𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟲 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱 𝗕𝗜 (𝗠𝘆 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁).
Over the last few years, I’ve worn two hats: A Doctoral Researcher studying why BI projects fail, and an Interim Director executing turnarounds in complex health systems.
When you overlay the academic data with the operational reality, a clear pattern emerges.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄: My research into Business Intelligence maturity suggests that success is rarely a product of technology selection alone. It is a product of organizational alignment. The literature often isolates these variables, but in practice, they are interdependent. If one lever fails, the entire "socio-technical" system collapses.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄: During my recent interim mandate at UTMB, which I concluded in December, I didn't just theoretically advise on these levers; I had to pull them in real-time. We found that even the most robust Snowflake architecture could not survive without "The Wallet" (Sponsorship) or "The Why" (Value Definition).
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝟲 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀: Success relies on these six specific factors working in concert:
𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 (𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁): Without visible C-Suite advocacy, governance stagnates.
𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 (𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀): Governance shouldn't be a gate; it must be the "Guardrails" that create trust velocity.
𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻): You must decouple the semantic layer from storage to avoid the "Lift and Shift" trap.
𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗟𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 (𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲): Bridging the gap between what the system can do and what the user knows how to do.
𝗔𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 (𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱): Moving from "Big Bang" deployments to iterative value release.
𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗪𝗵𝘆"): Stop selling features; start selling business outcomes.
Originally published on LinkedIn
