Designing a data strategy that delivers value

Many across the pri­vate, pub­lic and third sec­tor believe that lever­ag­ing data is the domain of ecom­merce giants, retail busi­ness­es with deep pock­ets, or tech firms with Sil­i­con Val­ley mus­cle. Yet in an age when inno­va­tion is fast being com­modi­tised, data sci­ence can now offer incred­i­ble and achiev­able ben­e­fits to any organ­i­sa­tion. The first step involves unlock­ing the val­ue of data.

“Top exec­u­tives in every sec­tor realise that they sit on lots of data, how­ev­er, util­is­ing it can seem daunt­ing. Cre­at­ing a data strat­e­gy is the first deci­sion. This is about lay­ing the foun­da­tions for data empow­er­ment. It’s the begin­ning of a jour­ney and the most impor­tant call to make,” explains Giles Hor­wood, man­ag­ing direc­tor of Simp­son Asso­ciates, a lead­ing UK data ana­lyt­ics con­sul­tan­cy, with over 30 years’ expe­ri­ence.

How­ev­er, many organ­i­sa­tions expe­ri­ence iner­tia in any push to become data-dri­ven. Con­cerns around skills, devel­op­ing process­es, tech­nol­o­gy deliv­ery, bud­gets and uncer­tain out­comes stymy invest­ment, but these road­blocks can be over­come.

“The big issue is how to get going. With a short, sharp assess­ment, you can under­stand where you are when it comes to data matu­ri­ty. It doesn’t need to be a long-drawn-out process. But any data audit needs to be method­i­cal, work­ing out what’s valu­able and what’s not. What this starts to do is gen­er­ate an organ­i­sa­tion-wide con­ver­sa­tion about data, which is a cru­cial step,” details Hor­wood from Simp­son Asso­ciates, which works with a vast range of organ­i­sa­tions includ­ing the Nat­ur­al His­to­ry Muse­um, Bar­ratt Devel­op­ments, UK police forces and the Roy­al British Legion.

There are mis­per­cep­tions that unlock­ing the val­ue of data is eye-water­ing­ly expen­sive and all encom­pass­ing. In many cas­es, today, a data sci­ence, proof-of-con­cept can be eas­i­ly rolled out with­in weeks, not months. This can also work on dis­crete data silos and use cas­es. Results can be achieved quick­ly, demon­strat­ing a return on invest­ment.

“If you get your data strat­e­gy right from the start, you can deliv­er val­ue rapid­ly and effi­cient­ly. Eighty per­cent of data sci­ence involves prepar­ing the data. Hav­ing a foun­da­tion and method­ol­o­gy in place, know­ing where you are, what you need and how you get there, is vital. This then unlocks the poten­tial for any use case whether it’s machine learn­ing, arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence or data ana­lyt­ics,” states the man­ag­ing direc­tor of Simp­son Asso­ciates, which is a Microsoft Gold part­ner, hold­ing four gold com­pe­ten­cies in data and busi­ness intel­li­gence.

Demon­strat­ing ini­tial gains with a data strat­e­gy is impor­tant. It draws peo­ple, process­es and cul­ture into the equa­tion – after all, valu­ing data is a change-man­age­ment issue, but it requires a strong frame­work to dri­ve it for­ward. The right ques­tions need to be asked, while knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence is need­ed to artic­u­late what ‘good’ looks like.

“It is cru­cial to under­stand how to get the best out of your data oth­er­wise any strat­e­gy will fail. That is why we deploy a robust data-matu­ri­ty assess­ment. Under­stand­ing what the best use cas­es are in that indus­try, the mar­ket envi­ron­ment and how that sec­tor val­ues data is also cru­cial,” says Hor­wood from Simp­son Asso­ciates, which has recent­ly earned the Great Place to Work Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.

“Start­ing small and then scal­ing mat­ters. Every organ­i­sa­tion must show ear­ly wins and ROI when it comes to data-sci­ence projects, which can then be cham­pi­oned inter­nal­ly for fur­ther dig­i­tal-trans­for­ma­tion projects. It also opens up the poten­tial for valu­ing data in new ways from boost­ing pro­duc­tiv­i­ty to mon­etis­ing data-led ser­vices. In the cur­rent eco­nom­ic cli­mate, there are effi­cien­cy gains to be made using data to do more with less.”

“There’s so much poten­tial. We’re only just get­ting start­ed,” states Hor­wood.

Think about your data strat­e­gy today with simpson-associates.co.uk

Pro­mot­ed by Simp­son Asso­ciates