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What’s Cross Fit got to do with Business Intelligence?

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Admin May 3, 2023 0 Comments

CrossFit revolutionized fitness not just because of  the physical aspect of the regimen but more from the emphasis it lays on Measurement and Monitoring!.What makes this fitness program sustainable are the intuitive tools used by Cross Fitters to capture results and provide feedback that you can implement into your routine.

As a Business Intelligence (BI) professional it was only time that I began to draw parallels between these disciplines.  The success of any Business Intelligence practice begins and ends with identifying what you need to measure and monitoring progress at regular intervals so that corrective action can be executed in a timely fashion.

BI has become prime time and it’s easier to be successful now than ever before because:

  • BI has leadership’s attention. Data and Analytics are now a core part of all initiatives
  • Millennials are more inclined and receptive to use technology to make informed decisions 
  • Technology has advanced allowing less time needed for data preparation allowing users to focus more on analysis than on format of the data! 

What I have seen in successful BI implementations are the following:

  • Reporting, Analytics and Advanced Analytics (Prescriptive & Predictive) will only work if you know what you are measuring.  KPIs selected have to be representative across the business value chain to achieve the desired impact in the organization.
  • IT’s emphasis on technology has to be moderated by the business’s speed to access information. If the technology does not support what the business needs your smart savvy business users will find a way around existing tool sets to get their job done.
  • Finally, data quality and governance has to be implemented with rigor.  Fancy graphs are not a replacement for in-accurate data. (Confession: Those animated charts mesmerize me too!)

I have always been involved in competitive and recreational sports but I had never been able to attain that version 2.0 of myself. It was not a lack of effort but it was lack of a purposeful effort. The box changed all that and more.

In BI too – You need to be able to select what you are measuring and create intuitive ways to monitor progress and effective ways to include feedback.Here are some leading and lagging KPIs that you can use as reference or starting point for your practice. Feel free to give us your feedback.

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

I leave you with a list of KPIs across verticals that you can use as a starting point in your journey. Download KPI list.

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