Eight Reasons to Initiate an Analytics Pilot Program

1. Demonstrating value: Starting with a pilot project offersmanagement a proof of concept with tangible benefits up front, beforesignificant time, capital and resources are invested.

2. Reducing up-front investment: There is no need to buyenterprise software or hardware until you know that it works.

3. Leveraging resources: Since a pilot is narrow in scopewith defined boundaries, there is no need for a large team and broadcross-functional involvement.

4. Offering manageability: A pilot does not require anorganization to have the highest level of enterprise data quality. Since thepilot will likely leverage limited data sets, companies can start where theyare and enhance data quality as they add to the pilot.

5. Tackling critical questions first: An analytics pilothelps companies address vital questions quickly. By targeting the more criticalvalue systems first, you can get your most pressing issues addressed up front.

6. Jump-starting problem solving: The pilot initiative canuncover big problems quickly, which can give the organization a head start onfixing them. If you fix problems in the target data set, you can establish amethod for fixing them at the enterprise level.

7. Mitigating risk: If things go wrong in the pilot, therepercussions are limited because they are not felt at the enterprise level.You can fix the problems more easily because they are not organizationwide.

8. Achieving buy-in: The pilot helps identify champions andsupporters. Since results are demonstrable and easily understood, executivesponsorship can be secured for a larger analytics initiative.