We Are Failing the Data-Driven Mission, Let’s Take a Step Back

Data. Data. Data. For decades we have been talking about data over ‘’gut feel’’: from forecasting your businesses effectively to predicting successful wines globally. Firms keep professing to becoming ‘’data-driven’’ and developing internal mission programs. We have seen this taking shape in the form of digital transformation projects, analytics superiority or AI integration. Many efforts have been taken to treat data as an important asset and companies have attempted to evolve their organisational cultures and adjust strategies to emphasise data and analytics.

So, they should. In today’s economy it is considered that in order to act with efficacy and achieve competitive advantage, it is imperative to be a data-driven organisation. This has been drummed in us for so long, so surely, we are now mastering this. Alas, this is not the case. A research by NewVantage Partners’ 2019 Big Data and AI Executive Survey expose that we are failing in our efforts. Although 92% of respondents report that organisations keep increasing investments in data initiatives the survey results show that 77% believe that adoption is a major issue and 93% identifies the major obstacle to be people and processes. Misalignment within the organisation has been identified as a leading factor.

Now, what does this mean for organisations? The motivation is there and certainly a lot of effort and financial investment is being thrown at it. One thing is for sure, continuing in vain isn’t a viable option, nor is giving up on the objective, as it would mean their demise, especially for legacy organisations over digital-native ones. 54% of executives report that an inability to be nimble and agile and compete on data is a competitive threat. In order to move forward let’s take a step back:

1.    Few organisations truly understand the meaning of data-driven

Few organisations truly understand what it means to be data-driven and how they can achieve this. What being data-driven means is different and unique from organisation to organisation. It requires dissecting your operations and linking this back to your business goal(s). Why do you exist as an organisation and what do you want to ultimately achieve? In fact, too often organisations do boast about their data transformation efforts, yet they rarely can communicate the impact it truly has on their business – somewhere along the way the mission of data-driven has forgotten that it should be business-driven. Before acquiring new technologies, identify your business case(s). If you aren’t able to identify the revenue, cost reductions, work environment or customer satisfaction benefits, don’t spend the budget.

2.    Being data-driven means your analytics capability is at the forefront

The sudden rise of big data has prompted corporate decision-makers to make decisions more rapidly and to shape their capabilities to proactively address fast-pace changing environments. With the rise of big data there is a major emphasis on the analytical ability of an organisation: being able to digest large amounts of data and turn it into digestible insights to feed decision making. This has meant that with the economic change towards a more information-based production, analytics has become a core knowledge capability within the organisation. You can’t speak of being data-driven without analytics.

3.    Build your analytics capability by assessing your maturity first

No one can ever move forward without understanding where they are and why. Do you know your firms’ analytics maturity? Understanding your analytics maturity means you get to understand how your firm has organised the knowledge or data-based resources and capabilities that allow people in your organisation to perform analytics and achieve decision-making quality and so, be data-driven. Having a true understanding of this means dissecting leadership, management practises, culture, skills, your processes and policies, infrastructure in place and governance – if any at all. Some of the areas you ought to understand are:

• Is data used for strategic decision making in your organisation?
• Does your organisation have an attitude towards nurturing an organisational culture in which data is used to create better products/services faster with fewer resources?
• Is the current IT architecture capable of supporting analytics efforts in your organisation?
• Is the impact of data on the business strategy considered when making investments in data analytics?
• What is the organisation's attitude towards developing necessary data analytics skills? How can you enforce a data-driven culture without a solid program in place to ensure your people are analytics capable and equipped?

Once you are able to clearly identify and evaluate (1) your position in all different dimensions; (2) key priorities within the organisation for growth; and (3) the impact it has on your business; you can then start putting a roadmap together to grow your analytics maturity.

In short, the mission of becoming data-driven is here to stay, and certainly with changing environments and evolving technologies it is one that needs to be on the agenda and constantly evaluated whether you are failing or not. There is however work cut out for you in ensuring that your organisation understands the meaning of being data-driven and emphasising the existence of your firm and its goals. People need to be at the heart of this as it is them that drive the business. Furthermore, your analytics capabilities are at the core of this process, and you should strive to understand your maturity before you can grow.