Information is everywhere.
In business, being able to collect, analyze, and interpret data can provide a competitive advantage. Some organizations understand the role data can play in their operations but struggle to make it useful. Others still find little reason to care about how data can be used in decision-making, determining outcomes, and driving results. Data experts Joy Eakins, Cornerstone Data President, and Christopher Wyant, Director of Advanced Analytics, are on a mission to change how you think about data.
They offer insight into why businesses should care about data and tips for empowering data success.
So why should businesses care about data?
“Businesses care about tools and information that help them meet their immediate goals and targets,” Wyant says. “If data and analytics isn’t speaking their language in this manner, they will shrug them off and continue doing what they are doing. Even if it is at their own peril and expense.”
He says businesses can overcome that mindset by incorporating data-informed decision-making. This approach assists businesses in refocusing to meet their immediate goals and, with maturity, can lead to cost savings, efficiency improvements, and increased revenue.
Sounds appealing, right?
Data can also provide customer insights into behavior, preferences, and feedback. Businesses can use that information to personalize experiences, segment audiences, and enhance customer satisfaction overall.
Effectively using data also creates opportunities for operational agility. Organizations can be better equipped to respond quickly to market changes and adjust strategies accordingly.
Wyant says data can reveal market trends and show where customer needs aren’t being met, which can lead to innovative ways to create or produce new products or services that can meet those needs.
Data also helps businesses with risk management and mitigation by identifying potential threats.
“To keep up with their competitors or even to disrupt their market, leaders need to consider how they might employ these advanced tools inside their organization to help them serve their organization’s interests,” Eakins says.
That’s where Cornerstone Data can help.
Eakins notes that while business leaders increasingly recognize the need to adopt data-informed decision-making, “data maturity” has not kept up. This gap implies that many organizations struggle to fully integrate data into their strategic processes.
For businesses, this means missed opportunities to optimize operations, understand customer preferences, and predict market trends. Without a mature data strategy, companies remain at a disadvantage, unable to leverage the full potential of their data to drive growth and innovation.
“We walk alongside leaders and help them evaluate their data maturity with a framework that includes aspects for infrastructure and culture,” Eakins says. “Our team is skilled at building the infrastructure required for the data to be ready for analytics at the pace their people are prepared to adopt it.”
Cornerstone also provides data-analysis training for its customers to help their teams adopt new strategies and consider what data would be helpful when making decisions critical to the organization’s operations.
If data-analytics outcomes seem a bit overwhelming, that’s ok.
Eakins advises business leaders to start small and determine what information is already being tracked or what questions are being asked.
“If the two match – you are in a good place to start using data,” Eakins says. “If not, then you will want to determine what data you need to track to be able to answer your questions and start storing that information.”
Want to empower data success in your business?
