Businesses today have more information than ever before, stored in more systems and locations, being produced in increasingly varied forms and being used in many different ways. Technology can provide tools to handle the complexity of data in the form of analytics.

Ventana Research recently conducted a study examining business analytics in manufacturing. Participants expressed a number of common concerns regarding the need for and use of business analytics. Most participants are concerned about how well they handle them; only 21 percent are satisfied with their current analytics efforts.

For businesses wishing to improve their performance through business analytics, here are 10 recommendations.

1. Assess the maturity of your business analytics.
2. Look for business analytics tools that are easy to use and flexible.
3. Look for tools that support a range of roles in your environment.
4. Ensure business analytics are widely accessible.
5. Don’t let inferior data undermine use of business analytics and metrics.
6. Replace spreadsheets as tools for business analytics.
7. It helps when IT and the lines of business work together on analytics.
8. Understand the value of predictive and forward-looking analytics.
9. Address barriers standing in the way of improving business analytics and performance.
10. Resources must be adequate to enable investment in technology to make analytics easy to access and use.

What do you think, do you have other suggestions as to how analytical can improve a business?

Jennifer Doddy
Cpl

Our clients and candidates frequently ask for reliable salary guidelines for PMO and Analytics Professionals. Although over the last couple of years there has been a significant decrease in salary levels we have seen changes over the last few months.  Salaries for some key roles are creeping up as demand increases for certain skills, for example, with Data Analysts we have seen a salary increase of up to 15% and with Business Analysts we are seeing increases of 5-10%. Companies are revamping their benefits packages in order attract high quality talent to their business.

Below salaries listed are average based salaries and do not reflect bonuses or other forms of compensation & benefits.

Analytics & IT/Project Management -  Salary Guide 2011

If you’d like to get a better understanding of salary levels and benefits being paid, please feel free to contact me on 01 6146045 or email Jennifer.Doddy@cpl.ie.