People
UB’s analytics program emphasis
Your Professor is one
Hybrids are motivated to understand “the other side”
Hybrids hailing from the business have an edge in ready-made
business credibility while those from IT have to prove themselves
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Source: Howson
The Case of the “Annoying” Lead Business Analyst
Situation
At a P&C insurance company the business analysts resided with the BI center of excellence, a business organization
A lead business analyst who had “grown up” with the business and learned the BI applications always questioned IT, forcing them to substantiate rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimates
She was right! The IT department “padded” their estimates and the ROM estimator did not understand technology and so could not question them
What do you think happened?
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The Case of the “Annoying” Lead Business Analyst (Cont’d)
Results
The business supported and promoted this lead business analyst
The analyst’s questioning was validated: IT was inflating their estimates for BI solutions!
Over time, this led to a formal review phase where business and IT both expected, prepared for and worked through the results of these ROM Q&A sessions. Better estimates resulted
The ROM estimator relocated to another part of the company
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Effective Partnering
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Source: Howson
Effective Partnering (Continued)
Joint commitment to a common goal
Business shouldn’t “throw requirements over the wall”
IT shouldn’t be wary of business people
BI intersects business and technology, without the partnering of both, you will not be very successful
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Source: Howson
The Case of the Antagonistic IT Manager
Situation
A leading IT Services company was migrating their data from legacy applications to a new BI platform
Two senior business leaders attempted to collaborate with the IT leader
The IT leader took pride in dictating the delivery schedule with no consideration of the business drivers
What were the results?
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The Case of the Antagonistic IT Manager (Cont’d)
Results
Over time, the business leaders reached out to your Prof, whom they perceived as more collaborative
Your Prof worked with this IT leader to improve his openness. This was sometimes effective
After your Prof left, he kept in touch with the IT leader. Unfortunately, this leader’s career underwent some pain after a reorganization left him vulnerable
Moral
Don’t antagonize business people with “purse strings.” If they don’t retaliate now, they will retaliate later!
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How to Develop A Strong Partnership
Work to understand each another
Business: IT must deliver common solutions
IT: Recognition of why timely response to business requests is critical
Recruit hybrid business – IT people
“I look for ‘bridge people’,” A COO at Travelers Insurance
Ban technobabble, a.k.a. techno speak
Practice an elevator speech confirming BI value using business terms
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Source: Howson
How to Develop A Strong Partnership (Cont’d)
Team building
Bring IT and businesspeople together
Consider the MBTI
Provide incentives for enabling the business
Consider organizational structures. Think
Career paths
Shared resources
Knowledge sharing
Relevant expertise
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Source: Howson
How to Develop A Strong Partnership (Cont’d)
Involve each other
Invite business and IT to each other’s meetings
Bring everyone together to solve issues on an ad hoc basis
Have IT study the company’s mission statement and business unit plans
Have lunch together
Hire a woman. They
Comprise less than 25% of IT and this percentage is declining
Bring listening skills, empathy and intuition
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Source: Howson
Perception of Partnership
IT perceives a good partnership, business
and hybrid folks disagree
Business feels pain from
Slow IT responsiveness
Misunderstood requirements
IT says no to the business more than the
business says no to IT
Prof has noticed:
IT tends to be their own worst enemy
Most business people are reasonable
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Source: Howson
The Case of the Reasonable Business BI Leader
Situation
The IT leader of a major client reporting portfolio committed his team to delivering in four months
He made this commitment using requirements that were later replaced
Business leadership accepted this four month commitment
A new business BI leader arrived, heard the month commitment and concluded IT supported it
When IT received new requirements they realized the original commitment could not be met
Everyone attributed the timetable to the new BI leader. Nobody wanted to tell him the reality
What do you think happened?
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The Case of the Reasonable Business BI Leader (Cont’d)
Results
The project managers reset expectations and requested more money
The BI leader reviewed the recommendations, accepted them and required delivery on the revised schedule
During these conversations, the BI leader confirmed he thought the four months was too aggressive but was going on what the original IT leader had told him
The BI leader was reasonable while the remaining IT leaders were stressed and agitated
Your Prof has seen this time and again. Sometimes you have to send difficult messages but “cooler” heads will prevail
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The Impact of Partnership on BI Success
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Source: Howson
Business Alignment is Critical
“Alignment” and “partnership” are different
Alignment: Working toward a common goal
Partnership: Recognizing each partner has an interest in the other’s success
BI must
Support the company’s objectives
Align with the company’s strategic goals
Business and IT alignment means each add value
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Source: Howson
Business Alignment is Critical (Continued)
The customer is not always right!
