Intelligent Company

Bernard Marr is a leading global authority and best-selling author on organisational performance and business success. In this capacity he regularly advises leading companies, organisations and governments across the globe, which makes him an acclaimed and award-winning keynote speaker, researcher, consultant and teacher. Bernard Marr is acknowledged by the CEO Journal as one of today's leading business brains. Bernard Marr has written a number of seminal books and over 200 high profile reports and articles on managing and improving organisational performance. This includes the best-sellers Managing and Delivering Performance and Strategic Performance Management, a number of Gartner Reports, and the world's largest research studies on the topic. Today, Bernard Marr heads up the famed Advanced Performance Institute, where he can be contacted at www.ap-institute.com.

• ABOUT THE AUTHOR xiFOREWORD xvACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xix1 THE DATA–KNOWLEDGE CRUNCH 1Introduction 1The data and information explosion 2The failure to turn data into mission-critical insights 3Investment in business intelligence 6Evidence-based management 9Conclusions 122 THE EVIDENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT MODEL 13Introduction 13Evidence-based medicine 15The scientific method 15The EbM model explained 16Conclusions 203 IDENTIFYING OBJECTIVES AND INFORMATION NEEDS 21Introduction 21How a police ‘SWAT’ team uses EbM 22Step 1 – sub-step one: what do we need to know? 25Strategic performance management frameworks 30A strategy map as a hypothesis 50Who needs to know what, when and why? 52What are the most important unanswered questions? 54Ten steps for creating good KPQs and KAQs 58Conclusions 634 COLLECTING THE RIGHT DATA 65Introduction 65Key performance indicators and building evidence 67Collecting the right data 69What is evidence and what is data? 70Data collection methodologies 71Quantitative data collection methods 72Qualitative data techniques 78Using both quantitative and qualitative data 83Making data collection part of the job 84Engaging people in data collection 87Assigning meaning to data 89Reliability and validity 93Planning the data collection process 94The role of IT infrastructure and applications in the collection of data 96Conclusions 1005 ANALYSE THE DATA AND GAIN INSIGHTS 101Introduction 101Data analysis 104Budgeting and planning 112Reporting and consolidation 113Value-driver modelling 113Experimentation 117Role of IT infrastructure and applications in analysing data 129Conclusions 1326 PRESENT AND COMMUNICATE THE INFORMATION 135Introduction 135How to get the attention of decision makers 137Publishing analogies 138Guidance for presenting information 144The role of IT infrastructure and applications in presenting information 151Conclusions 1607 TURNING INFORMATION INTO ACTIONABLE KNOWLEDGE 163Introduction 163Ensure that the available evidence is used to make the best decisions 167Turning knowledge into action 172The knowing doing gap 173Conclusions 1888 CONCLUSION AND ACTION CHECKLIST 189Introduction 189Action checklist 193Final words 207REFERENCES 209INDEX 213

"... provides an effective, simple and practical model...useful to all managers who need to make clear objective decisions." (Professional Manager, October 2010)"Bernard's simple, step-by-step model offers managers a vital tool for analysing their business and improving performance." (Better Business Focus, August 2010)"Bernard Marr's book is manna from heaven for those who prefer to base decisions on facts." (Quality World, October 2010)"...engaging and informative...the practical format of the book ensured it wasn't a difficult or time-consuming read." (Inside Knowledge, January 2011)"...this book describes a useful, evidence-based model to achieve a more intelligent company." (UK Excellence, January 2011)