What are some of the common pitfalls to avoid when presenting BI results to senior management?

Properly framing the interpretation of the BI is paramount. Some leaders go into BI review with hard biases on outcomes and results. To reduce misdirected work and pivot it is the BI analyst and presenters job to set the expectations, build the foundations of understanding the insights, and defending against misinterpretation. For example, a founder once misconstrued a short window of conversion of a free ticket for attendance to an event. The short burst of conversion rate triggered the entrepreneur to pivot an entire go to market strategy from paid admission to free. This single decision spun the organization out for half a year attempting to recover and readapt the model. Defense of interpretation is key!

In my experience, senior executives want to understand: 1. The current situation (good or bad) 2. What caused it 3. What will be done about it They want all this information at once, using large fonts, then have the ability to drill all the way down. But they do not want to have to move sliders or switch toggles to get the full picture.

BI is an excellent tool for advanced visualizations, not only with data but with visualizing output from machine learning models. It's proven effective at helping surface insights. We all know surfacing insights is important, but it represents only the early stage of "the last mile of analytics." Next-gen BI tools are needed to put insights into business context. What does that mean? Next-gen BI tools are doing things current tools cannot. First, deliver a recommendation on what action should be taken. Second, explain why, and the consequences of inaction. Third, predict how the action will affect their KPIs. This is what will be demanded by the business for business decisions that require "human in the loop." This is next-gen BI.

Get to the point, quickly. Option 1: tell very briefly what question you're answering and why. Then show the results. If asked, show the details. Option 2: if they already know what question you're answering and why, show the results of your analysis? If asked, talk about the details. I've been in too many presentations in which the analyst told the story of their life, a brief story of computing and then explained the whole business to the senior leaders before getting to the point. Those didn't go well. Senior managers know a lot about the details of their businesses. If they don't, they know how to ask. Exception: if you are in a company where senior leaders are faking until they make it... apply for another job.

Not having the granularity of the data that allows the rolled up higher level to be sliced and diced in different ways, all divulging different aspects / answering different business questions, but ultimately, still is connected to the one truth. Just having the top level figures without the right level of granularity to support it may not be good enough for the senior stakeholders who want to challenge the data and the analytical representation to ensure they can take the right decisions and again that it aligns to the one version of the truth.

One thing I've found helpful is to highlight how the insights discovered can help solve the problem. So, the flow should be from Problem to Insights generation to Recommendations to Proposed Solutions to each sub-problems.

Robert - In a recent client engagement, I encountered a situation where, upon presenting the final results of the working capital assessment, one of the stakeholders, whose team's effectiveness was also evaluated, expressed disagreement with the findings. What helped me remediate the situation was maintaining objectivity and focus on the facts and evidence and encouragement of open dialogue (hear her viewpoints and concerns). I addressed concerns directly and provided additional context to showcase a comprehensive understanding of the data. Those steps helped me re-establish trusted relationship and concluded with acceptance of the findings that could them be translated into improvement opportunities.

Sometimes it will also be helpful to touch on ideas you had that didn't work. Don't overcrowd your story with too many of these and include or don't depending on the audience but including a few failed hypothesis's might help. It shows you didn't just find a story and throw it out there. You went thoroughly through the data testing different hypothesis's until you found one that made sense. Collaboration is always the goal of any analysis and showing some of these other hypothesis's you tested might help spurn the conversation more if you missed something when testing them or could help in that others won't suggest ideas you've already tested out.

I would say the following: -Use the right visuals for the given data (Marketshare - Pie/Donut | Trend - Line/Area | Comparison - Bar/Column etc.) -Don't go with fancy visuals when it comes to senior management. Go with traditional & easy to understand visuals -Always provide tabular view in addition to visual view -When showing data in tables, try to use conditional formatting to highlight good & bad -Build visuals such that it is easy for management to take screenshots & put it in their PPT very easily. -Always provide a view which shows time lag comparison Current Vs Last Month / Quarter / Year -Give another view which benchmarks current actuals with targets/forecasts

If your visual has a specific piece that is important to be talked about in your presentation, say a spike in sales after September, always call it out in your visual as well not just your words. Perhaps highlight that part of the graph or point an arrow to it. Make it obvious.

So what if you get a question you didn’t anticipate and can’t answer? The best course of action is to admit you don’t know. Offer to take away the question and return with an answer. Decision makers need good data and the smart ones would rather you come back with correct information rather than receive a snap answer that is incorrect or incomplete.

Spend time understanding what are the potential decisions the members of the audience are responsible for taking in their current roles. Then connect your presentation content to how it helps them. Each kpi or a metric, connects to a North star (if not established it's your opportunity to do so, if it can't be connected then it's not worth highlighting as it's not important) This exercise helps you prepare and anticipate the line of questioning. E.g. Drop in X KPI potentially contributes to Y KPI and you know an increase in Y drives revenue. This can help you even prescribe back your recommendations. And, this isn't a one-time exercise for the sake of your presentation it's actually a step towards getting better on business acumen.

Being ready to answer questions is not enough. Typically you will present and then have very little time for Q&A. If they are obvious questions you should attempt to answer them in your presentation. Things like data quality etc. need to be highlighted in the presentation so people know what they are dealing with and the level of confidence they should have in your analysis. If you spend the precious amount of Q&A time you have answering run of the mill questions you'll never get to the true insight and conversations that will actually help you improve and expand your analysis.

Know your audience - this has many facets - what is the goal? Create Awareness, drive decision, seek feedback? - is the data presented for one time consumption? Or periodical view of the world as an update of continuation of the journey? - what is the risk tolerance level? Is directional data sufficient or precision expected? - what would work best? visual or numerical representation or a mix

A good BI narrative should also include an understanding of what data was used. Be able to speak to underlying assumptions about that data. As in, where it came from, how it was prepared, what is being measured and why it is suitable for the conclusions being drawn. Being knowledgeable in this way can help instill confidence with the audience that what they are looking at and who is speaking are trustworthy.

?? Data Inaccuracy: Presenting inaccurate or incomplete data ?? Failing to validate and double-check before the presentation ?? ?? Boring Delivery: Monotonous tone and lack of enthusiasm ?? Failing to engage and captivate senior management's attention ?? ??Key Takeaway: Engage senior management with clear and concise insights that align with their interests ?? Prioritize visually appealing, impactful, and context-rich presentations ????

To ensure a credible and impactful BI presentation, it’s crucial to define clear objectives and tailor your content to the audience. Organize the information logically and use visuals effectively to enhance comprehension. Practice your delivery to build confidence and ensure a smooth presentation. Engage the audience through storytelling techniques, fostering interaction and seeking feedback for continuous improvement.