Curiosity and Data Science: Let it Drive Your Business

We all know the age-old phrase: curiosity killed the cat. But when it comes to data science, curiosity can make your business come alive. In fact, the right mix of curiosity and data science could be your key differentiator in digital transformation.

Let me explain. In this new age of big data and data automation, lots of companies are using data to find patterns, create algorithms, and generally become smarter about their customers and their companies. But the best companies—the ones who will truly move the needle when it comes to customer experience and industry disruption—are the ones who question their data—look at it from all sides—consider what other stories it might be telling. The winning companies will be the ones that give data science its own place—and its own freedom—in the digital business domain.

If you’re like many businesses today, you have your data scientists lumped together somewhere under IT or the marketing department, and on the surface, both of those teams make sensical data managers. But what makes more sense is to give data science an umbrella in its own right. Why? When data science is managed by one team, the data gets used for one purpose—to support the marketing team’s goals or to make IT more efficient. The better decision is to allow data science to live on its own, with curious thought leaders who take a wholistic, unbiased look at patterns and keep the overall business goals in mind.

If you’re like many leaders, you might find it hard to imagine data science living on its own. The following are a few ways—and a few reasons—to give it a try.

Sometimes the pattern goes deeper than we realize. Often in data science, we’re quick to jump on the first pattern that seems to fit our business goal. We settle for the simple algorithm, rather than digging deeper, where a whole new treasure trove of customer information could lie.