Assignment 2: LASA 2—Business Analytics Implementation Plan Part 2

Running head: BUSINESS ANALYTICS 1

BUSINESS ANALYTICS 9

Business Analytics Implementation Plan

James Bates

Data Driven Decision Making| MGT334

Teresa Dillard

April 6, 2016

Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….3

Advantages of Business Analytics

1. Enhance Decision-Making……………………………………………………..................4

2. Improved Flow and Flexibility of Data………………………………………………….4

3. Fact-Based Decisions…………………………………………………………………….5

Disadvantages of Business Analytics

1. Relatively High Costs………………………………………………………………….…5

2. Elimination of Information……………………………………………………………….5

3. Wrong Decisions………………………………………………………………………….5

Challenges of Utilizing Business Analytics

1. Deciding which Data to Use………………………………………………………………6

2. Complexity……………………………………………………………………………….6

3. Staffing……………………………………………………………………………….…...6

Implementation Plan of a BA Structure…………………………………………………………...7

Backup Plan…………………………………………………………………………...………….8

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….…….…9

References……………………………………………………………………………………….10

Introduction

Warren Buffet once said, “Part of making good decisions in any business is recognizing the poor decisions made and why they were poor.” This is a piece of advice from one of the most successful investor and wealthiest people globally. We learn that poor decision-making is common within organizations and they should use the bad decisions made to make smarter decisions. Good decision making is very beneficial to a business. It depends on the quality and quantity of data collected by an organization and how it decides to use it. An appropriate data collection method is essential to gather and display data. Data collection has become a vital part of many organizations since they are adapting to business tool such as business intelligence and business analytics that involve vast amounts of data. BA relies heavily on different data collection and analysis technologies (Chen at al., 2012).

The cell phone industry tends to be among the fastest growing industries globally. Ever-emerging technologies and innovation have enhanced the rapid growth of the cell phone industry. Gilgatt Company manufactures mobile phones that have become part of our daily life. The company wants to enhance its business practices to remain competitive in the market. It has to improve on its decision-making processes to have a system that enhances fast and smart decision. This is because competition remains relatively high among mobile phone manufacturers as the industry is highly concentrated. New companies such as Apple Inc., Samsung, and HTC Corporation have displaced older companies such as Ericsson and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (researchandmarkets.com, 2012). These businesses have made business analytics part of their business processes. This has made BA tool to become a crucial tool in the mobile phone industry.

Gilgatt Company should also implement BA into its practices. It can use this data to spot trends, identify new business opportunities, show whether demand for products is declining or increasing, retain customers and improve business planning among others. Some of its decision makers have realized the need to immediate access to a firm’s data to make fast and smart decisions to remain competitive in the markets. Faster time to insight will make an organization to realize new opportunities as they come.

Advantages of Business Analytics

Companies that have properly implemented BA into their business practices easily identify their most profitable customers, improve operational efficiency, optimize pricing and supply chains, enhance product innovation, and make better decisions that increase productivity and revenue. Some benefits of using BA include;

1. Enhance Decision-Making

An organization can use BA tools to improve and support its decision-making processes. Decision makers can easily access complex and competitive information necessary to improve the decision-making process. Decision makers in analytical companies have access to massive data that they can integrate into purposeful information (Lloyd, 2011). For instance, the company can search on current cell phone trends to get data on customer needs and make the necessary adjustment on their products or services to suit these needs.

2. Improved Flow and Flexibility of Data

BA enhances the collection of quantity and quality data. It enables decision makers to utilize high-quality data to make fast and more-informed decisions. The BA tool should be flexible enough to allow flow of data through the organization. Flow of data allows decision makers to discover new insights and respond immediately. Availability of meaningful information helps the decision makers to quickly strategize their business operations. They quickly respond to market changes to remain competitive in the markets. Also, decision makers can explore and share data in a meaningful way (Davis, n.d.).

3. Fact-Based Decisions

An analytical company makes fact-based decisions. It makes a wide range of decisions that are all backed with evidence. This is because the decision makers will gather data and explore it to extract meaningful information that they can use to make decisions. Any stakeholders who may need further explanation on how certain decisions were made can be shown the data used since the decision makers can easily access the information (Davis, n.d.).

Disadvantages of Business Analytics

1. Relatively High Costs

  Many organizations tend to fear to implement BA into their business operations due to the costs associated with the implementation process. There are relatively high capital expenditures associated with implementing the BA tool. An organization needs to invest in assets such as data sets, tools, and technology.

