Building a data-driven strategy isn’t about chasing flashy new tech. It’s about aligning data and technology with your mission and vision. Prioritize people and use existing assets to build the right strategy without breaking the bank or overwhelming your teams. Remember, technology should serve your strategy, not dictate it — so invest wisely and focus on meeting people’s needs.
Every day, there seems to be a new business-tech platform touting its ability to transform your data-driven business strategy. The simple act of keeping up with new tech can be exhausting, to say nothing of the time needed to invest in, learn, and implement it. By the time you do, there may be 10 other options ready to make your investments look outdated.
Fortunately, you can take a breath and step away from the technology hamster wheel. We have a secret to share: A data-driven business strategy is not, in fact, about technology.
As tech enthusiasts, we’ve loved watching countless data systems arrive on the market. But, while undeniably cool, these tools are only relevant if they can serve the purpose of your work and meet the needs of your people. You should continually evaluate whether your tech investments are working for you, grounding that evaluation in company needs, not marketing hype.
In other words, an effective data-driven strategy is not about chasing the flashiest tech. It’s about alignment. At its core, data strategy should reflect essential human elements like your vision, culture and everyday decision-making needs. In this blog, we discuss the importance of understanding and aligning those pieces first — and using technology second to serve your mission.
Here is a step-by-step approach to building a data strategy and grounding it in what matters most.
Step 1: Define Your Mission and Vision
Some organizations are built around powerful mission and vision statements. For others, these guideposts aren’t always clear. Even if you have a strong notion of the correct answer, ask your teams how they would define your overarching goals. Check-in at the start of each new project to determine how the project aims to relate to the big picture for your teams. Their answers may surprise you, and alignment is crucial to building a successful data strategy.
A data-driven strategy can help you extract value from your company’s data to advance business goals. But first, you need to know what those goals are.
Step 2: Ask and Listen
At Centric Consulting, the first thing we do to help people optimize their data-driven business strategy is listen. We assess people’s daily working needs — and we allow those needs to guide our technology recommendations (not the other way around). Consider taking this approach in your strategic planning as well.
Here’s how: Talk to everyone across teams and levels of the organization and ask the questions people are itching to answer:
- What are your pain points in this work?
- What’s the biggest waste of time?
- What brings you joy every day?
- What effort do you contribute that your manager never sees?
- What questions do you have, regularly, that you don’t always have the analytic capabilities to answer?
- How could the right data enable better decisions?
In our experience, from the c-suite to the sales desk to customer service, people want to talk. Everyone plays a part in advancing the company’s mission. Everyone can benefit from analytics insights that help them work smarter, not harder.
One exception worth noting: Occasionally, an employee shrugs and says data has nothing to do with them — that’s something for the tech team to handle. They don’t realize that they are passively or actively creating data all day, and they could benefit from the insights they, themselves, are creating. Once we show them how analytics can change the way they work and, in turn, improve their performance, boost their pay, or ease their stress, the ideas start to flow.
At times, technology may be the pain point, and adding more would be a mistake. Surprisingly, in certain cases, the best approach to improving an organization’s data-driven strategy is to ease the tech burden on its employees.
Step 3: Use the Assets You Have
Many leaders don’t think data informs their business. Maybe because they haven’t yet invested in cloud or analytics technologies or because they don’t personally use data in their work. However, even if you still use pen and paper for your record-keeping, your organization has data. You simply haven’t tapped into it yet.
If you can take stock and learn how to use your existing data assets, you may not need to invest in new tech. You may be able to boost your profitability now.
For instance, small shops often use Square and Squarespace to complete transactions. Even these basic platforms can be a rich trove of analytics insights once you know how to use their reporting tools. Here is Square’s Guide on Analytics and Reporting and Squarespace’s Analytics Guide.
Many organizations, large and small, are sitting on mountains of unused data. But most companies don’t exist to amass and hoard data. They exist to provide goods and services. Typically, once you uncover the hidden data, you can turn it into dollar signs — and impact.
Often-overlooked data includes:
- Point-of-sale data, such as from Square or Squarespace.
- Website traffic and engagement data, which you can gather using tools like Google Analytics.
- Social media, email, and calendar data.
- Customer relations data. While this category might seem obvious, it is often overlooked in companies that don’t have a customer relations management (CRM) system.
If your company has a large, existing CRM, it might be easy to review your customer data. If you don’t, that’s OK. The data likely exists, but you may need to think creatively about how to find it. Paper records, call recordings, printed receipts, complaint logs — you can convert all these into usable customer data.
Not sure where to start? A third-party vendor, like a consulting firm, can help you assess your data and identify the best approach to unleash its potential.
Evaluate the Tech You Choose
It’s important to follow these three steps not only when investing in technologies but also when evaluating the tech you already have. If a solution turns out to be burdensome or ineffective for your teams, don’t keep paying for it.
The tech you adopt doesn’t have to be expensive or complex. Sometimes, basic tools like Excel or affordable cloud solutions can do the trick without breaking the bank. The key is to invest in the right solutions for your teams.
Proceed with care. If a platform like Excel works for your needs and can save money, that would be great. But, if it means a team member will have to grind out long hours doing manual data entry, better options are available. Delegate menial tasks to technology so your employees can spend their time and brainpower bringing value to the company.
Building a Data-Driven Business Strategy With Purpose
With all the tech available today, organizing and visualizing data has never been so easy. Countless tools are available, but they’re not all right for you. If your data strategy doesn’t align with your business strategy, you may waste time and money getting to the wrong place faster. Instead, prioritize data and technology solutions to help your company realize its purpose and help your employees thrive.
Rose Hayes contributed to this blog.
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