Alignment does not mean business says “jump” and IT reacts
A rigorous demand management process is crucial
Alignment means IT and business define the best direction together
Partnership empowers IT to
Lead as required
Say “no” (a very powerful word) when necessary
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Source: Howson
Aligning With IT is Also Critical
Having a solution “under the desk” of a business’ “shadow IT team” isn’t optimal
“Going it alone” can have negative consequences on
Scalability
Maintenance cost
Budget
Vendor support
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BI Demand Management Is Crucial
Everything is relative: One professional’s top priority may not be the enterprise’s top priority
Apply the Pareto Principle: Confirm the 20% of projects with 80%+ impact
Establish a steering committee (discussed in more detail later) and work with them to establish a demand pipeline
Publish and review the demand pipeline regularly with all stakeholders
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The Case of the Under Engineered BI Demand Management Process
Situation
A BI team at a major P&C reinsurer assumed a “customer service” mentality
Their demand pipeline contained over 100 requests, many several years old
Many BI requests considered “high priority,” even the old ones
What do you think happened?
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The Case of the Under Engineered BI Demand Management Process (Cont’d)
Results
In responding to everything they gained a reputation for non-responsiveness
Their demand management pipeline was assumed by another organization whose management perceived was more competent
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The Case of the “Just Right” Demand Management Process
Situation
A BI group at a major P&C organization
Set up two groups to actively prioritize demand
A “BIA Steering Committee” of senior leaders that met monthly
A “Working Committee” of middle level leaders and subject matter experts (SMEs) that met weekly
Assigned ownership of BI request prioritization for various delivery “tracks” to Lead Business Analysts responsible for advocating for and negotiating with their business partners
Presented project interdependencies at a monthly portfolio management meeting to ensure internal alignment
What do you think happened?
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The Case of the “Just Right” Demand Management Process (Cont’d)
Result
The demand pipeline was refined to support the Pareto Principle: it was distilled to the 20% of requests that had 80% impact
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The Case of the Non Scalable BI
Situation
At a major P&C insurer, IT was perceived as not responsive
IT professed to have “seen many partners come and go” and fostered a “bunker mentality”
The business installed a “Shadow IT” BI team reporting to Actuarial
This BI team favored Microsoft Access solutions on local servers, some stored under desks
IT declared “war,” aggressively fighting proactive support. Since the CIO was a well respected former underwriter with personal ties to the CEO, this was tolerated
Every e-mail “chain” became a “death spiral” of recriminations between the two teams
What were the results?
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The Case of the Non Scalable BI (Continued)
Results
While Actuarial BI was initially successful the antagonistic relationship with IT and the lack of scalability took its toll
Key systems would be unavailable for days, quality assurance was non existent and team members suffered health issues
When the head of the Actuarial BI department left a new management team was hired who started fresh, with a more scalable technology stack
IT’s antagonism continued until this new BI leadership found alternative IT support
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An Example of BI and Business Alignment
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Source: Howson
Consider a BI “Step Diagram”
Situation
At a major insurer, your Professor was impressed with senior BI leadership’s use of a “step diagram”
This diagram depicted a series of histograms over time that projected increasing progress toward mutually set goals
It was shown often and updated as key milestones were met
Results
With monthly steering committee meetings and weekly working meetings, this diagram reinforced progress against plan and strategy
The diagram effectively reinforced goals and progress for everyone from the most senior leader to entry level individual contributors
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Sample Abstracted Step Diagram
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
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Project
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Project
Project
Project
Project
Project
Project
Project
Project
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Scalable BI
Foundation
Self Service and
Standard Reporting
Dashboards
Analytic
Sandboxes and
Tools
Proactive Analytics
Replace each item as relevant for your situation…
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Reference List
Howson, C. (2014). Successful business intelligence: Unlock the value
of BI and big data. New York. McGraw Hill Education.
ISBN: 9780071809184
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