One of the interesting things that I have come across in helping businesses select KPI is the subtle confusion between strategies and tactics.

In its simplest form:

• Strategies make you effective - doing the right things
• Tactics make you efficient - doing things right

Many businesses set their strategy, then fail to relate this to tactical plans in a meaningful way. For example, a strategy may be to increase gross revenue by 4% in 12 months. They then set out to develop the marketing plan, detailing product portfolio goals and campaign profiles and designate these as their ‘tactics’. However, these are just a lower level of strategy – the marketing strategy. The tactics are defined in how the decisions are made in the product portfolio and how the campaigns are executed. It is this very last step that is so often overlooked. Whilst it would be fair to say that tactics are indeed the actions one takes to execute a strategy – in terms of KPI selection the important measure is in how well you execute each key tactic.

Success is a combination of doing the right things [strategy] and doing things right [tactics]. Of the two, doing the right things has the greater impact in delivering the revenue – doing things right increases the profit.

“The ultimate stuff of the universe is consciousness”[1]; ultimate reality is reached not through the physical material world but through deep intuition. There is growing evidence that through expanded consciousness, man can access the primary reality of frequencies that support altering matter by ‘will’. Expanded consciousness is the foundation of the practice of yoga, where one seeks to remove from ones vision all the faulty perceptions of one’s subjective memory to provide clarity of vision in which to perceive reality. Read more »

As I am searching through my consulting notes to seek out examples of how to design the most effective dashboard I came across some notes I put together for a speech called ‘Asset Based Thinking”. It reminded me that this was indeed the approach one needs to take in selecting KPI for the dashboard.

It’s common logic used by managers in all types of organizations – how to get the best return on investment from our assets – whether those assets be employees, operational IP, customers, sales channels, etc. By looking at everything in the business as an asset we must look at how we retain those assets, how we grow those assets and how we make the most profit from those assets. Read more »

Dashboards are rapidly becoming the convergence point between two powerful performance capabilities:

• Performance Management
• Business Intelligence

In my lastest article I outline why each of these performance tools is lacking within their own domain, and how powerful they become as collaborative partners.

Read the full article: Dashboards – A Convergence of Performance Management and Business Intelligence

A recent report by consulting group McKinsey shows that social networking has outstripped blogs and video sharing as the leading technology used by businesses to connect with their market. Usage has doubled since 2009, with seventy-two percent of respondents say their companies currently use at least one social technology. Social networking is being used largely for scanning the external environment [40%] and looking for new ideas [36%]. Read more »

With the recent announcement of software giant, Microsoft, buying Skype for a reported $8.5 billion I had to wonder how that will affect the current popular service. Whilst the service is used by business and consumer alike, I wouldn’t mind betting that it is regarded as most as a consumer service. Already I have seen the transition of Windows Live Messenger from a once usable IP call interface into an attempt to make me into a social network junkie – hiding any semblence of connectivity actions in the sorely lacking menu bars.

Windows Live Messenger Entry Page

Loading my social feeds before my contacts signals to me that they are more interesting in building the database than providing a good IP phone service. Now, since this is a free service, that seems fair on many counts – but how far is too far? Read more »

Good to see that the business side of BI is starting to gain a little more focus in this article by strategy + business. Its not a comfortable transition for many executives and senior managers. The higher up the hierarchy, the more invested ones personality becomes in ones own ‘gut feel’. Letting go of this aura of insight is understandably difficult – especially for those whose ‘power base’ is wrapped up in their intuition. However, it is not a one or the other situation – there is a place for both – knowing the right balance for each type of decision and each environment is where great leaders gain mastery.

A good article to just get your BI perspective in line with todays business.

Get Clear, Get Simple, Get Going…That’s the message in terms of strategic execution.

Most companies understand the process of setting a good strategy. Few companies successfully execute that strategy. The reason – lack of a robust, agile connection between strategic objectives and profit generating deliverables to the customer.

The two core elements to resolve this weakness are:

1. Effective operational processes that connect strategic objectives to sales
2. Effective performance monitoring to determine how well the business is meeting these objectives

Read more »

I was just reading a short intro on Sherry Turkle’s new book “Alone Together” that claims that even teens are finding the pressure of mass social connection all a bit too stressful. But is it fair to blame the social networks – or do we need to get a little more involved in self-responsibility for managing our own behaviour in the way we engage with new technologies?

Social networking sites have created a powerful communication network that threatens to overtake real-world social etiquette. As teens are scarcely able to function without constant texting – and a few 40 year olds I know are no better – there seems to be one lacking piece of knowledge – where the OFF BUTTON is. Read more »

As I am approaching the end of my 2011 Summer break I am taking my quarterly walk on the wild side of emerging trends. It is virtually a full time job to keep ahead of market trends, let alone technology trends. There was one element that particularly caught my attention and that is how quickly the market adapt to new technology today – not just in use, but in creating new ways of using the technology. One just has to look at how many applications there are available for iPhone and Android phones, how many tag types are used in Twitter and Facebook, how groups form using their own coded systems……

Of particular note: Read more »