Scaling a Mountain? Take a Coat—and a Good Guide.

One of my favorite analogies to illustrate the complexity of planning for an analytics implementation is to compare it with setting off to climb Mt. Everest. The objective is clear, you want to climb to the top of the mountain. But that’s the easy part—how are you going to make that happen? Would you attempt this expedition on your own? Probably not. Why? Because the risks are too high; maybe even fatal.

You know you’re not the first one who’s set out to achieve this goal and there are others who’ve been successful. So what do you do? You hire a guide to help you plan for success—someone who’s been there and done that. You want someone who knows the best time to set out, how to coordinate logistics, and which paths are the quickest to the summit. Their experience climbing this mountain numerous times increases your own chance of success tremendously.

An analytics implementation is not much different. Sure, you have a lot of talented people in your organization. They’re bright, hard-working and committed to success. But how many of them have planned and delivered a successful analytics implementation? How many of them have done this multiple times? A recent article in HIMSS’ Healthcare IT News features four experts in analytics who make some related points that I think are worth exploring.

Analytics Follow the Business Purpose

One of the first