Experts agree: A data-driven culture starts at the top
No matter the analogy about data — that it’s the lifeblood, fuel, engine, or new oil — business leaders have little doubt about its importance to driving decision making and delivering business value.
The challenge for many leadership teams is that not everyone in the organization shares that vision of data’s power and possibilities. Often, they don’t embrace data for decision-making because they don’t have easy access to the right tools and license to explore data for ideas and opportunities.
A true data-driven culture “treats data as a strategic asset of the company by making data widely available and accessible,” writes Ishit Vachhrajani, enterprise strategist with AWS. “It focuses on capturing, cleaning, and curating meaningful data from across the business. It promotes frequent experimentation to learn and improve.”
So, what are the best ways for business leaders to create a data-driven culture? That’s the question we posed to the IDG Influencer Network, a community of journalists, industry analysts, and IT professionals who contribute their knowledge and expertise to the broader IDG community. Here are some key takeaways from their responses.
“Creating a data-driven culture starts at the top,” says Gene De Libero (@GeneDeLibero), chief strategy officer and head of consulting at GeekHive. “Senior leaders must become data evangelists, educating everyone across the enterprise about accurately collecting, managing, and sharing data internally and externally to create insights that drive daily decision-making for the entire organization.”
“Buy-in for a data-driven culture must come from the C-suite and other senior leaders in order to get buy-in from other departments. This top-down effect will set the example, and also create a standard that everyone across the organization follows.” — Deb Gildersleeve (@DebGildersleeve), CIO at QuickBase
“Data-driven culture has to be driven from the very top management. They lead by example, setting expectations that decisions must be made with the use of data. Such leadership can catalyze substantial shifts in company-wide norms.” — Alvin Foo (@alvinfoo), co-founder DAOventures
“The most important thing a company leader can do is not related to tech; it’s about the vision and how they best serve the needs of their customers.” — Noelle Silver (@NoelleSilver_), founder of AILI
“Focus on data-driven discussions, avoid hearsay or stories. If the entire leadership team starts using that approach, staff will soon focus on getting and using the data to make decisions.” — Martin Davis (@mcdavis10), CIO
Next, turn to the data itself, says Ben Rothke (benrothke), senior information security manager at Tapad. “To create a data-driven culture, a company must know exactly what they are collecting and what they want from their data,” he says.
“We need clean and unbiased data coming from multiple sources, and technology tools that can capture data and display it in easy-to-understand formats.” — Arsalan Khan (@ArsalanAKhan), blogger on business and digital transformation
“Leaders must create data policies for different stakeholders.
