Let data control your company: a guide for data-driven organisations

How to become a data-driven company?

We are starting from a verifiable and irrefutable fact: data generated by businesses in their daily management and the degree of automation from them has reached levels that we could never have imagined a few years ago.

There are hardly any businesses left who manage their business and marketing activity the old way. Data is the fuel of the engine of tools such as CRM solutions, the automation of marketing and Business Intelligence (like Tableau). These tools, in addition, become the data in information with added value. A figure to substantiate it: According to the consultant, McKinsey, technology based on data currently already automates 40% of sales processes.

To reach this degree of automation and become a company orientated towards data, it isn’t enough to rely on a piece of software to do all the work. It represents a much deeper change, which affects:

• The business strategy. The commitment to a digital world occurs because management are aware of the importance of their data and they are chosen to analyse it in depth, making the most out of it. If they do so, they are in the best position to design and launch a business strategy which is much more focussed on the customer, more proactive and more dynamic than traditional ones.
• The business process. Information is power. It is essential that, when registering any business process, all of the necessary details are provided, which can mean the difference between success and failure. Business processes must be orientated toward sharing the information between all of the actors involved.
• The culture of the business. The philosophy of the organisation must boost the role of the employees, showing them they are essential pieces. Through their daily activity, they collect and enter an enormous flow of data for the company; this data enables much more successful business decisions to be made. It is fundamental to align employees with this new business philosophy, based on sharing the data and in the boosting of multidisciplinary work teams.
• The business metrics. Having the ability to collect and analyse data of the activity of our company enables us to measure the impact of our efforts. As claimed by Tableau ‘it means understanding which metrics better capture the accumulative impact of their iterative implementations, governance practices, increase of sets of analytical skills and growth of the community’. The right metrics, especially to measure the changes of behaviour, will vary for each organisation and should be reviewed at regular intervals as analytical practices evolve.
• The identification of data with real value. It is time to elaborate on our statement that data is the new fuel of businesses. Yes it is, but not all of it. Becoming a data-driven company also involves identifying which data has real value for the business and filtering it from the enormous volume of information from the company (Big Data). To do this, businesses are working with new professional profiles (analysts, data scientists, for example) and executives (the CDO, also known as the Chief Data Officer).

The compliance of privacy and security regulations If there is data of a personal nature among the data handled by businesses, it is necessary to guarantee compliance with the strict legal privacy regulations (GDPR, for example) in any of the business processes. In addition, the data warehouses must be protected with advanced security measures that prevent unauthorised access and external threats.

Accordingly, the evolution towards a data-driven business is a global process which transcends the field of software: it goes from the business strategy to the philosophy of the organisation. It is a transformation which is worth carrying out, since the business results are seen quickly.

At Intelligence Partner, we have a wealth of experience in helping businesses to become data-driven organisations. To do this, we count on the best ally: Tableau, one of the leading Business Intelligence solutions on the market.

We invite you to check how this tool helps the digital transformation of your company, supported by the power of the information your company generates.

Dare to take the first step!