Data: The Driver of Innovation and Decision Making

BY MUNEER AHAMED

EVERYONE USES DATA to make day-to-day decisions. At its simplest form, think of an online shopper who checks on the reviews, ratings of similar items, or does a price comparison between stores before deciding on a purchase. Data-based decision making has existed long before the technology revolution, but it has enhanced with the advent of new technology and tools.

A prime example of a recent data tool that has touched every person is information on COVID-19 and its spread. Nearly every federal, state, and county government across the world is gathering and reporting information to collectively advise people about the virus. Moreover, this data is used by scientists to understand the virus’ impact in different segments of the world’s population. Compared to previous pandemics, we are certainly better informed and prepared due to the availability of such data.

Data is now one of the biggest assets for any organization regardless of the size. Data-driven companies can quickly become industry leaders when they make investments to not only collect relevant data but also make strategic decisions based on what the data tells them. Data-driven decision making when effectively analyzed and implemented will provide a business an edge in a constantly evolving and competitive market.

Companies who are striving to become data-driven organizations should invest in both data gathering and data analysis. The first step is to identify data points that are relevant to your industry and business and will help drive decisions. Companies can hire professionals or use internal resources to identify data points that are key to the business needs. It is important to determine what data should be collected—whether it’s information on customers, products, services, or other relevant information. A good subject matter expert can help with identifying the relevant data.

Once the “what” has been determined, companies should invest in the “how”. There are several resources for gathering data like websites, mobile apps, online stores, physical stores, surveys, online ads, physical interviews, social media, and CRMs. Successful companies use many methods to gather a diverse dataset over periods of time.

After the relevant data is collected, it’s time to focus on analyzing the data to extract sensible and usable information for decision making. There are hundreds of data analysis tools available on the market. Companies can use tools as simple as a spreadsheet or as complex as enterprisewide business intelligence tools. Again, subject matter experts can help with defining the performance indicators and how the information can be packaged and presented to a company’s decision makers. The right information technology partner can help with both identifying the appropriate data analysis tool and configuring that tool to generate the intended results.

In order to perform trend and complex data analysis, a business needs to collect data over a length of time. Data-driven decision making is often a cyclical process where the data collected influences the decision making and the information extracted from data analysis influences future data collection—thus, enhancing the quality of data.

Finally, it is important to invest in the right information security tools to protect your data and the data analytics derived from the information you collect. Companies can spend millions of dollars on IT infrastructure, but ultimately, it’s important that a big part of that investment goes towards protecting the data. Always keep security in mind.

Muneer Ahamed is the senior project manager at CNT Infotech.