When the term "data-driven business" comes up in meetings and conferences, most executives silently nod in complete agreement. But deep down, they're thinking, "What does this data-driven drivel even mean?"
Chances are, aspects of your organization are already very much data-driven, even if you haven't really thought of them in such a way before. Here are just a few ways businesses are using, or wanting to use, their data to help their business. While far from exhaustive list, hopefully, it helps to demystify the "data-driven" concept and apply it to real-world processes.
Discover New Opportunities to Increase Revenue
No matter the department, having clean, visualized, and actionable data can help departments find new opportunities to increase revenue or cut costs. Whether that means the sales team applying more effort towards pitching services that have higher margins or the marketing team being able to determine with which demographics their current campaigns are having the biggest impact, data empowers your employees to work smarter and get better results.
Identify Market Threats and Risks
Using data to spot industry trends can help businesses react more quickly to, or even predict, new developments within specific segments of their business. Whether that means spotting declining demand in a specific product or a glut in the production of business goods, businesses can react more quickly and more accurately to any changes within their industry to mitigate the threats these change pose.
Compliance With Government Regulations
As business leaders are aware, the penalties associated with violating federal laws can be enormous. The cost of these penalties usually dwarfs those associated with data quality solutions and investing in a data-first approach to business processes. The ability to document and prove compliance with state and federal regulations will undoubtedly increase in coming years as more governmental bodies create legislation to regulate the staggering increase of data being generated by businesses and consumers alike.
At the core, being data-driven isn't nearly as ambiguous as it may initially come across. Being data-driven really means being aware of the importance of your data to run a more accurate, more deliberate, and ultimately, a more successful organization.