A layer of intelligence

To get the kind of insights that drive business intelligently, you need a layer of intelligence between your processes and your business decisions. An important bridge.

Companies like Tesco are already underway in building that bridge and have a lot to teach the rest of us.

The challenge is to prioritize, and know where to start in building this layer of business intelligence.

Barbara Hodge invited Venkat Raghavan, Associate Director & Global Head of Enterprise Analytics at Tesco, to discuss the structured approach he uses.

Establishing trust remotely via process excellence

Venkat dives right into the issue of trust in the model: “If you're sitting in a location remote from the head office, it's very important that you have the trust you need to do anything ‘big.’ To begin with, I think you have to prove that you can be very cost-effective and process-efficient. From that foundation of trust you can then start discussing different directions to go in. In some ways, it's a little bit like the ‘crawl, walk, run’ analogy. I'm not by any means saying that you should only do that. If there's enough appetite, you can just start running. But be aware that the risk in making decisions without establishing the trust of process excellence and economics is that it may not be sustainable.” 

The foundational importance of pain points

Finding pain points is key. Venkat talks about being clear on the layer at which the pain point sits. For example, is something a process pain point or a division pain point? 

“Let's say the head of marketing is finding it really difficult to articulate what should be on the marketing calendar next quarter. That is a division pain point. It's not a process pain point. Catching that layer is extremely important. And from it we can work on what intelligence or algorithm or dashboard is required.” 

Getting ahead of communications challenges that a GBS model could pose

Many GBS leaders sit on a lot of data. How do we approach the results of a research study, or the data we have come up with in a way that points us to the right decision? The answer lies in communication. 

“Communication becomes a challenge if we do things in isolation,” says Venkat. 

Often, we are tempted to present data in a ‘60 page deck,’ he says. But Venkat believes that is a difficult place from which to engage in a conversation. “The good thing about analytics is that an analytical problem can be broken down into hypotheses. Our hypothesis is something that anybody can appreciate.”

Data science rests on good talent. How to spot it

Analytics and data science is becoming an increasingly sought after capability. Finding and keeping talend in the industry will require being able to spot those with strong foundations, which Venkat relsays means not just “having the ability to work on data, apply algorithms, and understand machine learning – or what I call content.”

You have to have good content, no doubt about it. But that's just the start, he says. You have to have content along with context. You have to get into the context. You have to understand where the question at hand for data is coming from, and what impact it can deliver. 

“The litmus test I use for excellence in context is ‘can you find the problem?’,” explains Venkat. Look for the people who understand content plus context. It makes somebody very, very, very powerful.”

If you like the audio medium, and would like to hear a detailed interview that dives much further into the subject of intelligence, listen to the SSONext podcast with Barbara Hodge and Venkat Raghavan on iTunes or Spotify.

Is GBS a strategy you are building on? If yes, learn how to tap into some of the best and most experienced talent available through GBS Certification.