I was looking for a way to explain the challenges I’ve had this year getting people to adopt our Health BI solution. The solution is a highly complex business intelligence platform that offers over 600 pre-built measures. It is ONC certified for meaningful use for providers and hospitals. It sets the foundation for health systems to offer enterprise-wide business intelligence at a very reasonable price. Yet, my phone isn’t ringing off the hook. I think I found the answer. I’m selling the wrong solution at the wrong level. This is clear once you understand the BI Maturity Model.
The BI Maturity Model explains five levels of an organization’s business intelligence maturity. It paints very graphic pictures of each level and offers some suggestions to move to the next. In this and future blogs, I’m going to explain this model and relate it to you and your health system. Everyone and their organization fit this model somewhere. My struggles have been caused by pitching a level 4 or 5 product to an audience who might barely be level 2. Now that we all understand the distinction, we can tailor our offer at the appropriate level.
The Model
As you see, there are five levels. Each builds upon the previous level to explain and promote the use of business intelligence at your organization. Whether you are a 1-person physician practice or a multi-billion dollar payor, your team fits on this model somewhere.
Those at level one are characterized as people who run their business mostly by gut feel. They might get an occasional report from one or more systems, but none of this information is shared or acted upon by anyone other than the creator. Those at level one use spreadsheets to run their business. These are shared via email or printed. The information is digested monthly or quarterly and isn’t really important to most people in the health system. Systems working at this level have not yet realized the value of timely data that is easy to find, easy to analyze, and easy to act upon.
Level two organizations have figured out BI is helpful for at least one department. This department, usually finance, does more in-depth analysis of their data and has identified sources of problems and potential solutions. They have built or purchased tools that give them deeper insight into their business and one or two people within the department have been assigned to investigate this information and offer suggestions to improve the overall financial picture. They have found this process actually works and they have made minor improvements to their business based on their data.
Level two departments have pre-built reports that are emailed, printed, or otherwise distributed at constant intervals. These reports are developed and maintained by the IT group and take a long time to get changed. Those at the level two maturity level act on these reports, but don’t place a premium on the need for additional data.
Level three organizations are collecting data from multiple departments. They generally have one department who is leveraging all facets of business intelligence and comparing data from their department with data from other departments to determine more comprehensive cause and effect. They still have a very high dependency on the IT department for changes and new reports. They have considered creating a BI Competency Center that is led by the IT organization.
Organizations at level four maturity use a business intelligence system that captures data from many sources. They offer self-service reports and sophisticated analysis tools that enables anyone with access to compare results and determine the source of issues and potential workarounds. Those who have achieved level four maturity understand the value of business intelligence at the enterprise level and are starting to use it to change their business. Several leaders in level four organizations have made it mandatory to use BI to run their departments.
Level five maturity is characterized by all the benefits of level four plus the ability to use BI as a strategic tool. They not only understand the problem areas, but they have created a culture that relies on the data from BI systems to constantly monitor and manage their business. Level five maturity organizations live and die by their data. Losing this data for even a day would cause workflow problems and bring some work to a halt. Level five organizations share their data externally to achieve better outcomes.
Where is your group today? Where would you like to be? Stay tuned for some tips to move from your current level to the next. Learn more about the BI Maturity level at my webinar, “An Introduction to Business Intelligence for Healthcare” on August 30th.
