When it comes to implementing emerging technologies and advanced analytics, it’s easy to get caught up in building the business case. But we can all think of businesses that devoted significant time and resources to leading-edge solutions and still failed to see results.
If Peter Drucker was right – and he’s Peter Drucker, so he probably was – culture eats strategy for breakfast.
This is not to say that your data initiatives are doomed to the frying pan (sorry, we couldn’t resist). Rather, to deliver value quickly, you can’t stop at data strategy, quality, and governance.
It’s not enough to build a business case for data. You need a business culture to support it.
Where do you start? How do you get from buzzwords like “data literacy” and “data culture” to confidence that data is driving better decisions across the business?
In our experience, success starts with aligning people, processes, and business goals with purpose-built data and technology solutions. When people understand what data makes possible and how it impacts their job, where to find it, and how to read and interpret the data they need, convincing them to use it to drive better decision making is a much easier lift.
Easier said than done? You bet. We love a complicated algorithm or elegant data architecture, and we’re basically ninjas at selling business cases through (if we do say so ourselves). But there’s a reason Fusion stakes a claim on being people-focused. Because we don’t just love data. We love when it works.
Get smart: If you’re looking for an overview of data culture and a baseline for building data literacy across your organization, we recommend Be Data Literate by Jordan Morrow. Although written as a primer for individuals, the book’s framework could easily be used as a springboard for helping your whole company level up its data acumen.