Tomorrow I will be giving a webinar on creating business cases for Big Data. One of the reasons for the webinar was that there is very little information available on creating a Big Data business cases. Most of what is available boils down to a “trust me, Big Data will be of value.” Most information available on the internet basically states:
More information, loaded into a central Hadoop repository, will enable better analytics, thus making our company more profitable.
Although logically, this statement seems true and most analytical companies have accepted the above statement, it illustrates the 3 most common mistakes we see in creating a business case for Big Data.
The first mistake, is not directly linking the business case to the corporate strategy. The corporate strategy is the overall approach the company is taking to create shareholder value. By linking the business case to the objectives in the corporate strategy, one will be able to illustrate the strategic nature of Big Data and how the initiative will support the overall company goals.
The second mistake is not quantifying the benefits of Big Data analytics. Yes, quantification in a business case is not an exact science, but it illustrates the overall benefit of the program in objectives that are important to executives – financial terms. Big Data projects cost millions of dollars, should we illustrate to our executives that there will be a return on this investment? Quantifying the financial benefits will provide the needed support that Big Data is a wise investment.
The third mistake is not addressing the “who.” That is who will be using the system to get arrive at the benefit. In most cases, this is the data scientist. However, most organizations are facing a shortage of data scientists. Not addressing this staffing concern, which your CIO will definitely be aware, can sink a good business case early in the approval process.
In my webinar tomorrow, Creating a Business Case for Big Data, we will show how to address these mistakes and create a rock solid business case for Big Data Analytics. See you there!
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