“I sell a product to a market that doesn’t want it, but is forced by law to buy it.” – Dan Meyer

Watching his talk, I couldn’t help but draw a parallel to the way the Business Intelligence concepts and methodologies have traditionally been presented to non-techies.  Is it just a matter of complex tools?  Or is it deeper?

“The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill”  – Albert Einstein

Meyer references this quote by “the man”, Albert Einstein.  Can you think of how B.I. manages the formulation of data schemas, hierarchical data models, nesting, etc?  Bust open a textbook or Wikipedia, read it, then ask yourself, how engaging would this content be to someone who:

1. Lacks initiative

2. Lack perserverance

3. Lacks retention

4. Has an aversion to word data problems

5. Eagerness for formula reporting output

Meyer highlights these factors as being emblematic of his captive audience in the classroom.  I’ve made a couple of adjustments to tweak the context to that of B.I.  If you don’t agree that these factors apply equally to the vast majority of business users of B.I., please speak up.

Advances in technology are creating the ability to put the tools into the hands of the end user.  Our technology is proof of that; however, we still have some serious work to do on the owner’s manual.

For example, How would you deconstruct the process of building a data hierarchy to facilitate creation of a Data Mart?

I’ve recently started volunteering with Junior Achievement teaching business concepts to 5th graders.  You can see the attention of my little budding capitalists wax and wane throughout the session.  They haven’t yet learned to hide their expressions so when they “check out” it’s pretty obvious. But I’m glad for it.  I know exactly when I need to inject some PT Barnum into the act.

Let’s do the same for Business Intelligence.

Here’s Dan Meyer’s suggestions for fixing math education delivery.  Let’s do the same and give Business Intelligence class a makeover.

The Fix

1. Use multimedia

2. Encourage students business users intuition

3. Ask the shortest question you can

4. Let students business users build the problem

5. Be less helpful

I encourage you to watch the whole talk (below):

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Business Intelligence Adds a Dimension to Your Strategy
2. Defining Business Intelligence
3. Crowing about Business Intelligence

Here are a few of my conference observations:

Cloud computing is moving to the forefront of the Sage product strategy. In his keynote presentation, Himanshu Palsule, EVP of product strategy and marketing, called cloud computing one of two major trends to capitalize upon and introduced Sage North America’s cloud-based “connected services” as a key product strategy pillar. Connected services take “the richness of on-premise applications and connect to the reach of cloud-based services.” The launches of Sage SalesLogix Cloud and Sage Fundraising Online are examples of Sage dipping a toe in the “cloud” water (does that make it “rain”?)

Visitors at Indicee's booth at Sage Insights keenly interested in Cloud BI....or maybe Craig was sharing another uproarious story from trade shows past.

Business intelligence continues to gain in prominence within the Sage community. This year’s conference featured an entire presentation track dedicated to business intelligence, analysis, and reporting. And if the buzz at the Indicee booth was any indication, the opportunities for cloud-based analysis and reporting solutions are immense. Business partners outlined the challenges that clients are facing when it comes to creating and updating reports especially when the data resides in multiple systems such as Sage ERP MAS or Sage ERP Accpac and SageCRM. Conversations also revealed that the complexity and costs of typical on-premise BI solutions are often barriers to adoption.

Sage ERP Accpac – still near and dear to me – continues to garner much attention as the ERP of the future (very near future with Version 6 beta just around the corner); the slick user interface and improved workflow continue to impress. Kudos to the product team under the leadership of Scott Zandbergen, Erik Kaas, Alok Tyagi, and others.

The Simply Accounting group under the stewardship of Jamie Sutherland continues to be one of the most innovative teams in the Sage family. They have followed up on the success of Billing Boss, the online invoicing tool, with a mobile payment processing solution called Payment Boss.

Sage continues to be the “partner’s choice” for top vendor–forthrightness, integrity, and accessibility are a few of the words that come to mind to describe Sage. Speaking with fellow attendees and trolling the online forums, common themes are the positive feeling about the Sage team and a real bullishness about the Sage strategy.

A big shout-out to the entire Sage team for pulling off another successful Insights conference. Can’t wait until Sage Summit 2011 in DC.

