Historically, people were responsible for the production of most data, however with the exponential growth of Internet of Things (IoT), machine and sensor produced data is by far the majority. We have also seen the introduction of important legislation across the globe, such as GDPR or CCPA, with China also announcing initiatives to encourage global standards around data security. Probably too little too late, but better late than never. In short, data is growing, people value it, and it is legislated. It’s not by chance that data has been labelled the “new gold”.
At this rate, it’s easy to get lost or overwhelmed trying to appreciate the data you generate or, even worse, by the challenge of turning data into a core facet of your business. Enterprises can become paralysed because they simply don’t know where to start. It’s quite frequent that CEOs instruct their teams to build dashboards or to invest in analytics solutions, without first considering defining a clear data strategy. Setting up a dashboard or investing in a data analytics solution is probably the easiest step in the journey. But what happens if you don’t have the data, or more likely, if you have lots of data but you cannot extract it and process it to make it available in the format that is required by your tools?
In recognising the strategic value of data, many forward thinking organisations have created positions in their C-level suite to allow for Chief Data Officers (CDOs). CDOs are responsible for setting a strategy to unlock the value of an organisation’s data. The best data strategies are tailored to the organisation’s needs and help the CDO engage necessary stakeholders, plan, implement strategic projects, develop partnerships across the organisation, and emphasise successes to drive a strategic mindset. This will ultimately lead the organisation to thrive and maintain a significant competitive advantage.
The above of course is not an exhaustive list, it is however a good starting point for any data strategy. C-suite executives should understand that turning data into actionable information is not an easy journey; and setting up the right foundations is crucial to coping with the exponential growth of data. Businesses, however, can start small and look at quick wins on the ground, in parallel to developing and executing their data strategy. This will not only start to deliver value early, but also provide motivation and engagement across the business for a more active use of data to enable more efficient decision-making.