Raise your hand if you are an analyst and you've run into one of these issues before: Data Discrepancies: Your stakeholder approaches you and says, "I noticed the data in your report doesn't match the data in this other report. Which one is correct?" No Data: Your stakeholder asks for some data but after some further research, you realize that product team never implemented the proper tracking. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Blocked Access: Your stakeholder asks for a dashboard that requires integration from multiple data sources. You go to query the data but realize you don't even have access to one of the databases. Ad Hoc Request Madness: Multiple stakeholders ask for data, dashboards, and insights all at the same time. And they want it yesterday. Groundhog Day Questioning: Your stakeholders ask the same questions over and over and over again. Below I've laid out some of the Top Analyst Struggles along with the impacts ...
I recently read a post from a founder of a consulting company about customer excellence. He quoted a business leader who said, "Our clients know they will get all the attention and time from us that they need because we set aside enough time to serve them well." The consulting company founder believed that this concept aligned perfectly with where he wanted to take his own consulting practice. He went on to ask himself, "How many clients can I serve at once without sacrificing excellence?" This got me thinking about 'analytics excellence' and how much work a single analyst should take on before the customer service excellence gets sacrificed. During an interview for a company I once worked for, I asked the Director, "How many Google Analytics analysts currently support your organization?" She responded, "One." I said, "Just one doing the reporting and analysis?" She responded, "No, one doing it all. Gathering KPIs. ...