Learning to speak data: the need for greater data literacy

Forward-looking organisations are looking to capitalise on the data they collect or have access to. And no wonder. Between multiple customer touchpoints and user feedback across social media platforms, online forums or comments left on websites, the sheer volume of easily-accessible data represents a veritable goldmine of data that businesses can quickly leverage to significantly advance their customer-centric agenda.

And we haven’t even started talking about the value that can be gleaned from IoT devices, app usage statistics, production data, and a myriad of digital sources. Likewise, the capabilities offered by analytics and business intelligence solutions are also growing, while advancements in technologies such as machine learning is culminating with better predictive recommendations and forecasts than ever.

Dearth of data literacy

Unfortunately, the capabilities of our people to make sense of the data haven’t kept pace with our ability to collect and store data. While some have laid blame on a lack of qualified data scientists, we don’t need data scientists to perform many of the functions required to utilise the full value of our data.

Businesses are coming to this conclusion, too, which is why data literacy is fast becoming one of the greatest skill challenges of our times. Data literacy is defined as the ability to query, interpret and analyse data. Beyond the ability to simply take numbers at face value, data literacy enables us to ask the right questions from data to get the insights we need for better decisions.

To illustrate how important data literacy has become, a survey of Chief Data Officers conducted by Gartner revealed that a lack of data literacy in their organisation was the second biggest roadblock to the success of data initiatives. Against this backdrop, 80% of survey respondents have indicated they plan to initiate data literacy and competency training programs by 2020.

Qlik global research also illustrates the urgency of the problem, with only one in four decision makers reporting they felt comfortable in saying they are data literate. Even at the C-suite level, only one out of three C-suite executives felt comfortable saying they are data literate. This means that the vast majority of decision makers are essentially flying blind, without the ability to truly derive the insights they need from their data.

Reaping the dividends of data

Every business wants to tap the growth potential of a digital economy, but the secret to doing so lies in enabling your employees to make better decisions. With access to the right tools, employees are now empowered with the knowledge of which customer they should be approaching. Armed with the skills to correctly interpret the data, they can simply get on with the job.

We know that data literate employees enjoy far greater autonomy in their roles. This allows them to accelerate business growth even as they embark on their own fulfilling careers - in turn boosting talent retention. By providing them with the type of empowerment that will make them proud of their work, and committed to your organisation’s mission in the long term.

As you can imagine, the number one barrier to any data initiative is culture. There will always be people who believe their experience is infinitely more valuable than data in making good decisions. Creating a data-literate culture involves helping these employees, no matter how senior they are, to recognise that they can augment their experience with data-driven insights to be even more effective.

The best results are achieved when an organisation can encourage data literacy skills and knowledge transfer across business units and departments. There is no silver bullet to establishing a data-driven culture, but there is no question that it is the most crucial capability for every organisation to develop. 

About the author:

As the Vice President and Regional Director of Qlik Australia and New Zealand, my team and I work with clients and partners across the region to lower the bar to accessing enterprise data and gaining insights. If you would like to discuss how your organisation can start building a data-driven culture to leverage the full value of your data, please feel free to get in touch with me at [email protected].