Digital Transformation is no more just a buzzword. IDC
predicts that by the end
of 2017, two-thirds of the CEOs of Global 2000 companies will have digital
transformation at the center of their corporate strategy. Today’s age of disruptive
innovations and constantly evolving economics have made organizations, small as
well as large, take their Digital Transformation initiatives seriously. Only
then they will be able to sustain, grow, and lead in the future.
Today, Big Data and Analytics are at the center of
digital transformation promising the companies to completely transform the way
they do business, interact with their customers, and manage their internal
processes. Data-driven strategies are increasingly becoming important to create
competitive differentiation.
To achieve the desired business impact, organizations
need to focus on two important aspects – One, a clear strategy and vision as to
how and where to use data and analytics and use the right technology framework,
tools, and technology. There needs to be
an integrated strategy for data sourcing, data modeling, and transformation
within the organization.
Through a well-planned and well-executed data-driven
transformation, enterprises can:
· Gather and analyze a wide range of structured and
unstructured data and leverage that for better business planning, budgeting, and
decision making
· Effectively predict more accurate outcomes instead of
relying on old financial reports, traditional forecasting methods or mere gut
feeling
· Gather real-time insights into the opportunities and
threats and take decisions based on the changing market events and economic
movements
· Make better business decisions based on the crucial financial
and operational information and competition
· Effectively measure success or failures of various
business decisions and tweak the business strategy accordingly
The key
principles of Data-driven Transformation are –
#1 Define the
objectives
The clearly
defined business objectives must drive the data-driven transformation. Only
after finalizing the objectives, one can design the roadmap for leveraging the
right data and technology. Through appropriate alignment of data, technology,
and business, the right processes and business models can be changed.
#2 Choose the
right data
Today, a vast
amount of data is being generated and gathered and the volume of information is
growing at an extreme pace. The Internet of Things (IoT) is bringing in unprecedented
volumes of data with it. Unless the businesses have the right strategy to break
the data silos and manage the new velocity of data, it will be impossible for them
to leverage the data and get the actual views of their business environment. Businesses
need to leverage the new technologies to select and gather specific data sets which
are important for their business needs.
#3 Build the
appropriate analytics models
While data is
extremely important, what is even more critical is the analytics model which
can allow the business managers take the right decisions and optimize the
outcomes. The right way to build the most suitable analytics model is to define
the desired business outcomes and build a model that can improve the business
performance.
#4 Build data culture
One of the crucial
factors for the success of data-driven business transformation is to build a
data-driven organizational culture. The members of the organization and the
relevant stakeholders need to understand and be convinced on how to leverage
data. To influence the culture change, the Chief Data Officers can help the
members of the organization understand how the data can help in different
styles of decision making, how stakeholders can engage with the data, and how
measurable business outcomes can be achieved through the data and analytics
initiatives.
#5 Measure success
and failure
To ensure that
the data initiatives deliver the desired business impact, it is important to
constantly and critically measure the success and failure. The focus needs to
be on insights as a crucial KPI.
#6 Care about data
privacy and security
If the data is
not handled by taking care of the critical aspects of security and privacy, it
can expose the business to not only bad and unreliable decisions but also to
other severe threats. Data security and privacy, therefore, should be of prime
significance. It is also important to ensure that the contractual, compliance
and regulatory guidelines with respect to data are adhered to.
#7 Provide
actionable insights
The data-driven
insights are useful only when the insights are actionable. The members of the
organization should be able to take tangible actions from the data – and that
too, in a timely manner. Unless the insights are provided to the “point of
action”, it is difficult to gain the real value from the data and analytics.
If you find that
your business is not sufficiently leveraging the data, it is time to consider
data-driven transformation seriously. As we saw, while the use of big data and
analytics techniques is important, the success of the initiative depends heavily
on the solid foundation, systems, processes, and of course, people.
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