Keep dialed into this channel for more Indicee news including the upcoming launch of our iPhone & iPad mobile reporting application (incidentally, Himanshu indicated that mobility was the other key trend influencing Sage product direction).

Scott Pledger

Related posts:

1. Wrapping Sage Summit in Atlanta
2. F5 Expo to host Cloud Computing panel April 7, 2010
3. Indicee for 2010 : New look, New product, New offerings

Recently, someone kindly pointed out that B.I. is actually DETERMINISTIC as opposed to intelligent by its very nature…. being just a construct of rules and structure within an IT system.

This comment was brought about through a discussion around creating B.I. solutions, what is a good approach.

The talk actually ended sounding more like a Philosophy class than an IT group.  Inductive and deductive reasoning.  Asking questions.  Treating matters objectively.

Stuff about helping management understand their own strategy by questioning manifest business processes.  In order to arrive at answers to seemingly imponderable business questions.  Things like, “What are your business goals?”

Some Focus Points

- Let outcomes guide decisions

- Let goals guide focus

- Let value guide priority

* NORTH STAR Business Intelligence

The above-mentioned firm put on a talk through TDWI (The Data Warehousing Institute) in Vancouver last Friday and I was fortunate enough to attend.  For anyone local who is looking to better understand the B.I. space, these monthly meetings are a good start.  The local chapter is fairly “young”, but it’s been growing and I’ve got to say, the meeting was quite interesting.

Some other points that jumped out were:

- B.I. is a technical issue, but success is a human issue

- Always keep the broader vision in mind

- Understand that business processes, definitions, and meanings change over time

- Greenfield B.I. projects have an advantage [over existing systems (i.e. no baggage)]

- Think big picture, work the details

and – Choose for impact!

It appears the growing consensus in this group is that the technical barriers aren’t what is standing in the way of getting good B.I. spread all throughout the organization.  But it’s organizational psychology that sometimes stinks.

There’s a delicate balance that has to be struck.  Top management don’t want to feel like they are being lectured, or questioned.  But it’s education and Socratic inquiry that are required if the end B.I. solution is going to work.

In my view, part of the difficulty is that management doesn’t necessarily have their strategy worked out to the level of detail really required to get a “perfect” solution.  There’s a lot of moving parts regardless of business size.  But don’t look at me I’m just a software vendor.

Do you think I could be counted on to whip business strategy into shape?

Anyway you slice it, I think B.I. and strategy will always be inextricably linked.  As mentioned in the talk, these are tied into part of a feedback loop.

Helpful to remember this stuff.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Business Intelligence class needs a makeover
2. Defining Business Intelligence
3. Crowing about Business Intelligence

With the entire office cheering him on via UStream, Mark brought his A-game and knocked it out of the park!

We were awarded the Judge’s Choice Award for the Analytics category!

It’s a privilege to receive this sort of recognition and we really appreciate it.

As well, we received some very kind words from the panel moderator, Jeremy Toeman - an expert in consumer lifestyle technology:

“I think Indicee’s website did the best job of the presenters now of radically, clearly saying what you do.  Specifically that is… Easy Business Intelligence Reporting.  Boom!  I get it! Done.”

The presentation included a bit of background on our team and B.I. pedigree, the challenges of B.I., the pain of spreadsheets, and the cure!

Here’s the presentation guys:

And the slidedeck:

Indicee_Under_the_Radar_v2.1_nobuild_opt –

And lastly, we’ve fished out some of tweets streaming during the Analytics session:

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. F5 Expo to host Cloud Computing panel April 7, 2010
2. Reflecting upon Sage Insights 2010
3. Business Intelligence Adds a Dimension to Your Strategy

It’s a busy time.  It can be frantic!

But remember that it’s also a time for reflection.

Lately, I’ve been spending a great deal of time delving deeply into the world of Business Intelligence (B.I.). One of the most prevalent themes within the B.I. space right now is the concept of Predictive Analytics: using B.I. software to use historical information to predict future events. This concept has actually been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Who wouldn’t want a Crystal Ball?  In the stock trading world, you can look to the guys we call “Technical Traders” as an example of how Predictive Analytics might model.

The point is that everyone wants to look into the future, but remember we first need to understand the past. Looking back on a periodic basis should be a healthy exercise from which insights can be gained. Quarter end is an opportunity to do so.

