By David A. Kelly
Whether you fully believe the hype or not, big data will continue to
have a fundamental impact on your business over the next few years. Yet
jumping on the big data bandwagon can backfire in a very expensive way
without a concise blueprint for leveraging, acting on and benefitting
from the information.
To exploit big data, better predict outcomes and improve every aspect of the business, organizations must have a big data strategy—one
that melds into the overall corporate plan. “A big data strategy is
mandatory in my opinion,” points out Claudia Imhoff, president of
Intelligent Solutions, Inc., and founder of the Boulder Business
Intelligence Brain Trust. “Otherwise, you’re investing in a solution
looking for a problem.”
Better Customer Experience
The strategy must document how opportunities afforded by data will
align with the strategic priorities of the business, enabling the
company to reach its objectives. Of course, the strategy should access
all available data and prioritize its usage to allow the organization to
become more agile while operationalizing big data to inform business
decisions in real time.
Know Where You’re Going
Taking advantage of all available data requires substantial changes
for most companies in how they collect, process and act on information.
“When it comes to big data, the first challenge for many organizations
is to determine how the business is going to handle the huge volumes
that can be associated with big data,” says Imhoff. “The second
challenge is to figure out where the value is in all that data.”
HIH Dollar Decisions
Once the value is identified, the prospects flowing from an
intelligent strategy to capitalize on that value can be significant and
wide-ranging. “There can be a tremendous opportunity to drive waste out
by using big data,” says Dan Vesset, vice president, Business Analytics
and Big Data Program for IDC. Big data can help organizations see new
and unique opportunities to optimize discounting, identify more relevant
product or service recommendations and increase customer retention.
Critical Information
Create A Business-Centric Plan
The first step in the strategy is to identify problems and the
business case. From there, the organization needs to invest time and
effort upfront to choose a technology solution that truly supports the
current and future needs of the business. Or if one is already in place,
leverage it to maximum value.
Most importantly, a big data strategy needs to circle back to what
can be done with the results of data analysis and how those insights can
be embedded in organizational processes and decisions. “A big data
strategy needs to be more than a technology discussion. It also needs to
focus on defining a business goal, identifying who you are going to
work with to achieve it, and how you’re going to find or train the
necessary talent,” says Vince Dell’Anno, managing director, Information
Management – Data Supply Chain, Accenture Analytics. “We’ve seen a real
shift over the past three years from organizations having an awareness
of big data and its potential, toward organizations pursuing pilots and
proof-of-concepts and experiencing the value from big data.”
In addition, organizations should foster an operational mindset for
practicing data-based decision making. They need a company-wide culture
that encourages and rewards data usage, positive outcomes and value
delivered to the business. In addition, they should document how
opportunities afforded by the data will complement other data
initiatives to drive innovation.
“Organizations need to have a focus on innovation,” says Dell’Anno.
“Beyond technology innovation, they should explore how to most rapidly
gain insight from their data to initiate new innovative ideas for the
business and its consumers. Increasing your ability to analyze data from
across the enterprise at an accelerated pace can help make you more
competitive.”
A Foundation For The Future
“Big data is rapidly changing our economic environment,” says Arent
van ’t Spijker, author and senior consultant at BlinkLane Consulting in
Amsterdam. He points out that businesses must evolve to keep up with the
data, market and economic changes. “If companies don’t have a strategy
for using big data and simply stick to their old processes, they’ll end
up at a competitive disadvantage,” van ’t Spijker explains.
“Organizations simply can’t stick with their existing business model.
They need to change to adapt to their changing environment.”
Even if you’re not yet ready to jump feet first into big data, now is
the right time to start working on your big data strategy so you’ll be
ready to answer when opportunity—or disruption—comes knocking at your
door.
Credit: Forbes
No comments:
Post a Comment