Getting Value From Your Data Series: The Road May Be Rocky But It’s Well Worth the Effort!

By Mary Ludloff and Marilyn Craig

Unless you’ve been asleep for the past couple of years, you, like us, have heard this phrase again and again:  Data is the new oil.  It certainly sounds great but what exactly does it mean? Here’s our take: Getting the most value out of your data can make you better at what you do as well as enable you to do more with what you have. In other words, there’s unrealized value in those data silos that all companies have. But make no mistake: the road to realizing data value is paved with good intentions and often times, poor execution and results.

Today, most companies are drowning in data—there’s historical data from operations, data from public sources, data from partners and acquisitions, data you can purchase from data brokers, etc.  These companies have read all the research and want to leverage their data assets to make “better” operational decisions, to offer their existing customer base more insights, to pursue new revenue opportunities. Of course, the real value in that data is derived from the business analytics that deliver the insights that drive better decisions. As we’ve said quite often on this blog: Data, without the proper use of analytics, is meaningless. If data is the new oil, think of analytics as the oil drills—you need both to be successful.