ANALYTICS ENGAGEMENT TACTICS

Improving Adoption and Effectiveness

Implementing enterprise-level cultural change and making it stick is never an easy task,
especially when an organization wishes to fundamentally change how the business makes
decisions. This is certainly true of analytics—APQC’s 2019 Process and Performance
Management Priorities and Challenges survey found that establishing a culture of data-driven
decision making is the top challenge of organizations. This shift toward a data-driven culture is a
complex endeavor that requires a formal, well-designed change management strategy. The
good news is that the recipe for success in this area is no secret. Data from APQC’s Trends in
Data and Analytics survey shows that organizations use a broad mix of change management
engagement techniques and service offerings to demystify analytics and engage decision makers
in analytics. This article discusses the top drivers for engagement and effectiveness, including
practices that are statistically significant in moving the needle for programs’ perceived
effectiveness.

DRIVERS OF ENGAGEMENT AND EFFECTIVENESS

APQC asked respondents to identify which factors improved the effectiveness of their analytics
programs (figure 1). Effectiveness is a key measure of how an organization perceives the impact
of an analytics team’s efforts and how the team is engaging the business to shift toward a data-
driven culture.

Top 5 Drivers of Engagement and Effectiveness

Figure 1

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 Each of the five drivers in figure 1 spur deeper engagement and effectiveness for analytics
projects:

1. Data visualization and communications capabilities are a critical success factor in driving
deeper engagement for an analytics effort. They help translate analysis into insights and
make analytics more approachable for less data-savvy staff. For example, as part of its
analytics adoption efforts, technology manufacturer Lenovo designed a self-service analytics
dashboard for the HR function to look at trends and insights on job attrition. Dashboards
and visualization tools align with the organization’s strategy to empower each area of the
business to own and consume data to drive deeper conversations with key stakeholders and
decision makers.
2. A clear value proposition on the benefits of analytics builds support for change and is a key
engagement tactic. The value proposition should serve as the burning platform for
communication efforts and outline why analytics is important to the organization and the
employees. Best-practice organizations conduct a current-state assessment to identify key
strategic areas for the organization and build a business case for analytics that is tailored to
the organization’s needs and how the change will benefit the organization.
3. Presence of a formal analytics team creates a formal presence for data and analytics and a
one-stop-shop for employees’ needs. centralized management which provides integrated
data sources, policies, and templates; allows for a holistic perspective that finds synergies
and overlaps between projects; and facilitates broad-level measurement and review of
analytics projects across the organization.
4. Pilot programs and success stories are traditional engagement tactics that organizations use
to illustrate the usefulness of data and analytics work. The key for pilot programs is to pick
something relatively easy with high strategic value or payoff and demonstrate a clear sense
of “before and after” to sustain curiosity and interest in change. Success stories provide
ongoing engagement and interest in analytics over time. They are particularly useful
because they illustrate the value of the work from the perspective of the business.
5. Executive buy-in and support helps employees understand that data and analytics are vital
to the organization. Executives at best-practice organizations are responsible for providing
high-level guidance on the behaviors needed for change; developing and executing strategic
communications to explain the change; leading by example and modeling the change; and
removing organizational roadblocks to change. Strong executive support ensures that
analytics projects will be more than simply a flavor of the month.

The survey reveals two broader trends. First, it’s clear that the fundamentals of change
management never go out of style. Communicating a clear value proposition; pilot programs;
and executive support are all traditional change management tactics that organizations use to
successfully generate support for analytics programs. Secondly, organizations must establish the
necessary resources they need to effectively execute their data and analytics projects. Namely a
formal team with the tools and skillsets to provide a wide array of services, including data
visualization and communication skills.

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 COMPARED BY SECTOR
Comparing drivers between manufacturing and services sectors shows that these drivers are
critical for a wide range of organizations regardless of industry. For example, figure 2 shows a
comparison between the services and manufacturing sectors, which often have very different
goals and priorities.

Top 5 Drivers of Engagement and Effectiveness: By Sector

Figure 2

Overall there is little to no difference in the frequency with which these drivers are used by
organizations to drive engagement and deepen the impact. The similarity of data between the
two sectors makes sense: Any organization, regardless of industry or size, can deepen its
engagement by leveraging change tactics and providing the right resources.

PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS
The extent to which the key drivers enable overall effectiveness is truly where the rubber meets
the road. How effective are analytics teams in their efforts to create a strong data and analytics
program that can drive the business forward? To dig more deeply into this question, we asked
respondents to indicate the effectiveness of their program at solving organizational challenges
(figure 3).

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 Program Effectiveness

Figure 3

Overall, organizations are satisfied with their data and analytics programs. Over half of
organizations believe that their analytics programs are either effective or very effective at
creating insights to solve organizational challenges. Though plenty of organizations have room
for growth when it comes to effectiveness, almost a third of organizations report their analytics
program’s average. Given the widespread adoption of analytics and the value it delivers for
organizations, even organizations with an average level of effectiveness will increasingly find
themselves lagging, while their more effective competitors continue to make gains through the
benefits of a strong analytics program.

WHAT IS ACTUALLY IMP ACTING EFFECTIVENESS ?

Although the top five drivers of analytics engagement and effectiveness are widely used and
foundational to success, they aren’t enough to ensure program success. To understand what
really helps move the effectiveness needle, we ran correlation analysis and found that six
practices were statistically significant (figure 4.)

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 Significant Drivers of Program Effectiveness

Effectiveness scale 1=very ineffective, 2=ineffective, 3=Average, 4=effective, 5=very effective

Figure 4

Although all these practices have a statistically significant impact on effectiveness, three of them
provided the largest mean difference.

1. One-on-one engagements provide an opportunity for leaders and change agents to

speak directly with those who are skeptical about the change. Providing opportunities
for dialog and coaching, along with concrete examples to show the value of analytics,
can help employees overcome misunderstandings and misconceptions more quickly

2. Demonstrable ROI ensures that teams are highlighting the value of analytics in a way
that is tangible and meaningful to leadership.

3. Formal change management plans ensure that the organization focuses on adoption
and deliberately engages employees to change how they make decisions. In addition to
the change tactics in figure 1, effective change management plans also include:

 Communicating the change with a multichannel, two-way communications strategy.

 Training employees for the change through programs tailored to the organization’s
needs.

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  Rewarding effective change by integrating behavior changes into employee
performance measures and rewards.
 Monitoring engagement and proactively address issues.

A thoughtful and strategic approach to change through a formal change management plan
drives deeper engagement and more effective conversations to build support for change. All six
of the significant drivers of program effectiveness in figure 4 characterize best-practice
organizations and differentiate their analytics efforts. Making the change toward a data-driven
decision-making culture can be a daunting task for any organization, but organizations that have
seen the most success in their efforts are likely to be leveraging one or more of these best-
practice tactics and approaches.

ABOUT APQC
APQC helps organizations work smarter, faster, and with greater confidence. It is the world’s
foremost authority in benchmarking, best practices, process and performance improvement,
and knowledge management. APQC’s unique structure as a member-based nonprofit makes it a
differentiator in the marketplace. APQC partners with more than 500 member organizations
worldwide in all industries. With more than 40 years of experience, APQC remains the world’s
leader in transforming organizations. Visit us at www.apqc.org, and learn how you can make
best practices your practices.

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