KPI: the first step to do for a successful Business Intelligence process.
There are a lot of business intelligence softwaresthat gives you the possibility to control your business, from Oracle to Microsoft to SAP. In any case, before the software and the implementation, there is a question a company has to answer: What do we need to measure?
In this article will be discussed the definition and the importance of the KPIs, who and which areas are involved, how to define good and bad KPIs, a categorization, the most used KPIs and the feedback about KPIs from the companies point of view.
Definition of KPIs
In the question above, what do we need to measure, a part of the definition of KPI is hidden. A performance indicator or key performance indicator (KPI) is a measure of performance. Such measures are used by companies to define and then evaluate the success of their business. Before to evaluate a business and create a software, the first goal to achieve is to define the parameters that characterize the specific business. After that it is possible to monitor these parameters to fully understand the present state of the business and to define future actions.
Who and which areas are involved in the definition of KPIs
Before giving concrete examples, there are other elements to consider defining KPIs: who and which areas are involved in this bi process.
The first question is who is involved in bi process, that means who can gain from that. Generally those are:
Considering them, it is natural to see the business intelligence process as a common involvement of all the lines of an organization.
Since the answer to the first question, it is possible to guess the areas involved. The 3 main areas are:
How to define good and bad KPIs
KPIs are different according to specific business. Since this bi approach is very analytical and measurable, a mandatory element is the KPIs have to be SMART. That means:
According the SMART definition, it is possible to identify good and bad KPIs. If the KPI is not SMART, then it is a bad KPI. An example can show this concept.
A KPI like Increase Sales that is defined as Change in Sales volume from month to month and it is measured by Total of Sales By Region for all region with the target to Increase each month seems a good KPI. Looking deeper into that there are other questions arising that show how the KPI is not SMART. Does this measure increases in sales volume by Euro or units? If by Euro, does it measure list price or sales price? Are returns considered and if so do the appear as an adjustment to the KPI for the month of the sale or are they counted in the month the return happens? How do we make sure each sales office's volume numbers are counted in one region, i.e. that none are skipped or double counted? How much, by percentage or Euro or units, do we want to increase sales volumes each month?
Categorization of KPIs
As we can see from the above KPIs, it is possible another categorization.
The most used KPIs
The most used metrics concerns the above 3 ares.
Investigating on costs means understand cycle time, ability to conform to market standards, quantity and quality.
Information on product are about pipeline work, research and development, time to market, and product customization.
A modern approach on marketing is more focused on customer behaviour. Therefore some metrics are: environmental appearance, complaint management, employee empathy, product expertise, and responsiveness, customer acquisition, demographic analysis applying to become customer, turnover by segment, bad debts, profitability by segment.
Specially if a company is customer focused, then it is possible to integrate a business intelligence tool with a CRM,customer relationship management software.
Other examples of used KPIs are reported in the following research.
Measured AreaBest-Practice KPIsOverall Business PerformanceMost profitable products, Most profitable marketplace, New vs returning customers, Most profitable listings, Most profitable couponsOnline Sales ActivitiesVisitors & conversions, Page and listing views, Orders, Shopping cart, Up-sells orders Product PerformanceProduct profitability, Top sales revenue, Top close ratesListings PerformanceListing turnover, Listing profitability, Listing by marketplace, Duration viewMarketplace PerformanceMarketplace sales activity, Marketplace profitability, Average cost per order, Marketplace listing turnoverCustomer InsightCustomer scorecard, Geographic view, Marketplace view, Lifetime valueCampaign and Coupons PerformanceCampaign conversion percentage, Campaign activity (number per clicks, orders, coupon conversion percentage, Coupon activity(number per clicks, ),
The feedback of companies about using the KPIs
All those metrics are used by companies. The following table says in which measure companies use them and how they consider those KPIs important.
% claiming to use metric% rating as very importantMetricFrösén et al.Ambler et al.Frösén et al.Ambler et al.Sales (value and/or volume)90918671Profit / Profitability89928580Gross margin81817966Perceived quality / esteem78647337Total number of consumers73665924Consumer satisfaction72686848Market share (volume or value)68786237Awareness67786328Marketing spend66654839Number of consumer complaints65695745Number of new consumers64575857Loyalty / retention63646247Shareholder value / EVA / ROI63535479Customer Satisfaction63456358Brand/product knowledge60554845Conclusion
In this article we talked about the first step to do when companies want to go for a business intelligence software. Before the tools, they need to understand what they need, what to measure and how to do that. There is the SMART approach to define the KPIs and then several examples of common used KPIs. If you are in the business, check also the KPIs other companies use and if they consider them relevant for their strategic goals.
In FeroPluris we consider the definition of KPIs the first step to be fully satisfated with a business intelligence software. If you want more information about how to define them and how to install, configure and making running or developing a specific solution for you, just send us an email to info@feropluris.com or visit us at http://www.feropluris.com.
References:
http://www.feropluris.com/?q=business_intelligence_kpi_software_tools_project_measure_smart_good_bad_example
http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/decision_management/2009/11/kpi_framework_for_a_competitiv.php
http://www.thefearlessfactor.com/s-m-a-r-t-goals-are-not-just-for-goalkeepers/
http://www.identityquest.co.uk/self-development-skill/
http://www.hometuitionagency.com.sg/blog/uncategorized/home-tuition-–-there-is-only-one-way-to-set-goals/
http://www.stratmark.fi/wp-content/uploads/Use%20and%20Perceived%20Importance%20of%20Marketing%20Metrics%20in%20Different%20Business%20Settings.pdf
http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/keyperfindic_2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_indicator
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/article.php/10894_3604206_1/Mastering-Enterprise-BI-Introduction-to-Key-Performance-Indicators.htm
http://www.aiea.it/pdf/sessioni%20di%20studio%20e%20di%20formazione/2009/Torino%2017%20dicembre%202009%20Possenti.pdf
http://www.dis.uniroma1.it/~nanni/Didattica/MatDid/SIA/slides/1x_SIA_s_Massocchi_Altran_BI.pdf (in Italian)
http://www.appsbi.com/monitor-your-kpis-with-business-intelligence-software
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174875.aspx
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