Find growth by tackling your data overload

From the moment you wake up, data can define your day.??

Picking up your smartphone from your bedside table, you are presented with data and information that will influence both your personal and professional life. Having access to too much data, however, can create an overload of information. It also creates a barrier to finding the right information.???

I see this as one of the great challenges the business community faces and must work together to solve. As business leaders, we are required to make impactful decisions every day, and making them when not backed by the right data and insights can hurt your business.???

The current landscape doesn’t make things easier either. Accenture research shows that most large enterprises have access to more than 500 applications, and 8 out of 10 say they plan to acquire more from multiple vendors. So how do we streamline all this information to help us make the most effective decisions?????

At Accenture, we believe a high level of interoperability—when enterprise applications work together to bring a single source of data truth—creates long-lasting value, accelerating growth and transformation. It will also create greater agility for your business and people, making them more resilient in times of change.??

Interoperability accelerates growth?

If the pandemic taught the business world anything, it is that agility can give you a tremendous advantage in times of uncertainty. This is underlined by recent Accenture research, which reveals the critical relationship between agility and growth:???

• We found that companies with high interoperability grew revenue six times faster than their peers with low interoperability and are set to unlock an additional five percentage points in annual revenue growth.?
• Companies with high interoperability are also more efficient, more successful at customer experience, more productive and more sustainable.?
• And this isn’t just about now. The research shows that if two similar companies start with $10 billion in revenue today, the company with high interoperability would stand to make $8 billion more over the next five years.?

When reading the key findings from our research above, you may ask yourself two vital questions:?

1. How can we find the best data-driven insight to support our decision making?
2. How do we incorporate interoperability into our business???

I often talk about Total Enterprise Reinvention, a strategy that companies, including Accenture, employ to digitally transform every part of their business with technology, data, automation and AI, breaking down silos and deeply connecting people, processes and data across their value chain to set—and reach—a new performance frontier. I believe answering those two questions are a key part of Total Enterprise Reinvention.??

And this is something we are acting on at Accenture right now. I am working with my team on improving interoperability as part of our own Total Enterprise Reinvention. To accomplish this, we are connecting data and processes across all functions of our business to change the way we work and run our business.??

When mapping this process, reverse-engineering what you want the technology to enable is fundamental. Our objective was for all our leaders to have a view of not only what’s happening in their own functions, but to also have data on hand that shows them what is impacting other functions, effectively enabling them to navigate the enterprise easier and faster. Some of the key requirements of making these interconnections include:??

• Technology that not only supports our decision-making but also unites our cross-function reports.?
• Connecting different data sources across our organization, providing us with immediate actions and future actions through scenario planning capabilities.
• High-level 360? view of our core metrics, including financial, sustainability, talent, or inclusion and diversity.?

Greater visibility across your business backed by data can change the game – and it starts with enabling the highest level of interoperability and empowering leaders with predictive and trusted insights to make faster and more informed decisions. This ability to navigate our enterprise is key to our Total Enterprise Reinvention and will better enable us to deliver 360° value for our clients, people,?shareholders, partners and communities.??

Investing in tomorrow?

Interoperability is critical to putting the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together—it energizes employees with new digital skills, fosters greater trust and collaboration and creates a shared definition of success.?

As leaders, we must also ensure that we invest in training and talent and allow our people to make sound application choices. This will not only support your organization to make better data-driven decisions, but also establish best practices with tomorrow’s leaders.???

I started by saying that data can define your day. Let it define your future.??