Data is not yet strategic for many organizations. While many success stories confirm data can add enormous value, most organizations still struggle to build data into their business strategies and, conversely, to align their data efforts to the needs of the business.
But when integrated properly, data can accelerate many business strategies by improving the processes and empowering the people needed to execute them. This starts by having the right conversations — by seeing through all the complexities, finding common ground, and establishing priorities on which everyone can agree. To do this, leaders and data experts should focus on looking at data and strategy through the lens of six “value modes,” or ways that companies can derive value from data. These value modes include improved processes; improved competitive position; new and improved products, stemming from better customer and market data; informationalization, or building data into products and services; improved human capabilities; and improved risk management.
Thirty-five years after Robert Waterman’s observation in In Search of Excellence that companies were “data rich and information poor,” little has changed. For sure companies are “data richer,” having exponentially more data at their disposal. But they are still information poor, even as leaders have implemented a wide array of programs aimed at exploiting data. Most still struggle to build data into their business strategies and, conversely, to align their data efforts to the needs of the business. There are a host of reasons, from lack of talent to unreasonable expectations to culture. Solving these problems is essential for those that wish to unleash the power of data across their organizations.
