Analytics - the modern day storyteller

Take the analytics space for example. We get so caught up in explaining all the buzzwords and products - advanced analytics, business and customer intelligence, OLAP, data management, on-demand solutions, HPA - that we often do ourselves a disservice.

At the recent annual SAS Forum event, however, I came across an analogy that simply fit like a glove. My colleague, Carel Badenhorst, who is the head of information management practise Middle East and Africa, Pakistan and Turkey, took the view during his presentation to the forum delegates that analytics practitioners are our modern-day storytellers. We may all have a different part to play in the analytics cycle, but at the heart of it we are relating the story of our business.

Measurable insight

This is quite a contrary view, but one that I fully subscribe to. Analytics for analytics' sake simply does not deliver the business value that it should. Every analysis we do, whether it is a great piece of analytics or not, has to track back to the business and provide measurable insight.

Ask yourself the question - what story can I tell using the information that I have gleaned from the analytics? If you can't tell a story of, for example, how Mr Client is engaging with the company and how you can improve that relationship as a result of the story elements you are sharing, you shouldn't be running that particular analysis.

Remove your business hat and replace it with your story hat. That way we do not over complicate a very valuable tool at our disposal.