How C-suite leaders can power up growth with A-game analytics

Andrew Dunbar, GM EMEA, explores creating robust, accessible and well-designed data analytics platforms to generate business insights in his latest article for The Drum.

From Brexit teething problems (opens in new window) to the push for hybrid working (opens in new window) and growing calls (opens in new window) for action on the environment, management teams across every sector are facing a slew of unexpected and unprecedented challenges right now. However, in many cases, they already have the solution to their problem, yet they cannot access it.

The answer to many critical strategic issues post-Covid lies in the vast oceans of data companies accumulate during their day-to-day operations. Whether it’s consumer purchasing patterns, the ebb and flow of supplier demand or assessing different regional and channel responses to a new global marketing campaign in real-time, clues to the most competitive course of action typically lie within reach. But like a miner who doesn’t have the right equipment to extract valuable commodities from rocky ground, data’s ultimate prize remains out of reach for many companies because they struggle to transform raw information (opens in new window) into practical insights.

Often it’s not through lack of effort. All companies see the benefit of being data-led, and many have invested significant resources in data analytics to generate business intelligence. For some, such as banking group RBS, this effort has paid off dramatically: RBS’s adoption of data-driven decision-making contributed to the bank reducing the time to market from months to two weeks. For others, it has led to frustration, disenchantment and pushback. In our experience, problems with data analytics are generally the result of the same core issues. Here are five top tips for fixing those basic problems, helping data analytics deliver at all levels of business management.