Choosing between ‘performance management’ and ‘process management’ using analytics data and business intelligence tools is like deciding on a favorite child. You need BOTH, according to Joseph Raynus, who advises organizations on how to measure and manage the always shifting streams of data. Raynus shared some ideas on creating agility at a Boston meeting of the Association of Business Performance Management Professionals, ABPMP. The group is part of a national organization for IT and operations professionals exploring both the process and design/measurement of each step in a company or organization culture.
“Resilience attached to business processes in a constantly changing environment” is what Raynus calls “The Tao of Business Agility.” His company, ShareDynamics Inc., has worked with the U.S. Air Force and software companies to create environments that monitor action, evaluate, respond and adapt as circumstances require. And his upcoming book, “Improving Business Process Performance: Gain Agility, Create Value, and Achieve Success” adds some new technologies and recent experiences on the subject
An important question is “By how much and by when do we want to improve performance?” he said, urging a series of flexible, measurable processes that account for time, speed-to-decision, time-to-action, course correction and not just bottom-line or unit-driven metrics. By balancing goals with results, strategy and operations, the data from an analytics effort will tell whether your program is achieving either the rate-of-change or progress that was expected – and results will follow, whether they are profit, knowledge or better operations.
“People need to know that if they improve a process which of the company’s goals or objectives are they supporting,” he added. Analytics plays an important role in making measurable and metrics-driven decisions, then those decisions need to be aligned with bigger-picture issues and communicated clearly so that everyone is working in the most efficient way possible. From there, further refinements can be made to create a competitive advantage or, at least, minimize waste and delay.
Gartner analysts predict that analytics and BI tools will be key decision-making aids within a few years. So now is the time to get started, and see what they can do for your operations.
David Wallace
Spotfire Blogging Team
