![\"lolf-brochure\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/WindowsLiveWriter\/IllBIWatchingYou_F586\/lolf-brochure_375c4a0d-c435-4fb6-9712-dc26fb7e0a61.jpg?resize=480%2C318&ssl=1\" "\\"lolf-brochure\\"")
<\/p>\nBranding and other forms of internal marketing are absolutely essential for successful BI projects — and it’s an area where the teams don’t often have a lot of expertise. <\/p>\n
Sometimes implementation teams have access to internal resources for brochures and other materials \u2013 e.g. see the example below for an example of a brochure that was produced for a large French public sector BI project.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Even if you don\u2019t have any budget or access to official resources, you may be able to find and persuade some marketing or internal communication colleagues to give you a hand creating materials and advice about how to reach your internal \u201cprospects.\u201d <\/p>\n
Interestingly, the most successful BI communication efforts I’ve seen were not from official teams. Instead, they leveraged the spare-time expertise and hobbies of the staff members (e.g. amateur actors and family film-makers making spoof "ads"). <\/p>\n
These were far more creative than the average internal materials. Sadly, they were also slightly subversive, and blatantly misused other people\u2019s intellectual property, so while they might be OK for internal use (I\u2019m no lawyer), I can\u2019t post them here on the blog. <\/p>\n
Play on the existing difficulties faced by potential users of the BI solution, emphasize the benefits of the new system, and give very simple, concrete steps to get people started. And do it in a way that stands out from the ordinary and combines an awareness of natural cynicism about anything to do with IT with the natural optimism of progress and increasing ease of use..<\/p>\n
You should plan out a full \u201ccampaign\u201d that slowly eases people into the idea of using the solution, building on existing knowledge, one step at a time. It\u2019s better and more effective to build awareness over time, rather than trying to explain everything at once. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s absolutely essential to make the prospect user\u2019s very first step as easy as possible \u2013 if you can get people to come to your internal portal portal page, you\u2019ve already had a big win. The next most important step is to make sure they don\u2019t leave before you\u2019ve had a chance to hook them. <\/p>\n
Ultimately, branding is about the solution itself, not the brochures. No amount of \u201cmarketing\u201d will help if the BI project doesn\u2019t meet people\u2019s needs. <\/p>\n
Initially, you should make the product interfaces themselves as simple as you can possibly make them. Turn off anything that might possibly confuse the users \u2013 and note that if you\u2019re reading this blog, it\u2019s almost impossible for you to imagine how even the simplest of things can trip people up. If people complain they don\u2019t have enough features, that\u2019s great \u2013 you can always unleash more power later. <\/p>\n
Sexy dashboards, such as those built with Xcelsius<\/a>, are a great way of generating interest in internal data. I\u2019ve seen internal campaigns that included \u201cmock-up\u201d interactive dashboards that were spectacularly successful \u2013 to the point where the project team had to scramble to manage expectations back down. In particular, dashboards can help you reach executive audiences that might not otherwise find the time to pay attention to your work.<\/p>\n Use business intelligence to track your business intelligence efforts, including adoption rates, and regular surveys to get people\u2019s opinion of the solutions. And don\u2019t assume that you can stop communicating as soon as people are using it. The BI solution will be updated, people will change roles \u2013 make sure that ongoing communication is an integral part of your long-term strategic BI plans.<\/p>\n Jill Dych\u00e9<\/a> of Baseline Consulting posted on the subject of BI branding on her blog, and mused about taking this to the next level<\/a>, with \u201caudio branding\u201d. If you want to do this, you might be able to find an amateur musician who can help you put together the ultimate BI theme music\u2026<\/p>\n Talking of BI theme music reminded me that I haven\u2019t yet posted the lyrics of Andreas Bitterer and Nigel Rayner\u2019s rendition of \u201cI\u2019ll BI Watching You\u201d featured at the start of the keynote of the latest European Gartner conference. <\/p>\n Get ready to groan, and see previous post for the video<\/a>. (Here\u2019s a video of The Police doing the real version<\/a>)<\/p>\n I\u2019ll BI Watching You<\/strong><\/p>\n Every warehouse you make Every report you spool Oh, can’t you see Every user you placate Data’s lost without a trace Oh can’t you see Every user you placate Branding and other forms of internal marketing are absolutely essential for successful BI projects — and it’s an area where the teams don’t often have a lot of expertise. This article touches on some of the key things teams should to do promote BI projects successfully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[158,160,204],"class_list":["post-11985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-practice","tag-best-practice","tag-bi","tag-business-intelligence"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/lolf-brochure_375c4a0d-c435-4fb6-9712-dc26fb7e0a61-1.jpg?fit=480%2C318&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3X9RF-37j","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Track your progress, and keep communicating<\/h4>\n
But do you need a BI theme tune?<\/h4>\n
All data replicate
Each data mart you create
Every schema you shape
We’ll be watching you <\/p>\n
Every query that’s uncool
Every OLAP you cube
Every consultant you confuse
We’ll be watching you <\/p>\n
You need BI strategy
Performance management takes
Many steps to make <\/p>\n
Downturn you navigate
For the costs you save
And the profits you crave
You need BI <\/p>\n
It’s somewhere inside your database
You looked around
But there’s nothing you can replace
No need to start another vendor chase
Just keep trying, maybe, maybe, please <\/p>\n
You need BI strategy
Performance management takes
Many steps to make <\/p>\n
Downturn you navigate
For the costs you save
And the profits you crave
You need BI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"