7. A Review and Future Direction of Business Analytics Project Delivery

Business analytics is a core competency critical to organizations to stay competitive; however, many organizations are challenged at business analytics delivery, and these projects have a high rate of failure. The volume, variety, and velocity of the big data phenomenon and the lack of current methodologies for delivering business analytics projects are the primary challenges. Applying traditional information technology project methodologies is problematic and has been identified as the largest contributing factor for business analytics project failure. Business analytics projects focus on delivering data insights as well as software delivery. Agile methodologies focus on the ability to respond to change through incremental, iterative processes. Agile methodologies in software delivery have been on the rise, and the dynamic principles align with the discovery nature of business analytics projects. This article explores the big data phenomenon, its impact on business analytics project delivery, and recommends an agile framework for business analytic project delivery using agile methodology principles and practices.