Companies must embrace bold change and abandon incrementalism to fully benefit from data analytics, asserts a new Gartner white paper.
Incremental change may feel safe, as managers believe it avoids mistaken commitments to the wrong strategy. However, successfully integrating data analytics into digital business is not incremental. It calls for reorganizing the entire business model in a way that touches all operations, according to the white paper, Mastering Data and Analytics: ‘Table Stakes’ for Digital Business. It means embedding data and analytics within business processes as opposed to being an “after the fact” addition.
“Enterprises not working to develop digital business models and supporting infrastructure today will find themselves functionally behind within three years,” the Gartner team states.
Some organizations create a chief data officer position tasked with creating a “data and analytics strategy.” Others recognize the importance of data and analytics and adopt it as a clear part of their overall strategy, with or without a CDO.
Either way, a preparation phase is key to successfully incorporating data and analytics in digital business operations. This vision phase needs to respect the four types of data and analytics strategy.
Time to End Silos
Incremental approaches tend to reflect compromises that will not break down silos fast enough, or leave functional gaps that perpetuate kludges rather than resolve them. The goal is to build a digital business that may require the elimination of some large siloed applications and datasets to achieve the transformation.
Taking full advantage of data analytics requires a shift in mindset from viewing data and analytics as a set of related disciplines to a multidisciplinary field within a larger digital business strategy.
Recommended Best Practices
The white paper oulines best practices for integrating data analytics into the organization:
- Approach data and analytics as a core strategic capability within a larger digital business strategy, not simply as a set of related initiatives.
- Leverage data and analytics for intelligent business processes, which identify and enable digital business moments.
- Start small and build momentum by alleviating operational pain and deriving business value.
- Build an agile, repeatable methodology, positioning data and analytics capabilities as embedded within the infrastructure of digital business.
Marketers Blocked by Silos
Other studies reveal that marketers struggle to break down departmental silos and integrate data from disparate sources. They also typically recommend breaking down departmental silos in order to obtain the full benefits of data analytics. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) study, Broken Links: Why Analytics Investments Have Yet to Pay Off reveals that most corporate executives understand the importance of marketing analytics, yet few companies gain significant benefits from analytics.
Investing in cloud-based solutions can help companies break down data silos and put their big data stores to better use. More than 90 percent of respondents surveyed have invested in cloud-based big data infrastructure or are planning to do so, yet only 8 percent have fully integrated it into their analytics capability.
“While nearly all companies invest in analytics, few organizations are getting it right and generating meaningful business impact,” stated Dan Wetherill, an associate principal on ZS’s analytics process optimization team and leader of the study, in a ZS news release. “Our study indicates that strong collaboration between executives and analytics professionals and a willingness to embed analytics processes more closely into the fabric of the business can help companies increase customer engagement and profits.”
Bottom Line: Although business leaders, including marketing managers, recognize the benefits of data analytics, most have yet see its full benefits. The solution is abandon incremental change and embrace bold change that integrates data analytics throughout the organization.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
