I was recently thinking back to a panel I was on with a VP at SAP discussing Business Intelligence (BI) and what makes companies best-in-class. The moderator was a leading BI analyst.

The topic of discussion was of course BI, but more importantly, what differentiating elements can help companies improve business performance through a BI dashboard. The moderator posed this question:  As companies analyze data, they are looking for ways to improve performance.  What kinds of internal capabilities are important for users to build in order to achieve success with a dashboard implementation?

The answer I gave then I believe was valid and true, but perhaps today it’s even more important and critical as more and more people become exposed to Business Intelligence. The answer: collaboration.

The more people across a company get exposed to what’s really happening via the data, the more important it becomes for those users to share information and collaborate to make the best decisions and take appropriate action. While strategy is important, it’s the execution that counts. The things we’ve seen here at Domo and with our clients that affects success with a Business Intelligence dashboard are 1) how it’s designed, 2) how it’s deployed, 3) how it’s maintained, and 4) how accountability and responsibility are handled.