2. Elimination of Information

Abstraction is a fundamental step in mathematical models including the BA system. The business user suppresses or eliminates any unnecessary data from the vast amount of data to allow relevant information to be used. High-quality data gives high quality results. It becomes difficult for a business analyst to mine in the massive amount of data to find relevant information (Asllani, 2014). He may end up eliminating meaningful data.

3. Wrong Decisions

There is no specific way for the business analyst to check the accuracy of his information. The BA system can be more accurate in checking for certain variables that may lead to wrong assumptions and decisions (Asllani, 2014).

Challenges of Utilizing Business Analytics

1. Deciding which Data to Use

Employees without a proper understanding of how to use BA system may find it difficult to decide which data to use in business operations. Presence of massive amounts of data may make it difficult for an employee to select meaningful data and eliminate senseless data. What may seem meaningful to him may be senseless to another employee. Therefore, identifying relevant and meaningful information remains a challenge to many.

2. Complexity

BA systems tend to be complex for many employees. It may require huge amounts of time for experts to explain what is required by employees to effectively use BA system.

3. Staffing

In the past, many organizations used statisticians to analyze and report data. Therefore, they may lack business analytics in-house expertise to implement BA. Hiring BA skilled employees will incur the organization additional employee expenses such as salaries and benefit costs. Changing organizational behavior might be quite difficult especially to employees who do not embrace change easily.

Implementation Plan of a BA Structure

Task	Purpose	Time	Task Assignment
1. Project Initiation
i. Collect all necessary project requirements (fao.org, n.d.)	To identify project requirements, plan a budget and gather the requirements	11/2 months	Project designer
ii. Identify and confirm project sponsors	To assist in funding the project	Two weeks	Managers, business analyst and project designer
iii. Establish project teams	To prepare and support BA plan as well as oversee its implementation	Two weeks	Managers
iv. Organize and carry out a kickoff meeting	To allow implementation of the BA plan	One day	Managers
2. Purchase necessary tools including software and hardware
i. Hardware and Software installation	Install necessary equipment and software Perform wiring and electrical testing of the tools	Two weeks	Information technology technician and software designer
ii. Software testing	To test and analyze BA system functioning	One week	Software designer and manager
3. Staff training
i. Develop and gather training material	To enhance staff training	Two weeks	Manager and project designer
ii. Plan staff training schedule	To adequately allocate resources and offer enough time for additional skill training on how to effectively use BA	Provide two and a half months training	Manager and project director
4. Monitor and analyze project implementation progress (fao.org, n.d.)	To evaluate the projects progress and make necessary adjustments	Four months	Manager
5. Develop a backup system	For smooth and continued business operations if the new system is rejected (fao.org, n.d.)	Two weeks	Project designer

Backup Plan

The most likely reasons for the implementation plan proposal to fail is the costs associated with implementing BA and difficulties employees will face using this system. If they refuse the proposal, our next step will be to enlighten employees on the benefits of using BA in their daily business operations. Once they see value in using the BA system, then BA experts within the organization can ask management to allow them to prove the effectiveness of BA system using one department in the company. Positive results will win the hearts of the decision makers. Also, we can advise the organization to find other ways to raise funds instead of using sponsors.

Conclusion

Business analytics is becoming a common practice in most organizations. Many analytical organizations including those in the cell phone industry use the BA tools for quality and relevant decisions, to enhance fast decision-making process, improve competitiveness, share information with a broader audience and increase revenues among others. It can be a very helpful tool when properly used. It should help organizations to better understand their customers, services, and products and how to make smarter decisions. However, it is associated with high implementation costs and complexity of how to use it. Gilgatt Company should implement BA into to its daily practices to increase revenue and remain competitive in the cell phone industry.

References Asllani, A. (2014, November 20). Business Analytics with Management Science. Retrieved April 06, 2016, from FT Press: http://www.ftpress.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2264648&seqNum=6 Davis, J. (n.d.). 8 Essentials of Business Analytics. Retrieved April 05, 2016, from sas.com: http://www.sas.com/resources/asset/8Essentials_BusinessAnalytics_SpecialReport.pdf Global Cell Phone Industry 2012-2017. (2012, October). Retrieved April 05, 2016, from Research and Markets: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/2555864/global_cell_phone_industry_20122017_trends Hsinchun Chen, R. H. (2012). Business Intelligence and Analytics. MIS Quarterly, Vol.36, No.4, p. 1165-1188. Lloyd, J. (2011, February). Identifying Key Components of BI Systems. Retrieved December 31, 2015, from University of Orgeon: https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/11389/Lloyd-2011.pdf?sequence=1 Preparing the Project Implementation Plan. (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2015, from fao.org: http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5471e/y5471e06.htm