Why are some projects more successful than others? Why do some Cognos Business Analytics clients feel accomplished while others feel they are beating their heads against a wall? The answer is – their WORDS!  Learn how to have Cognos Analytics Success

Here are the things you will probably never hear successful IBM Cognos Business Analytics clients say:

We do not have IT support.

IBM Cognos deployment should be a collaboration of IT and the business. Many clients say they want to implement TM1 or Express without IT support.  You can but you shouldn’t!  IT is a critical component of a successful team.  If you don’t have IT support, go build it.  The first step is to communicate you goal, your plan, and how you can work together.  With a proper plan you can minimize IT involvement but they must be involved.

I know what I am doing. I don’t need your advice.

To truly succeed, the team has to be open to new experiences, new ideas, and new perspectives. Everyone has to always be open to feedback; on how they are executing, how they are communicating, and how they can improve. Those who are constantly open to feedback get the respect of their teams and colleagues.  Cognos Business Analytics involves many moving parts and a collaborative team that is open to all options including modifying data warehouses, designing things different and working with the resources you have even if it’s not “best practices” will increase the probability of success.

My company won’t invest in training or coaching

Cognos Business Analytics companies that are dedicated to training and coaching their team members in the tools and processes of business analytics solutions like Cognos become self-reliant.  Your business will change and your models will change. You don’t want to have to call consultants constantly to make the changes.

“If you are afraid you will train your people and they leave. What if you don’t and they stay?”

I don’t need to learn that, it’s not my responsibility. 

The team members that are highly successful in analytics love to learn.  The more they understand how the tools work, the more value they add to the organization in knowing how to leverage data and analytics.  Successful Cognos Business Analytic teams cross train their team members the tools, data warehousing, as well as presentation techniques.  This training empowers the team and allows for everyone to back each other up in challenging times.

We already completed requirements gathering.

The business is constantly changing and as a result, their needs will change.  Requirements gathering is a continuous process.  It involves active listening skills that are not natural to most analytically minded people, as they like to “solve” problems.  Successful teams continually check and recheck to make sure the needs have not changed.  Business aqnalytics requires an agile flexible approach to be successful.