Business 4.0
Want to be Data-Driven? It's Not About the Tech By: Andrea Belk Olson, MSC - CEO of Pragmadik
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xecutives say that cultural challenges — not technological ones — represent the biggest impediment around data initiatives. In a 2021 survey from NewVantage Partners, 92.2 percent of mainstream companies report that they continue to struggle with cultural challenges relating to organizational alignment, business processes, change management, communication, people skill sets, and resistance or lack of understanding to enable change. This represents an increase from an already high percentage of 80.9 percent of firms that named cultural challenges as the greatest impediment to success just four years ago. If we've known this for a while, why are organizations continuing to struggle with becoming more data-driven? The main culprit
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10 IMD APRIL 2021
is a lack of commitment and persistence. The long-game isn't sexy. Quick wins get more attention and recognition. However, changing your organizational culture and mindset is not an overnight endeavor. It's not just middle-management or front-line employees. Many leaders have this short-term mindset, which can thwart the success of culture shifts necessary to become a data-driven organization. In addition, when undertaking this transformation, many leaders tend to think of 'data-driven' from a single perspective numbers. Data takes many forms. It can be observations, open commentary, or even dialogue. Not all data can be easily cataloged into spreadsheets and line graphs, and sometimes that data is the most valuable.