Move beyond idle navel gazing, the blame game, and compliance for compliance sake. What can you learn from the quarter?

For instance, I’ve been writing in this space for 6 months now.  I took the opportunity yesterday to look back at some of my early posts.  What I learned is that recently I’ve been so engrossed in the B.I. world, I’ve been forgetting my roots.  I’m not a B.I. guy by trade.  The whole point of Indicee is to bring B.I. out of the industry bubble and “to the masses”.  Instead, the B.I. industry has been pulling me into its world!

Time to take a step back.

With that, I’ve pulled a selection of 5 early posts from the vault.  Please share your thoughts!

1. Spreadsheet Nation

The idea was simple enough, write a short post about the role of spreadsheets in organizations.  More accurately, write about the role of Excel in organizations. I’m trying to provide a frame of reference from which readers can gain perspective on what Indicee does.  My thinking was, I could provide a bit of historical context (background of VisiCalc and Lotus 1,2,3 – the original electronic spreadsheets from the days when you actually had to use the word “electronic” in order to differentiate the thing from a paper spreadsheet), then a colourful anecdote about one or two of my favourite “Excel moments”(to illustrate some of the benefits and drawbacks to spreadsheet use), some stats on spreadsheet proliferation, end off with an introduction to the concept of datamarts, and Bob’s Your Uncle, point made.  Readers could use the comfort and familiarity of the spreadsheet concept to relate to the new concept of Indicee.  I figured the most difficult part of the whole exercise would have been choosing just one title for the post.

I was contemplating something like:

• Confessions of an Excel Jockey
• Fathers of Invention; The Mother of All Spreadsheets
• or Ghosts of Spreadsheets Past
  

What is difficult, complex, or nuanced about that?

2. The Meaningful Scorecard

“Finding the one or two key numbers that drives success in your business, and bringing them to everyone is very powerful in a business”
– Joe Knight, co-author of Financial Intelligence

The inspiration for this post was a management improvement video (13 minutes) posted on You Tube by http://www.harvardbusiness.org of an interview with Joe Knight, co-author of the book series “Financial Intelligence”, Business Owner, and Harvard Business.org blogger.  The central message of the interview was that everyone in an organization benefits from understanding the numbers by which success is measured within a business.  The trick is finding the right numbers.  Particularly in today’s climate hearing about transparency is nothing new, but what doesn’t get as much play is this idea of narrowing the focus on measures of performance.

With respect to the numbers: Thanks to technology, we now have ALL the numbers available ALL the time. Reports have become super-robust because they can.  Although there’s an argument for providing surplus information and letting the end user choose which parts to digest, there is also a great danger.  Knight argues that providing less information to end users can actually produce better business intelligence.  The process of asking the questions and finding the underlying systems within an operating group can enable a more focused, effective approach to providing reports. First, understand the work flow and underlying system of work for operations groups; then, develop measures around them.  It’s easy to say, but when was the last time these conversations have taken place in your business?

“Business is like a game, and if you don’t understand the finances, you’re basically playing a game where you don’t know score”
- Joe Knight

According to Knight the emphasis should be, and this is where the interview really resonates with me, on providing a small number of operational metrics in a simple way and providing them to everyone.  He rightly points out that the people receiving this information probably don’t want to be accountants, and have little or no interest in double-entry accounting “no matter how exciting it may appear to be”.  For Accounting and Finance guys like us, it then becomes an exercise of translating Business Intelligence into Practical Intelligence in the reports we create to achieve an optimal value.  It would be like one of us attending an advanced physics lesson.  We would get way more out of it if someone simply dropped an apple on our heads.  Sometimes less is more.

3. Sun Tzu’s Cash Burn

The Art of War, Chapter 2: Waging War

“Sun Tzu said: In general, the strategy for employing the military is this:

If there are 1,000 4-Horse Attack Chariots, 1,000 Leather-armoured Support Chariots,
100,000 Mailed Troops, and Provisions are transported 1,000 li, then the domestic and external campaign expenses, the expenditures for advisors and guests, materials such as glue and lacquer, and providing chariots and armour will be 1,000 pieces of gold per day.

