Next Tuesday, on November 4, I am presenting a webinar as part of the recurring Speak BO series sponsored by InfoSol entitled Make BI Launch Pad Yours – Branding & Customization Essentials for SAP BusinessObjects. Registration is free and I will share four key customizations to SAP BusinessObjects and Web Intelligence: sending user notification events, using the BI Launch Pad Theme Designer, customizing BI Launch Pad properties, and creating a corporate color palette for Web Intelligence charts.
I’m a big fan of branding SAP BusinessObjects because it shows that your analytics team has put care and effort into making analytics an important part of the organization. However, branding can often turn into a failed opportunity, as the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain recently found out.
The Cracker Barrel had noble intentions similar to many analytics teams— reach a younger and broader audience. However, rebranding a restaurant only goes so far if the food or service quality is poor. And targeting new customers can potentially alienate your existing and best customers.
I hope that you’ll attend Tuesday’s webinar and learn something that your team can put into practice. But like a good restaurant, I hope you’ll ask your customers questions like “how’s the food”? How is our service? What can we do better? And be open-minded to the feedback you receive. Your analytics customers don’t want to deal with a grumpy IT department. Neither are they asking for a snooty Michelin-starred experience. But they would appreciate a little bit of Chick-fil-A hospitality from your team. Stop explaining to your users why they can’t have what they want and instead break down the barriers that can make a real difference in how your team delivers the facts for your organization’s fact-based decision making.
What ideas has your analytics team found successful in providing a Chick-fil-A customer experience to your users? Share your tips in the comments.
