Is Smart Data Being Used in the Boardroom?

Our economy is transforming right in front of us and it is data that is being used as one of the key drivers for growth. Boardrooms are now beginning to understand the value that data is creating for their companies and the potential it offers to increase profits.

Increasingly everything we do is digital, which leaves a trail of data. This provides businesses, of all sizes, with an opportunity to leverage the “digital exhaust” that we leave behind, and understand who their customers are and how best to communicate with them. This is not just for the largest of organisations, in fact some of the biggest businesses actually struggle to support the sheer volume of data that is being created. It is the word ‘Strategy’ that is key here. Without a strategy to collect, manage, store and leverage data you will invariably face an uphill struggle to reap the rewards.

By focusing on the strategy you will cut through the noise of what’s possible with data and start to understand what is relevant, applicable and smart. As Dr Malcom said in Jurassic Park “We were so busy finding out if we could that we never stopped to find out if we should”.

Ultimately data is meaningless unless you actual do something with it. Actionable insight needs to be derived from the data which will inform decisions, and not just for the marketing department. Data can inform stock levels, headcount, customer service operating hours, sales channels and business strategies to name a few. Marketing teams are the most obvious users of insight because they use it to talk to and target the most appropriate customers with the right offers, at the right time, via the right channel. However more divisions within an organisation are using data and insight to help drive business decisions, and this is where there are huge opportunities.

Businesses that make data the heart of the boardroom and the foundation of their strategy will outlast those that don’t. New start-ups are popping up at a rate not seen since the dotcom boom and it is largely down to technology that either leverages data, creates or manages it. Technology is allowing us and our homes to be connected and monitored creating the ‘Quantifiable Self’ and many businesses currently being started are tapping into this.

Ensure your company is using smart data and that a strategy is in place otherwise you will be left behind.