How to find a good BI consulting firm
A good BI consultancy structures data and empowers the team — not just delivers dashboards. What to look for, red flags, and the right questions to ask.
When it comes to your data-driven journey, you need a solid strategy to minimize the chances of things going wrong. To help you take the steps you need to launch your Business Intelligence framework, we brought you this practical guide on how to find a good BI consulting firm.
How does BI consulting work?
Did you know that before reaching Business Intelligence, there is an entire data infrastructure that needs to be implemented, along with a series of important steps? This is something a Data Team works on and implements with excellence. The first stage is data engineering: having an analytical database, creating your data pipelines, and setting up a collection, processing, and storage structure that is used by all parties involved.
This part is handled by a data engineer. In addition, you can’t forget that your company’s cultural elements are essential for plans to succeed and for your business not to fall into the statistics of those that fail in their data initiatives. BI consulting is key to indicating what needs to be changed or implemented on this front.
The core objective of having these professionals working alongside your company is to transform the data generated by your business operations into actionable insights to guide better business decisions. When decision-makers in your company have a clear idea of where they want to go, it becomes easier to build a plan together and understand how long it will take to get there.
These are some elements that need to be aligned so the consulting team can understand which implementations should be made:
What does your company expect to improve in its data initiative by the final outcome?
Have you mapped your data sources?
What are the main KPIs and OKRs that need to be mapped and monitored?
Who will be responsible for analyzing this data within the company?
How often will the data need to be shared, and in what format?
What information needs to be included in your dashboards?
What can be automated and which technologies can be used?
Based on these questions, it is possible to define an assertive action plan for your business and a step-by-step roadmap for the consulting engagement.
What to evaluate when hiring a BI consulting firm
Now that you understand what a BI consulting firm does, it’s time to know what is important to evaluate in the service provider you are considering to support your data-driven journey.
The first point to analyze is whether the consulting firm has the right professionals for your company’s needs. A data team usually includes data engineers, analysts, data scientists, and even machine learning engineers. Don’t focus on tools or complementary services that are misaligned with what your business really needs.
What truly matters in this type of partner is finding one that has the flexibility, expertise, and organization needed to work alongside your business decision-makers or data team. This includes detailed documentation of all implementations and processes, and constant communication between your team and the hired consulting team. Being data-driven and having the ability to use business intelligence involves much more than just creating dynamic dashboards and centralizing information in a single area.
It is a concern that involves culture, people, processes, and distinct technologies for it to work. Therefore, choose professionals who can understand your scenario in less time and deliver solutions that are realistic for achieving your company’s vision through its data initiative.
Strategic partners like Erathos can help with this mission! We deliver data solutions that reduce the time it takes for your initiative to extract value, and also help transform your company at every level.
When it comes to your data-driven journey, you need a solid strategy to minimize the chances of things going wrong. To help you take the steps you need to launch your Business Intelligence framework, we brought you this practical guide on how to find a good BI consulting firm.
How does BI consulting work?
Did you know that before reaching Business Intelligence, there is an entire data infrastructure that needs to be implemented, along with a series of important steps? This is something a Data Team works on and implements with excellence. The first stage is data engineering: having an analytical database, creating your data pipelines, and setting up a collection, processing, and storage structure that is used by all parties involved.
This part is handled by a data engineer. In addition, you can’t forget that your company’s cultural elements are essential for plans to succeed and for your business not to fall into the statistics of those that fail in their data initiatives. BI consulting is key to indicating what needs to be changed or implemented on this front.
The core objective of having these professionals working alongside your company is to transform the data generated by your business operations into actionable insights to guide better business decisions. When decision-makers in your company have a clear idea of where they want to go, it becomes easier to build a plan together and understand how long it will take to get there.
These are some elements that need to be aligned so the consulting team can understand which implementations should be made:
What does your company expect to improve in its data initiative by the final outcome?
Have you mapped your data sources?
What are the main KPIs and OKRs that need to be mapped and monitored?
Who will be responsible for analyzing this data within the company?
How often will the data need to be shared, and in what format?
What information needs to be included in your dashboards?
What can be automated and which technologies can be used?
Based on these questions, it is possible to define an assertive action plan for your business and a step-by-step roadmap for the consulting engagement.
What to evaluate when hiring a BI consulting firm
Now that you understand what a BI consulting firm does, it’s time to know what is important to evaluate in the service provider you are considering to support your data-driven journey.
The first point to analyze is whether the consulting firm has the right professionals for your company’s needs. A data team usually includes data engineers, analysts, data scientists, and even machine learning engineers. Don’t focus on tools or complementary services that are misaligned with what your business really needs.
What truly matters in this type of partner is finding one that has the flexibility, expertise, and organization needed to work alongside your business decision-makers or data team. This includes detailed documentation of all implementations and processes, and constant communication between your team and the hired consulting team. Being data-driven and having the ability to use business intelligence involves much more than just creating dynamic dashboards and centralizing information in a single area.
It is a concern that involves culture, people, processes, and distinct technologies for it to work. Therefore, choose professionals who can understand your scenario in less time and deliver solutions that are realistic for achieving your company’s vision through its data initiative.
Strategic partners like Erathos can help with this mission! We deliver data solutions that reduce the time it takes for your initiative to extract value, and also help transform your company at every level.