Maximize Efficiency & Identify Opportunities: How Data & Analytics Can Help Your Business Thrive During Uncertainty

With concerns mounting over stubbornly high inflation, interest rate hikes, rising debt servicing costs, and technological advancements in AI — business leaders are struggling to understand the current business climate and adequately prepare for challenges that may lie ahead.

It doesn’t need to be a struggle. There is a better, proven way to get ahead of uncertainty and make informed decisions about spend, business initiatives, and growth opportunities.

“When business leaders are unsure, or lack confidence because of unknowns, they usually hit pause,” says David Fussichen, CEO of Analytics8. “But this isn’t the first time we’ve faced disruptions; it certainly won’t be the last. How you react to it, how you set yourself apart from the rest, and how you put to test your resiliency will determine how you come out of it.”

In this blog, we cover:

1. How to foster a culture of agility and adaptability↵
2. How to drive data and analytics initiatives during uncertainty↵
3. How to use data and analytics to identify opportunities for growth and improvement↵
4. How to achieve operational efficiency in your data and analytics ecosystem↵
5. 3 Critical questions every data leader should be asking now↵

How to Foster a Culture of Agility and Adaptability 

As the current business landscape continues to shift, change, and keep us on our toes, companies have a few options:

1. Maintain the status quo and try to survive
2. Pause on growth initiatives
3. Adapt

Maintaining the status quo or pausing without insights is a strategy fraught with risk. The reality is: the most successful companies are using data and analytics to adapt and make strategic decisions to respond to the market.

“We should have all learned the importance of agility and adaptability during the pandemic, if not before,” Fussichen says. “Now is the time to improve on it and make decisions that will produce results, not risks.”

The first step toward resilience is building teams that are versatile and capable of handling a diverse array of tasks. Companies can’t afford to have idle teams or divisions because their specific skillset isn’t currently a priority. Successful businesses today are those that foster a culture of unity toward the corporate goals and where every team member is in it together.

The second step to agility and adaptability requires weaving data and analytics into the fabric of your decision-making processes, so you are less reactive and more prepared for change.

“Data isn’t just for your analytics team,” Fussichen emphasizes. “It’s a tool that should be utilized across the organization. When data is democratized, and everyone understands its value and how to use it, that’s when change becomes less scary. That’s when you get a true culture of agility and adaptability.”

How to Drive Data and Analytics Initiatives During Uncertainty

“With the right data and analytics initiatives, we can turn uncertainty into an opportunity for growth and innovation. Analytics is not always about predicting the future, but it is always about being prepared for it,” Fussichen says.

As a leader, you hold the key to propelling data-driven initiatives throughout your organization. This is especially important during times of uncertainty. This responsibility goes beyond just providing access to appropriate tools and data — it also demands cultivating the right mindset.

Cultivate a data-driven culture with curiosity, flexibility, data literacy, collaboration, strategic adaptability, and clear success metrics for thriving in a dynamic business landscape.

How to prioritize data and analytics and embed data-driven decision-making into your organization’s fabric:

1. Foster a culture of curiosity and innovation: Encourage your team to explore, innovate, and take risks with insights they get from their data. Make it clear that setbacks are part of the process and can lead to valuable insights. Such an environment will allow team members to test new ideas, learn from results, and iterate.
2. Encourage flexibility and adaptability: Reinforce the importance of being open to change and using data to guide the organization through shifts in the business landscape.

“Change is a constant in business,” Fussichen says. “The landscape will continue to shift, and the businesses that embrace this reality and use data to guide them through it will be the ones that thrive.”

3. Emphasize data literacy: Not everyone in your organization may be comfortable with data. Invest in training and educational resources to increase data literacy across your organization. This ensures that everyone can contribute to and benefit from data-driven decision making.
4. Promote cross-functional collaboration: Data silos can hinder your data and analytics initiatives. Foster a culture of collaboration where data is shared and used across departments. This will not only improve decision making but also promote a sense of collective purpose.
5. Regularly review and adapt your data strategy: The business environment is constantly evolving, and so should your data and analytics strategy. Regularly review your initiatives to ensure they are still aligned with your business goals. Be willing to adapt your data strategy based on the insights you gather.
6. Set clear, measurable success metrics: Reinforce the use of data by presenting your own data-driven expectations.

Read Why Now is the Right Time to Update Your Data Strategy – And How to Do It

How to Use Data and Analytics to Identify Opportunities for Growth and Improvement 

The potential is limitless with what you can achieve with data and analytics, but your starting points matters. Focus your analytics efforts on use cases involving your customers, your employees, and your supply chain to solve new challenges prompted by an unpredictable market.

“Using data-driven decision-making better positions you for success,” Fussichen says. “Nothing gives a leader more confidence than seeing the data behind what they’re doing and knowing whether something’s working or not. The same is true for your team.”

Focusing on customers, employees, and supply chain will allow you to (1) get a better understanding of the state of your business and (2) solve new challenges prompted by the uncertainty.

Tap into customer needs, harness the potential of ‘people data’ within your workforce, and leverage supply chain analytics to unveil new revenue streams and market opportunities.

