Start here! Why Every Organization Needs to Unlock the Power of Data

Congratulations! You have started on your data journey.

Just by reading this blog post, you're on your way towards unlocking the value of your data. Are you already extracting value from it? If so, what were your objectives? Have you reached them? If not, let's explore why.

Have you ever thought any of the following:

• “I don't need data.”
• “I use my instincts to make decisions.”
• “Our company isn't mature enough to derive value from our data.”
• “Data is only for tech companies.”
• “I want to use data, but I don't know where to start.”
• “We have data, but we're not using it to make decisions.”
• “It's too difficult to get value from our data.”
• “Our data is too messy.”

If so, you are not alone. Many organizations face similar challenges.

The Three Blockers to Becoming a Data-Driven Organization

In our experience, there are three categories of blockers to becoming a data-driven organization: technology, strategy, and vision.

1. Technology blockers

These include inadequate tools or expertise to gain insights from your data. Extracting valuable learnings can prove difficult without the right systems and people in place. Problems such as disordered or unstructured data also fall into this category.

2. Strategy blockers

Poor planning or lack of organizational alignment can lead to strategy blockers. Even with clean and perfect data, you won't see results without a clear plan for using that data in decision-making. Organizations require a unified approach on how to best leverage their data. Otherwise, data is just numbers on a slide deck.

3. Vision blockers

Both technological and strategic challenges can be addressed with the help of a data consulting partner such as Semantiks Pro Services. Vision blockers, however, are often the hardest to overcome.

They stem from a lack of executive support or a belief in the value of data. The first step in unlocking the value of your data is choosing to value your data. Vision blockers require a cultural change within your organization to embrace data-driven decision making, and we are writing this blog post to make the case that every company can and should be data-driven.

What is Business Intelligence (BI)?

You've probably heard of the term “Business Intelligence” (BI), but what does it mean? At its core, BI can be summarized with two key questions:

• Are we good?
• How can we improve?

The purpose of BI is to evaluate the success of your organization and identify areas for improvement. And here's the truth: Every company in every industry benefits from answering these questions. Here are a few examples.

Business Intelligence in Action

Let's see how BI can be applied in different industries. Consider the following three, theoretical businesses: a sneaker company, an insurance provider, and a hospital. All three of them have their own business goals that could be summarized as providing goods and/or services, acquiring and retaining customers, and making money. Similarly, they all have different metrics they can track to measure how well they are performing against those goals:

• Sneaker company:
  Business Objectives: sell shoes, acquire and retain customers, and earn money.
  BI Objectives: Measure sales volume, identify best sellers, and use data to manage inventory & market popular styles.

• Insurance Company:
  Business Objectives: Minimize risk, draft and renew policies, and earn money.
  BI Objectives: Analyze policy payments, renewal rates and claims trends to improve enrollment practices and optimize premium pricing.

• Hospital:
  Business Objectives: Treat diseases quickly and effectively, acquire and retain patients, and earn money.
  BI Objectives: Measure patient volume, diagnostic accuracy, and treatment effectiveness to optimize staffing & promote top performing doctors.

No matter the industry, BI enables organizations to measure their success and identify opportunities for growth.

The decision is yours

Only you can choose to invest in gaining insights from your data and open the door to smarter decision-making and sustained success.

The experts at Semantiks Pro Services are here to help you solve your strategic and data technology needs—whenever you're ready.

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