Democratisation of data: unlocking insights for every user

It’s no secret that data is now the fuel for driving a competitive advantage in increasingly dynamic and complex markets. Data on its own is only one part of the equation, however, as it isn’t enough to simply collect and store data. Real value is derived from data when it can be used to make business decisions in real time.

Data, whether unstructured or structured, is collected in a raw form that’s specifically designed to be processed by machines or systems. Once processed, data becomes information when it’s organised into a more human centric format such as a report or a dashboard. However, data is at its most valuable when information can be analysed to provide insights and even make predictions.

Digital transformation = data-driven decision-making

With this in mind, digital transformation comes down to how effectively your business can turn raw data into information and analytics. Businesses who derive the greatest return from their digital transformation efforts are those who leverage the power of data to seize opportunities to drive revenue and optimise efficiencies.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to make consistently good decisions across the entire organisation if only a few privileged employees actually have the required level of access and technical capabilities to query the data. And this is the case in many organisations where systems are far too technical for the people who genuinely need to use them for decision making. This is often caused by red tape or by procurement and implementation processes that focus on specific use cases, while losing sight of the practical capabilities that will actually be utilised by key decision-makers.

That’s why the ideal data solutions are those that are designed around people. This is what we mean when we talk about democratising data. It’s about removing the burden of responsibility for data collection and analysis from your IT team, and placing this responsibility within the wider business. To achieve this, organisations need to focus less on the capability of the technology, and more on the usability and the business value.

Matching capability with usability

The average business user is far more tech savvy than they were a decade ago, but at the same time, user experience in enterprise technology has come along in leaps and bounds. In the middle ground, we’re seeing enterprise data systems that meet users where their experience levels lie.

Because when a system is easy to adopt and intuitive to use, people can begin using data as an enabler for their role. Most of your employees will be fairly uncomfortable having to wrangle giant complex spreadsheets to access the insights they need, but they can understand dashboards that help them to visualise the information they need for making decisions.

They’ll still need the ability to delve deeper into information for further analysis or to perform their own specific investigations of data. That’s where a self-service model of data analysis should be the ultimate goal. Everyone in your business should eventually have the capability to identify opportunities and problems within data, explore details, and make more informed judgements.

The end result of this democratisation of data is a culture where people proactively leverage information to spot previously unseen opportunities. This involves spreading data ownership across your business, and aligning data analysis systems with the roles of people who use them every day.

About the author:

As the General Manager of InfoCentric, my team and I provide specialised expertise, advisory and implementation services in digital and data analytics to help our clients convert data assets into business insights for competitive advantage with faster, smarter and more accurate business decisions. If you’d like to discuss how your organisation can leverage your data assets to drive operational efficiencies, attract new business, and minimise risk, please feel free to get in touch with me at [email protected].