• Dig into customer needs: Delve into the buying habits, behaviors, and preferences of the end consumers of your products or services to identify emerging trends and ways to serve your customers better than your competitors. The same applies if you are a B2B company — your product or service is still part of a supply chain that fulfills a consumer need.”
  
  Tip: Blending various sources of customer data together (i.e., – Marketo and SalesForce) allows you to gain a clearer picture of buying behavior. Don’t limit yourself to one data source. Going beyond high-level customer understanding can reveal valuable insights hidden in your data.
• Understand your workforce better with ‘people data’: The workforce landscape has evolved, making people analytics increasingly important for understanding your most valuable asset — your employees. Data analytics can be a mechanism to connect the right employee to the right project and uncover what makes your employees happy and productive.
  
  Tip: Connect people data from across your company to provide a holistic perspective of the employee experience. Examining data like customer satisfaction, employee sentiment, productivity metrics, and financials through the lens of your employees assists with decision-making in support of your people AND the business.
• Use supply chain analytics to identify new revenue streams and market opportunities: Supply chain analytics can address issues related to inventory, service levels, productivity, and labor planning. Real-time or near-real-time data is crucial for making informed decisions amidst supply chain disruptions, potentially uncovering new revenue streams.
  
  Tip: Prioritize analytics that reveal current supply chain patterns over those that expose outdated information. Access to real-time or near-real-time supply chain data is critical, not just a “nice-to-have.”

The ability to analyze these areas depends on a robust data strategy and infrastructure. Ensure your data strategy is aligned with your business reality and requirements and that your infrastructure supports agile decision-making in a rapidly changing economy.

Start with a Data Strategy Assessment to align your strategy to your business goals

How to Achieve Operational Efficiency in your Data Analytics Ecosystem 

Three areas impact your operational efficiency: tech, process, and talent strategy. When you know the purpose for each and become intimately familiar with how they work together, you can start to identify areas where costs can be reduced without negatively impacting performance.

“In a volatile economy, it’s crucial to make every dollar count,” Fussichen says. “Organizations must concentrate on areas that yield the highest return on investment. Data leaders need to immerse themselves and understand completely what the organization-wide goals are, but also to understand individual business stakeholders’ goals and where they overlap.”

Steer your business toward success by clarifying goals, investing in the right data tools, prioritizing training, regularly reviewing your strategy, and measuring the return on your data investments.

Here are key steps to achieve operational efficiency in your data and analytics ecosystem:

1. Clarify your business goals: Set clear objectives and align your data strategy with your overall business goals. Your investments should support these goals, leading to more focused and effective spending.
2. Invest in the right tools: Not all data tools are created equal. Choose technologies that are adaptable, scalable, and user-friendly, ensuring they can handle your current data needs and are accessible to team members across your organization.
3. Prioritize training: Investing in data and analytics tools is only half the battle. Ensure your team knows how to use them effectively. Prioritize training and upskilling to increase data literacy and ensure maximum utilization of your tools.
4. Review and revise regularly: Your data strategy should be dynamic, evolving with changes in the business environment. Regularly review and revise your data strategy and technology investments to ensure they continue to support your business goals.
5. Measure ROI: Continually measure the return on your data and analytics investments to determine if you’re getting the desired results and inform future investment decisions.

When it’s time to make your proposal for IT transformation initiatives, Fussichen says you need the numbers to back it up.

“If you can show that the initiative is going to benefit not just the company, but multiple departments, it’s the first step toward getting buy-in and cross-department support.”

Read about 5 Ways to Optimize Data & Analytics Spend

3 Critical Questions Every Data Leader Should be Asking Now

Here are some important questions that data leaders should be asking to hone their data strategies — not just during times of uncertainty — but always.

1. Is our data secure?
   At the top of any data leader’s priority list should be the security of the organization’s data. The increasing frequency of data breaches in recent years makes this an area of concern that cannot be ignored.
2. Am I effectively communicating my [the organizations’] needs?
   One of the biggest challenges that data leaders face is securing the necessary budget to achieve their goals. Being a good communicator and articulating your needs effectively to key decision-makers, like the CEO or CFO, is crucial. Highlight the potential benefits of an improved data analytics ecosystem (supported by numbers), and warn them of the adverse consequences of inaction, such as the cost of not addressing years of accrued technical debt.
3. Is our data and analytics ecosystem healthy?
   Data leaders should regularly monitor the health of their data and analytics ecosystem. Better ROI comes from proactively addressing potential issues before they grow into larger problems. Small oversights, like delaying a system upgrade, might seem inconsequential in the moment, but these can add up over time and eventually lead to a crisis.

Act on the answers to these questions, and you will be in a strong position to steer your organizations toward a future where data is a source of strength and competitive advantage.

“Investing in data and analytics isn’t just about the technology. It’s about creating a culture of curiosity, adaptability, and resilience,” Fussichen says. “It’s about making data a language everyone in your organization speaks and understands. When we achieve that, uncertainty doesn’t seem so daunting, but instead becomes a landscape of opportunities.”

Talk to an expert about your data and analytics needs.