Only then can an army of 100,000 be mobilized.” *

* Sawyer’s translation

As an accountant who has worked in a bunch of technology start-ups; when I read this, the first thing I do is try to extrapolate Sun Tzu’s Quarterly Burn Rate.  It’s a bit tougher to try and calculate Cash Zero date seeing as, if the campaign is successful, you will have gained “the masses of All Under Heaven” – AKA “priceless”.

After spending a fair bit of time getting to know Indicee lately, the next thing that naturally came to mind was whether Sun Tzu’s Accounting system ties to his ERP system.  If he has Pieces of Gold in one system and Numbers of Men in another, he could be spending a ton of time cutting and pasting reports in Excel to get his Departmental Salary Breakdown by Headcount!

4. Bringing Design Thinking to Accounting and Finance

Design thinking is a process for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result. It is the essential ability to combine empathy, creativity and rationality to meet user needs and drive business success.

(There are number of definitions out there, but I think the above serves the purpose)

There’s a lot of Buzz around the concept of Design Thinking at the moment.  A great deal of content has been produced, but I’m not sure how much has been directed toward the accounting and finance community.  During the past 2 years for us, listening to someone talk about “radical innovation” usually entailed mostly hand-wringing and, well, … expletives.  It’s understandable to have missed some of this.

So, I’m not sure how much about the topic has filtered in.  Maybe that’s a good discussion point for the comments:

• How much of the Design Thinking paradigm has filtered into the accounting and finance community?
• How applicable is this school of thought to accounting and finance?
• Do you believe there is a place for Design Thinking in accounting?

5. Ghost of Software Salesguys Past

We are greatly influenced by our experiences.  As a child, the hand reaches out to a hot stove only once.

The last couple posts have talked about legacy issues; legacy IT systems, legacy education.  Today I’d like to talk about another actor in the Legacy IT Show, the classic software salesman (circa. 2004).

This guy (above) may or may not be selling software, but does the song and dance sound familiar? I’ve sat on both sides of the table. Listening to salesguys pitch software to me as a purchaser, and doing the accounting & finance work in a company selling enterprise software.  Software, as an industry, is still an infant relative to most other industries; and with youth, comes growing pains.  Here’s the story on both sides.

Listening to pitches, sitting through demos, taking notes only to be asked by a Director, “what would it cost if we just built our own?” was crushing.  Or, hearing about how easy a rollout will be (“it’s like lego”) and then, months later, hearing about how it won’t do all that stuff we thought it would do.  Did we send out that cheque yet?

On the sell-side, working with salesmen who could barely operate a computer or use excel well enough to complete an expense report.  There was one colleague who seemed to continually be calling me from the middle of a war zone, god bless ‘em.  The path to hell is paved with good intentions, indeed.

Over the years, I think we were selling more than software. We were selling a dream. And the dream was that somehow this product would magically work and fix all reporting and organizational problems. Presto!

———————————-

Again, let me know your thoughts guys! Do these posts help? Hurt? Are you indifferent? Keyboard froze? Are you “reflecting”?

Let me know!

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Spreadsheet Nation
2. Business Reporting ≠ Dishwasher Job
3. Running the gauntlet of Year End Business Reporting

With all the March Madness going on right now, a basketball analogy seems in order (or at least some pics from my local court).  Like hockey, basketball is a great example of a team sport that benefits from the guys on the bench as well as the guys on the court.  Even though it’s usually not given a real solid acknowledgment in the sports media, all the bench guys are still an integral part of the team and all contribute to the team’s success (when they do succeed).

It’s about the program.  It’s about scrimmage.  It’s about strategy.  It’s about training.  It’s a team.

That said, do you think there’s even one bench warrior who wouldn’t rather be in the game?

To a man, I think the answer is no.

Business isn’t much different, is it?  There are the star players and then there are the guys who “ride the pine”.  You may know them by another name, “Cost Center”.  In Accounting and Finance, we hear that term a lot.  Usually it comes up around budget time.  It comes up around bonus time.  You want headcount?  But, you’re a Cost Center!

So, how does one go from being viewed as a Cost Center to being viewed as a Revenue Center?  From being a Beancounter to being a Strategic CFO?

