What, why, and how to be a data-driven enterprise?

Many organizations have for sure realized the importance of data collection, analytics, and deployment of data-related applications and tools for their business affairs. Companies have integrated data analytics into their systems and are finding valuable insights from it to upscale and grow their business, generating more revenue. With digital transformation being the core need and goal in today’s competitive environment, data plays a key role in all of business aspects. But one must understand that being ‘data-driven’ goes beyond all of the above.

What does ‘being data-driven actually mean?

 An organization being data-driven means more than just having a team of data professionals collecting and analyzing the existing data, installing tools and applications for the same, or making business related decisions using the data you have.

It is about creating an ecosystem that deliberately collects the desired data knowing the expected results, and working towards mining essential information from the raw data to obtain outstanding outcomes. One must make data and analytics a core fundamental of their business to be called data-driven. A fundamental that drives not only business decisions but also its culture, methodology, processes, and every other aspect.

Every organization, despite the scale, domain and size obtain its own data from various sources that are capable of impacting the business significantly. You must only know where to look for it. This data will essentially provide information about minute details that can contribute to functional changes to drive your business. Making data an essential part will have your business soar in a positive direction.

Why should your enterprise be data-driven?

Sharp customer insights:
Feedback and constructive criticism play an important role in conveying how your products or services impact your customers. The data thus gathered and analyzed, helps in understanding customers’ pain points and working towards improved customer satisfaction. The required data can easily be gathered through surveys, ratings, reviews, etc. Being data-driven provides a better understanding of customer sentiments, needs, and expectations.

Increased profits:
Data-driven businesses have experienced cost reductions by 10% with an 8% increase in profits, according to Bi-survey. These increased profits were an impact of developing better customer understanding and hence, better decision making. Cost-cutting is the result of a better understanding of one’s own requirements and resources.

Better customer base:
As compared to their competitors, data-driven enterprises have been able to acquire new customers 23 times more. They have also been 6 times more likely to retain existing customers, thereby contributing to their profits, according to Mckinsey Global Institute.

Stay ahead in competition:
With better understanding of your stakeholders, customers, resources and with improved profits and updates, you surely can stay ahead as compared to your competitors. According to a survey conducted by IBM, 62% of retailers reported that they are at a competitive advantage due to using data and analytics.

Better brand value and loyalty:
Making customer-centric decisions that are also beneficial for the business with the information obtained through analytics proves to improve overall customer satisfaction. This in turn increases the brand value and brand loyalty, which helps in customer retention.

Improved business decisions:
Decision-making is a critical aspect of a business. Making decisions based on instincts, guesses, assumptions, limited personal experiences or limited number of opinions will not take anyone far. Having access to big data is a fortune. You must know how to obtain valuable information from raw data and use it to understand the market and business trends to make better decisions. A data-driven industry goes ahead in those regards.

Enhanced productivity and employee engagement:
A strong foundation and productive work environment play an extremely important role in the success of any business. Therefore, in addition to understanding the customer behaviour, one should also understand the level of employee engagement within an organization. Collecting work experiences, feedback, and suggestions within the organization helps in improving the work culture and increases productivity.

7 Steps to build a data-driven enterprise:

1. Right data infrastructure

The collection, transmission, delivery, and storage of data are all dependent upon the data infrastructure. Having a solid data infrastructure is the foremost step to building an impactful data-driven business. A reliable source of data offers not just more dependable insights but also the right type of information. It offers the kind of data that supports the goal of your business and makes it faster for you to reach your destination.

2. Make the data accessible

Data must be accessible across all departments in an organization. This is essential for better understanding of the impact of any decision and tracking pain points. Having good visibility over data also provides the chance to know customer behavior, market trends, and security concerns, if any.

For example, the accounting team in a company might be interested in the sales performance data of a product or the security department might want to see the data of a suddenly rising website traffic of a production department for concerns.

3. Enables experimentation

Experimentation acts as a lifesaver when it comes to implementing anything new in a business on large scale. The experimentation tools and applications offer a chance to find anything going out of plan and helps in pointing out the shortcomings of an idea. One can be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them while experimenting, without causing major damages, and can save resources from going to waste.

4. Data-driven products

Once after the data has been analyzed and insights gained, put it to best use by making products that best suit your business. Use data to make informed decisions regarding which product and/or service is best liked among customers, which areas need to be optimized, which products will perform well, etc. Make products driven by data, that also collect more data for eventual betterment.

5. Encourage a data-driven culture

When you build a data-driven culture, by default data becomes an integral part of your organization. Always referring to data while tracking progress, using data insights to make any significant informed decision, using solid numbers while putting forward your strategies and plans, and encouraging people to use data for problem-solving, are some ways to cultivate a data-driven culture. With this, you may also want to build applications and tools that support this culture of yours, eventually building a data-driven business. 

6. Data-driven marketing strategy

Marketing is an essential pillar for growth. It becomes even more fruitful when the marketing is driven by data. Targeted marketing according to customer preferences and viewer-interest-based content will not only provide a superior customer experience but also offers a greater chance for conversion of prospect to customer and customer retention. Thus, with a data-driven marketing strategy, you can also create a data-driven customer experience. 

7. Promote data-driven mentality

You can promote a data-driven mentality by viewing data as a shared asset, proving curated and comprehensive data across all departments, providing user-friendly interfaces, conducting multidimensional and interactive analysis, and ensuring security and compliance within the organization. Educate employees about the advantages of data and analytics and the benefits of having a data-driven business. Promote data-related skills and establish a data-supportive infrastructure.

You may also deploy Cloud for better risk mitigation, modernization of your systems and applications, and extend your horizon.

Connect with MSRcosmos to get started. We help companies in building a data-driven ecosystem using our vast experience, pathbreaking solutions, and data experts. Get future-ready by cultivating and nurturing a culture of data-driven business for informed and precise decisions.