Conversations with Data: What does it take to have a great conversation?
Data is at the foundation of everything we do today. Enterprises that are in control of their data, understand it and know how to use it are the ones who make better, informed decisions and sound technology investments.
In this series, I would like to list my thoughts around Data. We will go on an amazing journey together, where we discover ‘What it means to be Data-Driven, coming up and implementing a Data Strategy, Democratization and a host of other topics associated with data. Theory, stories from experience and thoughts on the future of data and enterprises.
The articles will be short (data bytes!) and each one will cover a single concept or point of view.
Let’s start with:
A Case for becoming a data-driven enterprise:
Few organizations are truly data-driven.
The more an organization is able to drive its operational and strategic decisions using the intelligence derived from its data, the higher is its score on the Data-Driven index (what we can refer to as Data IQ).
Apart from enabling optimized operations, data driven decisions have a far reaching effect on organizations. Business decisions, technology investments, creation and optimization of products and services, and of course, increasing the Analytical Quotient of organizations are areas where utilizing the data to guide the path or to supplement human decisions goes a long way.
We are in a state where we have plenty of data to go around, but the information derived is pretty limited.
To derive real value, it is not enough to merely mouth clichés such as ‘Data is the next oil’. The truth is in asking yourself the question:
“How much do I really understand my data?”
Conversing with your data
The ability to be able to ‘converse’ with your data is, in my opinion, the differentiator between organizations serious about their data and others who aren’t. Conversation isn’t merely coming up with colourful dashboards that spew a multitude of graphs or display a set of numbers. Conversation isn’t when you just look at causation and correlation trends and decide to go ahead with whatever catches your fancy. Conversation isn’t when you capture logs and present them in obscure ways to inform that something happened!
“Data can reveal secrets to those with the humility, the willingness and the tools to listen”
Big Data — Viktor & Kenneth
Having a great conversation needs,
- A deeper understanding of the data you possess
- A clearer linking of the relationships among the pieces of information
- A clarity on what would you like to achieve from the conversation
- A mind-set that focuses on the utility of each byte of data
- An analysis model that seeks to build additional and non-traditional relationships among the various pieces
- A willingness to go through the messiness, like hunting through the mud to seek the diamonds!
- A need to step beyond current knowledge levels and lowering our guard of ‘I know’
Summary:
The ability to be able to ‘converse’ with your data is, in my opinion, the differentiator between organizations serious about their data and others who aren’t. This requires getting into a conversational mindset wherein you seek to understand the data that you have at hand, better. Be curious and insights driven — data will reveal its secrets!
Next Article in this series: Unearthing the value of Data
My Article on LinkedIn: Here