The distance between the two can seem broad:

Finding actionable business intelligence that will enhance sales and cash flow while hammering down inefficiency and expenses is the mark of The Strategic CFO and it’s the key for getting in the game.

To go from being an observer:

To driving the hoop:

Here’s some resources to get you going:

A High Value CFO is… (CFO Coach)

Strategy on the Morph (Harvard Business Review)

Midsized Companies Need Strategic CFOs, Not Beancounters (Ventana Research)

Can Technology Make CFO’s and Controller’s Jobs More Strategic? (Technology Evaluation Centers Blog)

What does Get in the Game mean to you?

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Understanding Business is a Game of Questions
2. Software Implementation by the Book
3. Business Intelligence Adds a Dimension to Your Strategy

Amazon Changes the Game

Amazon is the ultimate consumer company, making something as simple as buying a book, a customized and easy customer experience. Amazon has applied their deep consumer knowledge to cloud computing. After years of designing and developing their own platform for Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos took this knowledge and intellectual property and spun it into a new business, now leading the charge in cloud computing platforms. Platforms like Amazon’s are known as “infrastructure as a service,” providing businesses with extremely cost effective alternatives to traditional IT models. Other platforms gaining traction include Microsoft’s Azure, but Amazon enjoyed a strong head start. Cloud platforms like Amazon’s allow software vendors to launch new applications at break-neck speed, paying only for what they need, by the hour. This model is revolutionizing the IT world and the up-time guarantees in the cloud are better than most internal IT organizations can offer. The interconnecting and scaling services hosted in the cloud enable IT professionals and other software vendors to link applications in endless creative and unique ways, enabling “web mashups.”

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

The cloud is cheap, some would even say ‘dirt cheap’ and it allows a business to off-load all the ugly computing tasks which have overwhelmed IT departments for years, from both a cost and resources perspective. Cloud computing allows a business to pay for computing power, based on actual usage, at a rate of 10 cents an hour. The recent global financial crisis has changed the way we think about our economy. Consumers and organizations are actively seeking simple and lower cost alternatives to just about everything. Using the cloud allows businesses to prototype and launch new initiatives faster and at a price point that is unmatched. A user can create a simple software as a service application, build a prototype in a day, create an account on Amazon Web Services, and make the application available to consumers in minutes. Furthermore, a Twitter feed can produce a thousand instant alpha users. No sales people, no marketing, only the cloud and a social network.

People Drive Change

Cheap and easy is critical but ultimately it is people that drive change. The popularity of cloud computing is due in part to a whole generation of users who have been chatting, texting, tweeting, and facebooking since they could walk. Online collaboration and public content sharing is the norm for these users and the cloud is part of their DNA.

But cloud use is also growing because of the many users in organizations who have been forced to endure cumbersome enterprise software applications, ridiculous IT policies, and limited visibility into disparate business data. These are the people who have been exposed to consumer applications like Facebook and Flickr and now expect their business software to be as easy to use.

Ultimately, the most exciting change-driver is IT. Old school IT is starting to change and will be the biggest adopter of cloud in the enterprise. IT is finally realizing the suitable role of enabling business success and results, rather than maintaining systems, fighting fires and ensuring job security. IT managers seem to agree on the need to find the best technology to address their business issues in the most cost effective way possible, whether it be in the cloud or on-premise. Cloud technology removes the need for physical hardware and infrastructure security requirements, which allows IT to devote more resources to higher priorities tasks that will improve productivity gains. Moreover, IT is realizing that the need to listen closely to the knowledge of workers at the frontline of an organization, who are demanding simpler, easier and more collaborative applications. Cloud computing addresses all of these issues which explains the massive adoption of cloud applications like Saleforce.com, Google, Amazon and many others.

The Cloud meets Self-serve BI

The cloud will have a huge impact on business intelligence over the next few years and is fueling the growth in self-serve BI. Demand for simple, cost effective self-serve BI is not new. Crystal Reports was originally envisioned as an out of the box, easy to use application for every user in an organization. But business intelligence like Crystal Reports has never really reached the ‘Promised Land’. Only 20% of people in an enterprise organization use business intelligence, mostly because it just isn’t that accessible to an average user.

