Why A Data-Driven Culture Needs to Be at The Top of Your Business Agenda

In a digital-driven world expected to generate a total of 175 zettabytes of data worldwide by 2025 will businesses still rely on instinct when it comes to decision making? Or, will they leverage big data to unlock new business opportunities, make informed business decisions, and foster business growth? 

Most organisations are collecting enormous volumes of data. However, data by itself does not hold any meaningful value. Therefore, companies are expected to adopt a data-driven culture to solve some of the biggest data challenges organisations face. Ever increasing volumes of data, inaccessible data, technology barriers, data from multiple sources, and inadequate data insights needed to drive business outcomes or inform key decisions, to name just some of the challenges faced. 

There are many benefits to having a data-driven culture. Some companies see these benefits to be true in the current scenario while others think it is futuristic. Below are five reasons why organisations should embrace a data-driven culture now. 

Accessible by Everyone 

Who uses data at your organisation right now? Do you have a dedicated analytics team in place to analyse data on the go? Do employees from all departments use the data to plan their approaches? Ideally, a truly data-driven culture is only possible when everyone who interacts with customers has access to data without friction. 

For instance, the sales team needs to access sales data across different products and services. Similarly, the marketing team needs to have access to the email click-through rate, churn rate, the average cost of customer acquisition, and more. 

The entire organisation benefits when decision makers have access to role specific data when they need it.   

Better Collaboration 

Aside from accessibility, secure collaboration between different teams in the organisation is another factor in making a data-driven culture vital to the modern enterprise. The deep insights that come from advanced and predictive analytics by the team is a great starting point. These insights provide guidance as to where course correction may be needed, or new opportunities seized. 

Companies that have easy data access save more time in collaboration and sharing reports and information across the organisation. As a result, there is improved awareness and transparency that encourages upward performance at an individual and team level. 

Accurate Decision-Making 

When it comes to making critical decisions, relying on intuition alone can lead to biases or errors. In this case, you need a broad understanding of what is happening in every area that affects your business in order to make the best decision. 

Taking advantage of insights from the data generated from both internal (financial and operating systems) and external sources, can help executives and managers make better decisions. Embracing fact-based decisions powered by data helps define and measure KPIs across the company to achieve savvy decision-making capabilities and align measures of success. 

Increase in Productivity and Efficiency 

When data and analytics are targeted to improve enterprise fundamental capabilities and business opportunities, opportunities to grow and become more effective and efficient arise. 

Such insights open a system-thinking approach and ultimately increase the opportunities for learning and growth for all levels of the organisation. Data and analytics targeted to a specific segment provide critical insights, play a crucial role in decision-making and drive the organisational processes to the next level. 

In a data-driven workplace, for instance, having internal tools plays a critical role in improving employee engagement and retention. With such tools, managing employee workload and utilisation rate is as easy as checking the resources page and adjusting their availability with the click of a button. This makes it simple to improve morale and overall productivity. 

 Increase Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction 

Winning customer loyalty requires more than offering price discounts and loyalty points. To achieve value when it comes to retaining customers and improving customer experience, organisations need to create data-driven techniques that are focused on specific customers at different levels of their relationship. 

With the help of data, organisations can segment customers by attributes such as recent purchases, purchase amounts, and buying patterns to specifically target those groups and build customer loyalty for the long term. 

They can also use data to further improve customer satisfaction through a better understanding of customer interests, behaviors, preferences, and motivations. Such analysis can help develop a holistic loyalty strategy and aid in identifying hidden opportunities to increase customer satisfaction. For example, executives can leverage a data-enabled AI platform to improve the speed and accuracy of customer service, which in turn drives increased customer loyalty and satisfaction. 

 Wrapping Up 

Digitisation has made way for massive data patterns, leaving organisations no choice but to adopt a data-driven culture faster than ever before. Adopting a data-driven culture is critical for the success of your company, especially when it comes to problem-solving and enabling collaboration and connectivity across the organisation.  

Developing a data-driven culture is a complex process that requires dramatic change within your organisation. Doing nothing leaves your organisation at risk. 

Ready to adopt a data–driven culture? At Version 1, we help promote a strong data culture by bringing your data together on a single platform and utilising our IP and Accelerators to not only reduce time and cost, but also ensure fast delivery of high-quality data. Speak to an expert today by simply filling out the form below.

Sources include forbes.com and seagate.com.