Analytical systems Implementation guidelines

This article, written by Neil Mason, was originally published on Clickz.com and is republished here with permission.

Last time I shared some thoughts about the process of selecting analytical systems, particularly web analytics systems. These included:

• Being clear about your goals
• Defining the KPIs and key metrics
• Defining the business processes
• Writing a challenging business requirements document

But selection is only half the battle to successful adoption, there is also the issue of actually implementing and getting business value from it. In the past I have seen systems implemented that work perfectly well but are not felt to deliver much in the way of value, simply because they are being underutilised (for whatever reason) relative to their potential. So, what are some tips for the successful implementation of analytic systems?

Write a plan

This may seem like a case of stating the obvious but the point that I would make is to write a type of business plan rather than a technical systems implementation plan. The plan needs to consider all the environmental and organisational issues as well as the technical issues.

On one level there are all the technical issues that need to be thought through such as how is the site going to be tagged or how are the log files going to be harvested? The devil is in the detail with these sorts of issues and careful consideration needs to be given to them upfront to avoid pain later.

One another level the success of the system implementation will also be judged on whether people are using it and whether they are getting any value from it. This is where the organisational and environmental factors come into play. Different types of organisations and functions are likely to have different attitudes to the adoption and use of analytical reporting systems. So what’s the plan to get them engaged on the level they need to be engaged at?

Find advocates

As part of the plan you may want to think about who your advocates are likely to be. These are the people who “get it” and will be willing adopters of the new system and the opportunities that it will offer them.

One of the mistakes I made in the past when trying to roll out a new analytical system was to try and roll it out on too wide a front. Too many people were involved and at the time it was like trying to push water uphill. Since then I have found that a useful approach is to find group of individuals or a function that are happy to be early adopters and work closely with them in the early phases to get the system actually being used in the business.

In the case of a web analytics’ system you may work with the advocates to get some of the more sophisticated features of the system up and running such as campaign tracking capabilities. Working with these advocates can then help you do develop useful case studies that you can use with the rest of the business in seminars, training courses and the like.

Deliver appropriate training

In order to get the most out of a new system everyone needs some training even if they are not going to be actually using the system itself. Training can often focus on how to “drive” the system itself, a bit like learning how to drive a car, but it’s also useful to coach people in what to do as a result as well, and that’s where the case studies you’ve built up with your early adopting advocates come in handy.

In many cases systems can “push” reports out to end users via email or on an intranet, which is great. But do they end users always know what these reports are telling them and what they should be looking for? I’ve argued in the past that an analyst adds value by adding interpretation but if this isn’t possible all the time at least think about how to coach end users in how to interpret the data that’s being delivered to them.

Demonstrate value and celebrate success

The proof of the pudding is in the eating and as I mentioned last time you only really know what you’re going to get with a new analytics system once you’ve got it in and up and running. It’s important that the value of the investment is demonstrated to the business. This may take different forms depending on the business but there should be some early winds that you can point to in order to demonstrate the success of the implementation. These may be new approaches to campaigning that are being implemented or improvements in conversion in certain areas. Whatever they are, add them to your library of case studies and use them to show the business value every opportunity you get!

Next week I’m heading over to Search Engine Strategies in New York to take part in the ClickZ track. I’m really looking forward to catching up with some old colleagues and hopefully meeting new ones. I’m also looking forward to taking a look at the search analytics scene and will reporting back on what I find next time round. Till then…