I wish James Dallas was the leader of my organization when I started leading analytics initiatives in IT years ago. He would have been a great coach and mentor – to help me learn the things I believe today about the roles of technology and culture change in this space, instead of me having to learn the hard way.
Ultimately I learned on my own that culture shift and change management are the most important success factors in analytics projects where IT plays a big role.
The “Technology Poses the Biggest Challenge” myth is the second myth covered in a new webcast series that busts four analytics myths. The series features Keith Collins SAS CIO and James Dallas, former CIO of Medtronic. It also features interview clips from IT peers in multiple industries.
Technology change is not easy – but it’s a known challenge. IT professionals deal with new technology, upgrading infrastructures, and with new forms and sources of data every day. In the 1980’s and 90’s, IT professionals kept the secrets of how to automate and streamline processes to enable cost reduction, information accuracy and speed to market.
Today, with the prevalence of technology in every line of business, as well as in our personal lives, the IT leader has to come to the table with more than just geek knowledge. The IT leader must understand how to drive significant change with technology as an enabler. When moving to a data driven analytics culture these changes are much more difficult – and more important.
James Dallas talks about the CIO being the most networked person in the corporation. A good IT leader must know how to capitalize on that enviable position and use those connections to help analytics initiatives succeed. The “build it and they will come” approach doesn’t work with analytics. Driving the change to a data-driven culture is something that needs buy-in up and down, and across every function of the organization.
The IT leader must know how to champion analytics and lead by her actions – not by discussing the newest, fastest technology or the latest hardware or software upgrades. She must understand that the rest of the C-suite needs analytics to help move their strategies forward – and she must speak the language of the business to get buy-in and earn credibility.
As Keith Collins says, analytics can be “messy” – and the traditional IT leader of yesteryear likes neat and structured solutions. The willingness to tread into the messy and chaotic space of agile iterative processes, peaks and valleys in processing, huge amounts of unclean data from far away sources, and the discovery process that never ends must become their new normal. In order to be seen as more than a cost center that drives cost cutting, the IT leader must understand the use of analytics to move a company forward. Understanding how to drive bottom line performance is key to earning a seat at the grown-up table of a corporation.
To get corporate citizens to embrace the culture of data driven decision making, the IT leader must solicit business champions by speaking their language and knowing that the path to success with analytics is not straight and narrow. And the other grown-ups at the table don’t care about the technology, they care about the outcomes.
Mr. Dallas, thanks for the great mentoring. My experience proves you right, but it’s always good to have a refresher in the lesson that is not easy to learn!
Watch the full Webcast to learn more from Dallas, Collins and fellow IT pros.
