This article originally appeared on the BeyeNETWORK

It is April. April follows March. March is known for many things, one of which is the best college basketball of the year. Many people think that means the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and its championship game played on the first Monday in April. Just about everyone fills out a bracket and takes a “long lunch” during the first week of the tournament to watch their school, or at the very least their picks, play at the local sports bar. There are even estimates that $3.8 billion worth of productivity is lost every year to these activities. The title game is so popular that it even pushes a majority of opening day games for Major League Baseball, the national pastime, to the afternoon.    

However, in my opinion, the best pure basketball in the world is played on the collegiate level in the NCAA Women’s Tournament and its championship game played the day after the men’s game, amid a collection of action-packed baseball telecasts such as Houston versus Florida and Seattle versus Los Angeles (that’s the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, for those who are not up on current MLB branding events….) Who enters a NCAA

Women’s Tournament pool? Who watches Pat Summit, the NCAA’s “winningest” basketball coach, as she extends her record of 913 wins? The answer is a precious few compared to the male version of the NCAA.

Why is this? Quite literally, it’s because the men’s tournament has better public relations. Yes, the men have a 40-year head start (well, almost 50 years if you count the NIT Tournament). But, if you want to watch basketball played at its highest level and not athleticism at its highest collegiate level, the ladies have it.

Finding Critical Mass
Now what does women’s college basketball have to do with the business intelligence organizations of most telecommunications service providers? They both suffer from the same problem – poor public relations. Most business intelligence organizations suffer because their legacy reporting systems have a longer history than the “new” business intelligence organizations. Many times, the end users ask, “Our reports are fine. Why do I need to change?”

In the Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talks about how there are certain key people that can move epidemics, or marketing efforts, over the threshold of critical mass from small events into irresistible waves of change. Gladwell calls these people Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen.

In my opinion, most business intelligence organizations, just like women’s college basketball, need to find the right mix of people to push the “epidemic” over the tipping point.

Person to Person
Despite the “universal” recommendation of most project management methodologies, the key to a successful business intelligence effort is not the kick-off meeting. It is following up on the kick-off meeting’s momentum to find the right people among the end-user community. To do this, the leaders of a telecommunication service provider’s business intelligence organization need to get out of their offices and/or data centers and spread the word person to person.

In his “Frequent Flyer” article, Steve Adolph talks about the necessity to meet with people face to face to get their buy-in for his project. In Adolph’s case, this follow-up takes the form of folding his 6’ 4” frame into an economy seat and flying across the country for face-to-face meetings. As a result, Adolph and his team are able to determine the specific requirements of the remote groups – something they could not do without these face-to-face meetings. Also, these types of visits serve to build rapport with remote groups. This rapport can mean many things, but oftentimes it translates into a level of comfort the remote groups have with a business intelligence organization and its initiatives.

Good Cop / Good Cop
While boosting one’s frequent flyer mile account might sound appealing, most business intelligence budgets do not allow for regular remote visits, but that does not mean that remote end users have to be abandoned. In his April article, Norm Brodsky talks about having a consistent culture in his organizations. Brodsky’s examples are about the culture in his courier business. While this is not analogous to the far-reaching national offices of the typical North American telecommunications service provider (see the “new” AT&T’s geographic spread for a good example), Brodsky’s point about having a consistent leadership and communication style is important to business intelligence organizations attempting to find their Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen among the end-user community.

The end users are smart and perceptive people. If they get a sense that an organization can be “played against” itself, they will quickly determine who the “good cop” is and ignore the “bad cop” – if not the entire business intelligence organization. All of the “on the floor” representatives of the business intelligence organization, whether they are in a different building or a different state, should portray the same cultural traits in terms of competence, message and purpose. In essence, they should all be “good cops” for the end users to come to with questions, comments or suggestions, either officially or unofficially.

A Consistent Approach
Building the image and reputation of a telecommunications service provider’s business intelligence organization is not an easy task. In fact it is as difficult as convincing the average 18-34 year-old male that women’s basketball is as good, or better, than men’s basketball. A few years ago, the NCAA women’s tournament was not widely televised, but progress has been made. Now, the eminent sports authority and marketing machine known as ESPN broadcasts all 63 tournament games on its networks. A steady and consistent presence is bringing new fans to the best basketball. Taking the same approach of consistency can solidify end-user buy-in for the business intelligence organization until it reaches critical mass.

Monthly Notes

• Unofficial Book of the Month
  In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy vein of “Do you really understand the question you have asked so that you can understand the answer you have?”, Advanced Statistics Demystified by Larry Stephens is a very interesting little, and relatively inexpensive, book for people who want to understand a bit more about the statistical functions available with their business intelligence/data warehouse toolsets. For the budding statistician in all of us, it gives examples of how to understand advanced statistical concepts using the ever-present Microsoft Excel.
  
  
• Interesting MBA Observation of the Month
  Last month, the consolidation trend in the telecommunication service provider ranks continued with the formation of the “new” AT&T. This month, the trend for telecommunication equipment suppliers continues their consolidation trends with news of an Alcatel/Lucent merger.This shows little of Porter’s Five Forces Model on competition. As the telecommunications market has shifted purchasing power to a relatively small group of “buyers,” the “suppliers” have responded by concentrating their power with a relatively small corresponding number. Note – despite press releases to the contrary, both moves have created relatively large firms that are probably less capable of responding to changes in the telecommunications marketplace than the component parts.
  
  
• Highlighted Event of the Month
  Billing & OSS World 2006 is the big event in May. While it is not a directly business intelligence related event, billing and operational support systems represent a significant portion of the “source” systems for business intelligence and data warehousing. The trends from this show can be foretellers of where end users want to take business intelligence and/or how changes to billing and operational support systems will impact your business intelligence environment. 

Disclaimer – I do not endorse any of the particular products, companies or events listed. These observations are purely of interest and I thought I would share them. In other words, “The Secretary will disavow any knowledge, and this tape will self-destruct in five seconds.”

 

John Myers

John has more than 10 years of information technology and consulting experience in positions including business intelligence subject-matter expert, technical architect and systems integrator. Over the past eight years, he has gained a wealth of business and information technology consulting experience in the telecommunications industry. John specializes in business intelligence/data warehousing and systems integration solutions. John may be contacted by email at John.Myers@BlueBuffaloGroup.com.