Who Needs A Big Data Strategy, Anyway?

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