True self-serve BI should allow a user to search for and locate a solution online, access and load their own data, create their own reports and dashboards, and invite, share and collaborate with other users. Ideally, it also means they can research and buy a BI application online without the assistance of a sales person.

Can the self-serve barrier finally be broken? The cloud is the best thing to happen to BI, making it possible for users to find, try, buy, analyze, share, collaborate, and learn.

Related posts:

1. Is Cloud Computing in your Company Culture?
2. F5 Expo to host Cloud Computing panel April 7, 2010
3. Tourist in Techie Land: Reporting from Cloudcamp Vancouver

When I was first approached with an offer to TestDrive a Chevy Volt as part of a GM Public Relations campaign, I was unsure what to make of the offer.  Why was I being included? Am I a media source now?  I tend to think of corporate blogging in separate terms from what I’ll call media blogging and traditional reporting.  A corporate blog is less about reporting “the news” and more about building understanding of a company; the culture, the people, and the product, within the public sphere.  In my view, this specificity of purpose imposes a certain amount of discipline and etiquette upon the writer.  For example, I would not consider it appropriate to rant or “bag on people” in a corporate blog.

In accepting the offer to TestDrive the Chevy Volt, as a corporate blogger, I really had to seriously consider how doing so would relate to Indicee.  What connections could be made that would justify the inclusion of the experience on the blog?  How would it relate to what we, as a company, are trying to achieve?

The offer included both a TestDrive of the pre-production vehicle as well as the opportunity to speak with some of the GM engineers in the Volt product group.

Upon reflection I found that, despite the obvious differences  between the Chevy Volt group and Indicee, there were some commonalities that warranted accepting the invitation.  So, I accepted.

I distilled the commonalities down to 4 themes:

1. Try before you buy: The TestDrive is a time honoured tradition of car companies.  It’s a core cultural belief infused with enough historical precedence that you could probably even call it dogma.  It’s interesting that no one has ever come up with a similar concept for buying a house considering that, apart from Detroit, you’ll pay way more for a house than for a car.  In Vancouver right now, the vast majority of homes are being sold without providing the prospective owners with so much as the opportunity for an inspection the market is so exuberant.  But I digress.

In software circles, particularly in the Saas market where we play, companies have taken that TestDrive concept and added a turbocharge.  We call it “freemium” and it’s a core cultural belief at Indicee.  For us, it’s critical for users to experience an initial success in order to engender belief in the product.  Try before you buy.

2. Performance Management: Indicee is in the business of Performance Management for business, but we’re not the solution that a company like GM will likely seek out.  Although I can’t be certain, I expect GM has highly complex and integrated systems to manage every element of their business; from supply chain all the way to the point at which the car drives off the lot, time and effort is accounted for.  The interesting conversation would be related to how these systems interact and what it means for how these guys do their job; I can become application agnostic for a few moments and investigate the mechanics of their information delivery system.  Who knows; it may well be they are completely underserved by their internal systems.  When it comes to performance management, we have seen some departments in large companies living in the dark ages even while their colleagues enjoy all the best new toys that B.I. has to offer.

3. Innovation & Change: Within the walls of a big company like GM are, effectively, a bunch of smaller companies.  I expect the Chevy Volt product group is like one of these smaller companies.  In a sense, they are a start-up that exists inside GM.  The guys within this group have been tasked with deliberately venturing away from conventional automaker thinking in the same way that Indicee has ventured away from the traditional path with respect to delivering Business Intelligence software.  I was interested in seeing what similarities may exist between some of these guys and the team at Indicee.

4. User Experience: It’s not always easy to try something new.  There’s a risk; and, although it’s not always spoken it is present.  The risk is, “what if I fail?” So really, this speaks to the larger issue of infusing a product with trust.  Following someone into uncharted waters is ALWAYS a trust exercise, and trust is only gained through interaction with the product.  Like Indicee, the Chevy Volt guys are in the trust game.  So, what considerations went into ensuring the Volt user experience instilled that trust?  What feedback mechanisms are in place?

The Result

In the end, the Chevy Volt TestDrive didn’t happen for me.  Without rehashing the specifics, let’s just say I received an apology in place of a car ride.

I’m going ahead with my post about the Volt, not as some kind of social shaming exercise, but to illustrate a point.

