Businesses now have more data at their fingertips than at any other point in history. The touchpoints and avenues through which data flows from customers, devices, and software have created an overabundance of information.
So why do so many of us struggle with putting that data to good use? Instead of sitting on a goldmine, most feel like they’re sinking in quicksand. This is the data paradox: Having so much information coming in at once that it becomes unwieldy and is left unused.
Getting the most out of your data—by developing a data-ready culture in your organization—can seem like an impossible mission. But it’s one that your company must choose to accept.
However, you don’t have to do it alone. As in any great action movie, the best way to approach an impossible assignment is to put together a killer team of experts.
To help your organization succeed in data transformation, we’ve compiled a dossier full of top-secret intelligence. It’s called “Beating the Data Paradox: No Mission is Impossible”.
The guide features the following four experts in data and business technology:
- Matt Baker, Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Strategy, Dell Technologies
- Sally Eaves, CEO and Director, Sally Eaves Consultancy
- Brian Hopkins, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester
- Shelly Kramer, Principal Analyst and Founding Partner, Futurum Research
- Theodora Lau, Founder, Unconventional Ventures
- Giuliano Liguori, Founder, Digital Leaders
- Bernard Marr, Founder & CEO, Bernard Marr & Co
- Nicole Reineke, Distinguished Engineer, Dell Technologies
Assemble your A-Team
While data is often viewed as a technology issue, the quickest way to break down data silos and enact changes that lead to better use of data is to have the right people in the right positions. To defeat the data paradox, you need to pull together a team with a diversity of perspectives and skills, a clear company-wide mission, and effective leadership.
Your leadership team should consist of people who understand and appreciate the people-power behind the data. Their mission: breaking down silos and sharing data.
Your chief information officer is the intermediary between the executive suite and the IT department, ensuring the safety and integrity of the data your company gathers and uses. Your data architect organizes the data flow in a sensible manner. Together, these two lead the team by ensuring they are able to pursue the mission with efficiency.
Under this excellent leadership is a team of data taxonomists, data scientists, and software developers drawing on their individual strengths while working together to take down the data paradox. Their mission: Classify, organize, and analyze the data.
Finally, every employee within the company plays a role in ensuring the defeat of the data paradox. Regular training on data management—how-to and why—will go a long way to keeping every person in the company mission-ready.
The big payout
Your team is in place. The overarching mission is clear: End the data paradox.
Leadership is on-hand to make the big calls and monitor progress. On the front lines, silos are crumbling, releasing floods of data. Team members integrate those errant data flows into a channel that feeds the whole organization. Still, others filter the data, analyze it, and pull out the most valuable pieces.
Like some trick of alchemy, the raw data has been converted to gold. The mission is complete.
There’s always a sequel
Defeating the data paradox calls for a celebration (and maybe some shawarma), but don’t leave before the credits roll. Today’s victory only counts if you ensure the personnel structures and supportive technology are in place to avoid similar pitfalls in the future.
Will there be a new data paradox on your horizon? With the speed at which technology is advancing, it can be difficult to always predict and stay ahead of new challenges. But as long as you have an ace team and a data-hungry culture, you’ll be ready for whatever comes next. If your organization is ready for a people-powered approach to data, our eBook will set you on a path to victory.