Sports And Analytics: A Holistic Approach

Last week, in the first installment of my Sports and Analytics series, I detailed how sports and entertainment organizations are similar to industries such as retail or consumer products. In this second installment, I want to expand on this point and discuss key components that are part of a more holistic approach when it comes to running a sports (teams, leagues, venues) and entertainment (media organizations such as ESPN or Golf Channel) organization that promotes data-driven decision making.

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Sports And Analytics: A Perfect Couple

Statistical analysis in sports has been around for a long time, but the topic of sports and analytics has attracted more attention in the last decade. The release in 2011 of the movie Moneyball (based on the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis, published in 2003) made the use of analytics a popular subject for public consumption.

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Three Strategies To Get Started With Mobile Business Intelligence (BI)

In my post “Mobile BI” Doesn’t Mean “Mobile-Enabled Reports” I highlighted two main areas that affect how organizations can go about realizing the benefits of mobile BI: enterprise mobility and BI maturity.

Today I want to focus on the latter and outline high-level strategies that require different avenues of focus, time, and resources.

Before an organization can execute these high-level strategies, it must have the following:

- An existing BI framework that can be leveraged
- Current technology (hardware and software) used for BI that support mobile capabilities
- A support infrastructure to address technical challenges.

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“Mobile BI” Doesn’t Mean “Mobile-Enabled Reports”

Just as we know that mobile isn’t just about one or two sexy apps, the step to gain the ability to deliver reports on a mobile device alone isn’t synonymous with mobile BI.

In order to deliver the true business value of mobile BI, organizations need to formulate a carefully thought-out mobile BI strategy that not only leverages the technology’s strengths but also minimizes its weaknesses within a supported infrastructure. The mobile intelligence framework can’t exist separately from or independent of the organization’s business or technology strategy.

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What Is Mobile Business Intelligence?

You might have heard this statistic by now: more people own a cell phone than a toothbrush. In a Forbes post, Maribel Lopez lists a number of recent statistics about mobility. “While we could debate the numbers, the trend is clear,” she writes. ”The pace of mobile adoption across devices and applications is accelerating.”

Mobility is no longer a nice-to-have option. Instead, it’s become a must for many businesses.

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Ten Questions To Develop Your Mobile Business Intelligence Strategy

In my post “Mobile BI” Doesn’t Mean “Mobile-Enabled Reports” I articulated the importance of developing a mobile business intelligence (BI) strategy. If designed, implemented, and executed effectively, mobile BI will not only complement the existing business intelligence framework, but it will enable organizations to drive growth and profitability.

For the next ten weeks, I want to chart a course that will highlight the key questions you need to ask before embarking on a mobile BI journey. This is the critical first step in validating mobile BI readiness for any organization, whether it’s a Fortune 500 company, a small-to-medium enterprise, or a small team within a large enterprise.

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Three Strategies To Get Started With Mobile Business Intelligence

A “mobile-only” strategy reflects a strong commitment, or all-in approach, by the management team to mobile BI, or mobility in general. This may be due to a specific reason, such as the relevance of mobility in a particular industry or the opportunity to create a strategic advantage in a highly competitive market. Or a company may decide that mobility needs to be a vital part of their vision.

However, in order for this strategy to be successful, it requires a commitment that results in both championing the cause at the board or senior management level and making the necessary resources available for execution at the tactical level.

In reality, this approach doesn’t necessarily translate into creating a mobile version of every analysis or shutting down all production lines for PC-based outlets for reporting and analytics. Instead, it reflects a strong emphasis on establishing scalable mobile consumption paths for analytics, and it signals a willingness to exploit a mobile-first mindset.

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Corporate Culture: Your Organization’s Response to Stress

Culture is how an organization internally responds to things going badly. Revenue did not meet targets; the product was late to market; the competition beat us to market, our cost structure is out of line; our quality is suffering; we’re losing customers and market share; our web site is a disaster and our user interface isn’t much better; we’re being out sizzled and out sexied.

So what is the response? Panic? Anger? Fear? Denial? Not invented here? Blame and finger pointing? CYA? Retrenchment into process and bureaucracy? Freeze everything? Fire everyone? Reorganization? An investigative committee? An acquisition? Fraud/cooking the books? Surround everyone with everything we’ve got?

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