Dealing with Culture

How does the culture of the organization impact the adoption of Business Intelligence?

This is a great question we need to ask ourselves as we move the vision of Business Intelligence forward in our organizations. Depending on the organization, your BI program will be successful based on how the program aligns to the culture of the company.

For example, lets envision a culture where finding cost efficiencies is a core mission of the organization. Think of some type of commoditites industry where margins are razor sharp, and every .001% improvement can be what makes or breaks the organization's profitability that year.

In this type of pragmatic organization, you would entirely miss the boat if you came in with a solution that provides demographics on their customer base and opens up new opportunities for them. In this type of culture, they may not be looking for new opportunites. We just want to procure it, process it and sell it on the open market! Beware those BI practitioners that stray from a services industry...8)

This is a pretty crude way to point out that you need to know your organization and it's culture to understand how to position your BI strategy. Tailor your approach using vocabulary and outcomes that align with organizational culture and you will be saying the right things to be successful.

Have a good night!

Mark