Understanding business is a game of questions

Good questions don’t simply materialize out of thin air.  Good questions are the result of thinking through the activities, behaviours, concepts, and relationships at work within the context of what you are trying to achieve.  Thinking about how things connect.  What are the commonalities?  Where do the commonalities diverge? What’s the essence of the matter?  What are the themes?  In my view, this is a strategy for finding answers.

Enabling answers, an answer-friendly environment, should be the overriding consideration when asking questions.  The motivation underpinning a question should always be getting an answer.  Therefore, framing your questions within a context familiar and relevant to the person being queried is probably going to be helpful.  After all, how much good is asking questions when there is no one around left to answer them?

-

Focus on outcomes

For example, what outcome was I trying to achieve with this Chevy Volt thing?  Was the outcome being able to say I drove the car first?  No, probably not.  I would say, despite not driving the car or meeting the guys, that a positive outcome was achieved.

I was able to relate our product, Indicee’s Saas Business Intelligence platform, with a product that folks will likely feel like they understand, a car.  In that sense, I consider the experience a success despite not having any questions answered.  In this case, my questions were academic.  There was no pressing business problem to solve (or media story to break).  The questions, these connections, were more important than the answers.

That said, my prepared questions did go unanswered.  So, below I will list a few of them.  If there are any GM guys reading this, feel free to take a shot at answering in the comments.

1. What do you think companies can learn from the TestDrive concept?

2. What would you consider the defining moment of this project and how did you come to this realization?  Was this a “measurable” moment from a performance management standpoint?

3. A lot has been said recently about how Design Thinking contributes positively to innovation. Are you familiar with the concept and do you subscribe to it?

4. What was done to ensure a positive user experience?

Enjoy.

Related posts:

1. Strategic CFO: Get in the Game
2. Sharpen your Business Analysis: Think Like a Reporter
3. Business Intelligence Adds a Dimension to Your Strategy

So why is the first question I get from IT and business executives, “How Secure is Indicee?” Each time I get this question I struggle with whether I should express my “inside head voice” or my “outside head voice.” Logic usually prevails and I take the high road. I know that most of the questions simply stem from a desire to the maintain the privacy and control of their corporate data. What is funny is that most of these executives don’t see the vulnerabilities they face in their current “inside the firewall” methodologies that are, in many cases, far more vulnerable than any of the current cloud technologies used today. Not to mention the huge security holes they have with employees being able email corporate data in spreadsheets and documents to just about anyone.

At the end of the day this debate really depends on which “lens” you choose to look at the world through. My belief is that the choice between using “cloud” or “inside the firewall” is first and foremost cultural. I see 3 cultural lenses most often and these lenses tend to follow Geoffrey Moore’s Technology Adoption Life Cycle curve

1. Innovators Lens – these are the people or companies that are the first to hear about new technology and adopt it quicker than the vendors can produce it. When we talk to the IT and business leaders in innovative companies like this they are near polar opposite to laggards(see below). These are the companies that are trying to find as many ways to push everything they can into the cloud. Indicee’s operations are like this. We live in the cloud….Google Docs, Slide Rocket, Salesforce.com, Version 1, Amazon Web Services, Basecamp and a bunch more. If Stephanie, our sales goddess, tells me her computer spontaneously combusted I don’t have to ask her if she had it backed up. If Craig, our king of partnering, drops his laptop in the moat of Treasure Island while attending a conference I only need to ask how many beer he had. Everything we need is in the cloud, secure and waiting for us no matter what computer we are on. As you can see this lens has a very different view and the scenery is spectacular from my balcony. My advice to these companies….the wave is here RIDE IT!

   

2. Wait and See Lens - “I don’t know about that cloud computing stuff….I know it seems to be hot and people are talking about it but I am just not sure.” This is a common statement I hear from both business and IT people in all sizes of organizations. The indecisiveness is a major challenge for these organizations especially when they dabble in the new technologies but they never fully commit to trying them in specific areas of the business. Instead they burn up endless cycles dabbling while maintaining the status quo of what they already have. These companies would be better served by making more clear and decisive decisions. SaaS services are amazing for doing small projects to determine their viability, they are low cost, easy to get going and if you don’t like them they are easy to kick to the curb. With SaaS and cloud computing you can actually be an innovator while you hold steady on your current course, something that has been historically more challenging to do with traditional enterpirse on-premise software. While the Wait and See crowd tends to take longer to change, they are much more open and receptive to the learning and change than a Laggard is. Wait and See types need validation from others, they need proof, they need trust and they need buy in from the rest of their peers. My advice to companies with this culture..pick something and DO IT! Live the Nike mantra and go for it.

