Data Literacy: Equipping Your Team with the Right Knowledge

What is Data Literacy??

You may not be a data scientist, but you’re more data literate than you think.?

At its most basic level, data literacy is the ability to read, understand, work with, and analyze data. As our lives are increasingly guided and aided by technology, the average person is increasingly familiar with tasks like reviewing data visualizations and reports.?

Can you picture your great-grandfather trying to make heads or tails of your Fitbit dashboard? How about plotting a course to your aunt’s house with filters to avoid tolls and search for faster routes based on real-time traffic updates?

"Can you picture your great-grandfather trying to make heads or tails of your Fitbit dashboard?"

Just as the average person has reaped the benefits of enhanced data literacy, modern business must adopt data-driven practices and strategies to remain competitive.?

When we talk about data literacy in business, we mean the ability to analyze data with the intention of making practical and profitable business decisions. Sure, your employees can create spreadsheets with information or download reports from the system; now imagine what you could accomplish if those same employees could analyze that data to make improvements to your customer service training, apply predictive analytics to developing a shift schedule, or map out a more efficient delivery route for your product.

The difference between a data literate business and “business as usual” is as simple as enterprise value.?

Where Are the Applications of Data Literacy??

Every major company these days is a technology company. Whether it’s a national chain of department stores, a major seller of home improvement tools, or a health insurance provider - these companies all function in digital environments with massive quantities of data added and sorted on an hourly basis. While these services sell physical products, the data itself has immense value. Consider an example like Facebook which is valuable largely because of the data managed on their platform. What social media platforms have long understood is not only the value of this data, but also the importance of being data literate. This understanding needs to flow throughout the entire organization and not just leadership. At the most basic level, begin with the idea that data itself is important. Hackers certainly understand the value of data. Shouldn’t you?

"Hackers certainly understand the value of data. Shouldn't you?

You have the data and the tools; now it’s time to empower your employees with the skills they need to interact with it. Data is no longer just sets of numbers describing the past or present; data can predict the future to help anticipate customer behaviors, inventory needs, or sales trends.

The most striking example of this is online retailers who, in a post-pandemic world, have grown incredibly sharp with predictive analytics. To analyze a consumer's order history and then make recommendations accordingly is an invaluable tool, one that separates the Amazons from the 1-800-Flowers. Aside from retail, how about marketing and customer acquisition? Data that displays where your audience is and what they’re looking for can make or break a marketing campaign, once again reinforcing the exigency of data-literate employees.?

Now that we’ve established that data has seeped into almost every field, how do we bridge the gap between average employees and college-educated data scientists??

I Took a Stats Class in College . . . Does That Count?

While many employees have degrees that are specific to the job they’re doing, data analytics probably wasn’t a class many have taken or even knew existed for that matter. According to the Data Literacy Project, “only 32 percent of business executives surveyed said that they’re able to create measurable value from data, while just 27 percent said their data and analytics projects produce actionable insights.” (2020).?

We know that data is a powerful tool for enterprise, yet there is still a disconnect between understanding and application. A company is only as effective as its employees. Corporate training and education are the keys to moving to the next stage of evolution in the brave new world of modern industry. This can be as simple as scheduling on-site or remote data literacy training for you and your team. See our offerings on “Data Literacy and Corporate Training” to learn more.

Data Literacy as a Fundamental Skill to Success.?

Data literacy as a method of understanding and communicating is more relevant than ever, naturally leading to a demand for employees with actionable knowledge. Equipping your team with the knowledge and skills needed to utilize data science can increase your value tenfold and prepare you to embrace the next evolution of modern commerce.