Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
1, Develop a vision for how your data will help you be more profitable by understanding your systems, data sources and priority goals.
2, Centralize your business data. Gathering and combining your information in a meaningful way will help gain deeper insights into performance and results.
3, Find key reports and performance indicators that will help your business push the needle. Once you have determined what those will be, output them in a visual, graphic way to make them more digestible.
4, Businesses of all sizes are using data analytics. The ability to turn insight into action allows you to be both growth-focused and respond proactively to changing market conditions.
We are in the era that data experts are calling the Age of Big Data. In fact, we have been for several years now. The data craze has driven us to a widespread state of what we like to call “Analysis Paralysis.” It’s that point where you collect every piece of information that is, will be or may become important. And for most business owners, that means you’re now sitting on an enormous pile of data without any real insight.
That is not business intelligence.
As a business and organizational leader, you’re challenged with interpreting what your data is really saying. Crafting that message and molding it to be useful to the business decision-making process is key. But getting there can be frustrating and overwhelming.
Every company is a data company, but not every company is data driven. Most companies accumulate large amounts of data. Yet many are unsure what to do with it or how to use it to drive strategic growth.
Mountains of high-potential, unorganized data that’s not backed by mature processes ultimately leads to more challenges. Now is the time to concentrate on data analytics and building a solid data-driven strategy for your organization.
But it all begins with understanding what data analytics is. Data analytics is the science of analyzing raw data to uncover insights that can help organizations make more informed decisions. To truly become a data-driven company, business leaders must unify data into one version of the truth with an organized database and centralized solutions to power mature data analytics.
A data-driven company is any business that gathers and applies data to reach their business goals. They have made the collection and use of their data one of their core competencies. What’s important to note here is that a data company can be in any industry — from auto dealerships to manufacturers and retailers.
Of course, what initially comes to mind are the tech behemoths of our time like Facebook, Google and Amazon. But non-tech companies are also getting in on the action.
Regardless of your industry or focus, achieving these outcomes begins and ends with your data. With the rise of increasingly affordable business intelligence (BI) tools, even small or mid-sized local businesses are becoming disruptive data companies. In fact, the International Data Corp. predicts that big data and business analytics will be a $274 billion global industry this year, underscoring a universal investment in data as the next frontier.
In the current business climate, it is imperative that your organization leverages your data to understand your business and make better, data-driven decisions. The ability to turn insight into action allows you to be both growth-focused and respond proactively to changing market conditions.
Steps for becoming a data-driven organization
How do you become a data-driven business? It starts with these three key steps.
Developing a data strategy can sound daunting, but it doesn’t need to be complicated. A data strategy simply involves understanding your systems, data sources, and priority goals. It’s the vision for how your data will help you be more profitable in a changing marketplace.
To start, you need to audit all your various data sources. This includes both your internal and marketing systems as well as external information sources related to your industry. Next, you need to set your data goals. This is best done by asking what questions — if answered — could help increase your revenue or decrease your costs. Once you have three to five high-value questions, you need to identify the data sources needed to answer them. Then, you need to make the data usable.
This is where a data warehouse comes into play. A data warehouse is really just a fancy term for centralizing your business data. Your highest-value business questions will be answered by multiple sources of data. To become a data-driven business, you’ll need to effectively gather and combine all this information in a meaningful way. This will help you gain deeper insights into your performance and business results.
Unfortunately, most organizations skip this step on their data journey. But the truth is, you cannot leave your data spread out and expect to be able to make well-informed, timely decisions about what’s happening in your business.
A data warehouse solves that problem by bringing your data together to see the full picture.
This is what most people think of when they hear “data-driven” or “data analytics.” It’s the output of your business data in a digestible, graphic way. Think charts and graphs, and those dynamic dashboards and reports used to talk about business intelligence.
There is no shortage of options for data visualization. When your data warehouse is clean and sturdily built, you can gain value from almost any reporting tool of choice. Even your Excel spreadsheets will become more useful. The key is to find the reports and key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help your business push the needle.
Getting intentional with your data isn’t a simple process. Becoming a data-driven company is truly a mindset. It is a way of looking at your organization through the lens of your business data and using data-driven insights to make decisions and lead. But the future really is now. When every company is a data company, those with the greatest insight into that data that will set themselves apart.
