Tips for CEOs on Data and Analytics (D&A) enablement approach

Agile Data and Analytics (D&A) capabilities are increasingly seen as the critical enabler for dealing with current business challenges and addressing future opportunities. Organizations need high-quality, trusted data to enable decision-making from the boardroom to operations.

Gartner states, “The need for more accurate contextual awareness enabled by capabilities to scenario plan, optimize, prioritize, and focus investments are high priorities.”

To have any chance for success in using data for insights, organizations need their data analytics initiatives tied to measurable business outcomes with proper data governance, collaboration, and sharing approaches so they can support and scale quantifiable business impacts.

Following are the five stages to drive value from Data and Analytics (D&A) capabilities:

Most small and mid-size firms’ technology teams lack the understanding of their organization’s needs around D&A. It seems overwhelming tasks to build efficient D&A capabilities within an organization.

An excellent place to start is to understand the needs by doing a D&A Capability Assessment, which can be a low-effort, high-level impact exercise to understand, manage, and improve critical corporate D&A needs. The D&A Capability Assessment, if done right, can provide the most pressing analytics needs, so the focus can be on improvement efforts to provide game-changing insights to the organization.

Assessment can identify gaps in the following areas:

Based on the assessment, an approach can be devised to address the organization's immediate and long-term Data & Analytics needs.

As a seasoned CTO, I have assisted dozens of organizations in their Data & Analytics (D&A) transformation journey, including prominent organizations in associations, nonprofits, education, manufacturing, logistics, and supply chains. For more information and guidance, you can find me at rizwan.khan@mac.com.