{"id":7349,"date":"2023-11-07T14:54:15","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T14:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/members.dataiq.global\/?post_type=article&p=7349"},"modified":"2024-03-21T11:34:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T11:34:05","slug":"stressing-a-data-strategy","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/articles\/stressing-a-data-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Stressing the importance of a data strategy in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are\u00a0<\/span>numerous<\/span>\u00a0examples of why a data strategy is essential for a data-driven business to excel in the marketplace, but\u00a0<\/span>there is a serious disconnect between non-data professionals understanding the importance of a concrete data strategy. When a data strategy is not understood and not\u00a0<\/span>adhered to<\/span>, organisations risk\u00a0<\/span>missing\u00a0<\/span>out on<\/span>\u00a0easy wins, are not utilising their data investments and leave themselves open to non-compliance which can result in hefty fines and tarnished reputations.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A data strategy is built piece by piece<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

It is easy to forget\u00a0that people who are not submerged in data\u00a0on a daily basis\u00a0do not have immediate frames of reference that data professionals have. There needs to be a step-by-step explanation as to why something is\u00a0required\u00a0within a data strategy, how it can be achieved and then its success needs to be\u00a0demonstrated.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In its simplest form, three key points to highlight why a data strategy is so pivotal are:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To align data with the business strategy by explaining how data will support key goals for the organisation.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. To create a focus for investment,\u00a0improvement\u00a0and impact.<\/li>\n
  3. To harness all data-related activities into a unified programme and avoid overlaps,\u00a0duplication\u00a0or irrelevant projects.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    The onus here is on the data leader to heighten their storytelling abilities and to train the data team in storytelling to make sure the key points are explained as simply and succinctly as possible. The DataIQ community\u00a0frequently\u00a0discusses\u00a0issues\u00a0regarding\u00a0storytelling and\u00a0different ways\u00a0in which individual members have approached and succeeded in\u00a0demonstrating\u00a0value to decision makers, but it is a constantly evolving battle, particularly in an era of\u00a0fluctuating financial resources.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    As an example of a practical step that most businesses take early on, data professionals\u00a0often\u00a0create dashboards to\u00a0provide\u00a0something tangible to highlight value\u00a0to business stakeholders. However, it can be\u00a0very easy\u00a0to get sidelined creating new and exciting dashboards for dozens of different teams and projects to\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0the impact data is having \u2013 but a data strategy ensures that these are released at the correct time. There is no point unveiling a new dashboard that the organisation simply is not ready for.\u00a0This can also lead to ignoring root problems with data in the organisation rather than analysing them and addressing them effectively.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    By installing a good data strategy that can work step-by-step for the data team and wider organisation it leads to clear goals and definable actions that with improve business. It will\u00a0assist\u00a0with avoiding distractions and\u00a0progressing the data journey of the business into the next era.\u00a0Too many businesses claim to have a data strategy which turns out to be a data vision and there needs to be more groundwork done to upgrade it to a full strategy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Data as an asset<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

    There is\u00a0a\u00a0shortfall when those with data strategies\u00a0fail to\u00a0recognise and utilise data as an asset. A data strategy needs to\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0how data will be used as an asset to improve the business and achieve\u00a0objectives. There needs to be an element of exploiting data\u2019s value and explaining why data-driven decisions\u00a0are so valuable.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    One common hurdle for data practitioners is proving return on investment (ROI), which can be difficult for data teams as there is often a diluted path from the investment presented to the data office and the financial results being seen. For example,\u00a0a heightened\u00a0data capability can lead to big improvements in productivity for different departments. <\/span><\/p>\n

    The difficulty here is examining the types of productivity that have been\u00a0impacted\u00a0by data for each different team and then calculating what that then means as a quantifiable net benefit for the\u00a0organisation\u00a0to be highlighted. Team members that have access to higher quality data and relevant information about market trends and customer preferences are better equipped to perform their tasks and enhance their business roles.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The act of storytelling to non-data audiences for data practitioners becomes exponentially easier by\u00a0having a clear data strategy that is understood by stakeholders. Once there is an understanding of what the data office is looking to achieve, the disconnect between investment in data\u00a0as an asset\u00a0and proving ROI becomes less complicated.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Ultimately, a\u00a0clear and well-understood data strategy\u00a0helps businesses\u00a0identify\u00a0gaps and take corrective actions to improve operations, enhance customer experience and drive growth. By\u00a0fuelling\u00a0data-driven decision-making opportunities for business leaders, data strategies are a cornerstone of success for data teams and their value must be appreciated by the\u00a0wider\u00a0organisation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A data strategy is the roadmap for success utilising an organisation\u2019s data capabilities, yet there is still a level of disconnect when it comes to non-data professionals appreciating its importance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":7350,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[129,398],"tags":[],"pillar":[193],"class_list":["post-7349","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","category-public","pillar-strategy"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 07:43:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7349"},{"taxonomy":"pillar","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dataiq.global\/devstage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pillar?post=7349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}