Business intelligence (BI) is increasingly being put forward within companies. It is essential to informed decision-making by all stakeholders.
But to adopt it effectively and realize its full potential, a strong data culture is essential.
In this article, we’ll demystify what an corporate data culture is, how to establish it sustainably and what obstacles to avoid when adopting it.
What is corporate data culture?
Corporate data culture is characterized by the orientation of business decisions according to corporate data. There’s no room for intuition here: we rely on truthful, reliable data. Every decision must be based on a data-driven approach, which prioritizes data analysis and interpretation.
This approach needs to be driven by a number of stakeholders within a company who will help to nurture this BI culture on a regular basis, continuing to put data and BI tools at the heart of their strategy.
Who are the key players in creating a strong data culture?
Establishing a data-driven culture is not a task to be accomplished solo. A number of resources are not only useful, but necessary for the establishment of such a culture, and even for the successful adoption of BI:
- Management: Obviously, for a data culture to work, management needs to be involved, both in understanding and adopting the tools, and in implementing processes and projects that will transform the way the company makes day-to-day decisions.
- Managers: For business intelligence to be transposed within teams, we need managers who will take part in creating this data culture, notably by providing their teams with the right BI tools and basing their decision-making on the data they gather.
- The business intelligence team: An essential element in establishing a successful data-driven culture within the company, the BI team must be solid and supported by management and executives. Its mandate is to develop tools that meet the needs of the company and its business sector.
- Stakeholders in several departments: These are people interested in understanding business intelligence tools, available to help the BI team develop the right solutions to help employees in their day-to-day work. They will become BI super users, helping to spread BI throughout the company.
How can you benefit from BI?
It’s one thing to have access to a wealth of data, but it’s another to learn how to use it to make better informed business decisions.
First, it’s important to have a well-defined and structured plan with several steps that will help to successfully integrate BI and a data culture within the company. You need a BI team that has mastered the various business intelligence tools and understands how to transform corporate data into decision-making information. To achieve this, ongoing investment is required to keep up to date with the latest tools and trends.
Next, consider automating current processes such as Excel files or data entry. The aim of this automation: to simplify all manual processes using BI tools to gain in efficiency and eliminate the risk of human error as far as possible. This increases employee productivity, freeing up time for tasks with limited added value. A good understanding of the field and the various business rules is essential at this stage.
Finally, data must be at the heart of everyday conversations to start building a solid culture. Whether it’s leaving more room for BI in decision-making meetings, offering training to make better use of the various BI tools, or even making decisions through storytelling, business intelligence must become the source of truth for all stakeholders.
Why is it so difficult to establish a sustainable corporate data culture?
Establishing a data culture is only the first step. For it to be truly successful, it must be a long-term process.
What can lead to the failure of a data culture? The problem often stems from the fact that companies cultivate a wealth of data on their operations, but often don’t know how to use it properly.
Data is only useful for decision-making if it can be used. To ensure that it is , the BI team needs to take a number of steps, including identifying the various data sources, collecting and storing the data, and then processing and analyzing it. Many companies don’t have enough data professionals in their ranks to make this happen.
Data misuse, however, is not the only culprit. A lack of investment in resources and time on the part of management, as well as a lack of training on BI tools, are other sources that can lead to a poor adoption of data culture within the company and, ultimately, a return to past business practices.
Conclusion
As you have seen, a number of factors need to come together to instill a successful corporate data culture. These include having the right elements in place, as well as building a strategic plan (and, more importantly, following it) to achieve your goal.
To successfully establish a data-driven culture within your company, Uzinakod puts its team of BI experts at your disposal, ready to support you in implementing a strategy that matches the reality of your company and your industry.
Whether it’s to train your in-house team in the adoption of the right BI tools, or to build a customized business intelligence adoption plan for your company, contact us today and start transforming your business, one BI action at a time.
