3 Questions Every Data-Driven Company Needs to Ask

As the chief marketing officer of a data integration and analytics company, I spend a lot of time discussing the hidden possibilities in data. Being “data-driven” is something more and more companies strive to become, especially in these times of uncertainty.

One can easily get caught up in the notion that being data-driven is really about machines. The reality is, to make substantive gains, decision-makers must embrace the human side of the equation as well.

We’re all human, and we all have that never-ending belief in our “gut” — that overwhelming feeling that we just know the right answer, whether it’s from experience, hearsay, or a collection of recent observations.

The truth is that it’s really the combination of human intuition with analysis that unlocks the value of data. So while business intelligence (BI) and visual analytics deliver logic, computation, and speed, humans have an incredible ability to bring vital creative thinking to the mix. If your company has implemented these technologies with limited effect on the bottom line, then you may be forgetting the human factor.

Here are three questions that you and your leadership team should be asking to get the biggest impact from your data and analytics efforts.

Machines tend to work linearly, whereas humans tend to think in a myriad of directions almost simultaneously. We might see something and immediately think of something else, asking the next question, and the next — and that’s what often leads to breakthroughs.

If we humans aren’t the ones asking the questions of the data — or we don’t know how to ask — then only the obvious insights are uncovered by our tools. Even as we augment our analysis with technology like the most powerful BI platforms, for instance, they still rely on human guidance to maximize their value.

In research commissioned by Qlik to inform our first Data Literacy Index, we found that out of over 600 global enterprise decision-makers we surveyed, just 24 percent are confident in their ability to make decisions using data. That means the vast majority of people within the average business are likely not maximizing the value of new technologies and the data they create. In a world that is increasingly based on the use of data to drive new revenue and support more effective decisions, that proficiency, commonly referred to as data literacy, is vital.

Leaders must invest in data literacy training for all their staff to ensure they have the skills necessary to effectively read and work with data, which will set the stage for increased data use and smarter decision-making. There are a variety of resources leaders can readily tap into to help close the data literacy skills gap, including assessments, free training courses, and certifications from the Data Literacy Project, a global community with the goal of creating a data-literate world.

The exploration of data and data discovery is what fuels innovation. Data discovery is the enabling of non-technical users to access and explore data, ask questions about that data, and find insights within the data.