3. Laggards Lens -  I have met and visited with thousands of companies over the course of my career and what I have learned is that no matter how many facts, figures and benefits you put in front of a person(or company) if they are fundamentally apposed to it, culturally, you are probably not going to change their mind. Here is a simple, real world example of a conversation I have had with a Director of IT for $100M sporting goods manufacturing and distribution company: “The Founder of our business is an old school guy…he doesn’t even use email but he does use a phone. There is no way he is going to let us move our data outside the four walls of this building. As a matter of fact he only wants 4 people on the executive team to see any type of corporate data!” And that, my friends, is an exact quote. That is usually my cue to ask, “what is the quickest route back to the airport from here?” I actually like companies like this because I can see the lens they see the world through and I can quickly determine that our company and their company are probably not destined to do business together. Well, until the succession plan has been implemented and the founder has decided to move on. My only message to companies that adopt this type of culture…..have a listen to Bob Dylan’s “These Times They are A-Changin’”
   

So what does all of this have to do with the question,, “How Secure is Indicee?”  The answer is highly dependent on your cultural lens your company looks through. If you are an innovator, you already believe that the cloud is better, more secure and more reliable. It is built into your DNA. If you are laggard, well this “Cloud dog don’t hunt.”  If you are anywhere in between, then you just need to start hanging out with the innovators more often!

So what cultural lens does your company look through?

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There tends to be a “birds of a feather” thing happening with these guys though.  If you speak the language and have a passion for B.I., you become a member of the flock no problem.  Outside the flock though, the language seems obscure and the industry as a whole takes on a bit of a menacing pall like a murder of crows migrating into your neighbourhood.

from Artmenow's Art Blog

The analogy of crows actually serves a dual purpose here.  First, there’s the misunderstood nature of the crow.  Second, there’s a certain crow behaviour that I think helps to illustrate a key concept of B.I.

I recently watched a great documentary on CBC Television’s The Nature of Things that focused on crows.  Watching the show had me thinking, this has some parallels to the B.I. industry!

I think it’s fair to say that, to the uninitiated, the crow is a general nuisance; they have a way of sticking their beaks all up in your business.  Well, as it turns out, the crow is actually one of the most intelligent, playful, and mischievous creatures on the planet!  Crows have a proven ability to problem solve, reason, and they have long dependable memories.

They also engage in complex social interactions.  Very much a family oriented bird, they mate for life and extended family plays an active and ongoing role in the development of the next generation.  They even appear to have funeral rituals!  With over 250 distinct calls, crows have 2 separate dialects; one, for use within the flock and the other for the general public.  And lastly, crows love to play!  A key component for any intelligent species!  After watching the documentary, I found I have a great deal of respect for these guys.

The crow behaviour that I think is useful in illustrating a key concept in B.I. relates to their use of tools; more specifically, their use of meta-tools.  Let me explain.  If you watch the documentary, you’ll see that the crow researchers want to test our crow’s intelligence and problem-solving skills.  What’s required is for the crow to use one tool to get another tool that they can then use to get food.  That first tool is the meta-tool.  It’s the crow’s ability to follow through on this sequence that denotes intelligence.

1. See the food

2. See the tool that would help get the food, but is out of reach

3. Search out and find a meta-tool that will help reach the food-getting tool

4. Use the meta-tool to get the tool

5. Use the tool to get the food

In B.I., we have a concept called meta-data.  Similar thing.  It’s data about other data.  At Indicee, we use this meta-data to help us understand your company’s data.  The meta-data is the first step toward getting the food.

When we get the meta-data, it gives us the ability to go out and interpret your company data.  Once we’ve interpreted your company data, you’re able to nourish your business with the valuable insights that are now within reach.

What do you guys think?

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