The Silver Bullets are Data + Analytics
So why are so many companies terrible with data and analytics? We find that the most common culprit is simple; the business has just never run with this as a fundamental priority and therefore not sure where to start.
Your company will not achieve capital-efficient growth without rolling up your sleeves and building out a data and analytics infrastructure. Once you do, you can begin to transition the organization to a "data-driven" mindset, which will significantly increase the speed and confidence of your decisions.
The articles below will help you get started.
Your Data Is Your Lifeblood — Set up the Analytics It Deserves
• Author: Ben Porterfield, Co-Founder & VP Engineering, Looker (now part of Google)
What is this about?
Looker is a business intelligence tool that ingests data from various systems and makes it actionable through visualizations and drill-down reporting. Ben Porterfield leads the team that created this powerful tool. He shares his insights regarding the common mistakes companies make regarding analytics and provides several practical solutions.
Why does it matter?
As much as we (business people) talk about "data and analytics," there is still a *huge* gap between talk and action. In our extensive experience with companies across size and industries, the lack of a unified data and analytics foundation is the single biggest inhibitor to growth.
How can you apply it?
Ben provides some insight on a few key points that we pursue in every one of our engagements:
- Do not wait. Start small if necessary, but just get started.
- Combine "events" and operational data
- Leverage inexpensive, scalable tools to capture data
- Do not summarize, but capture data as it is created
Time
This post is on the longer side, but is filled with examples from companies like Venmo, Dollar Shave Club, Looker and others, so well worth the 8-10 minutes!
Establishing a Culture of Analytics
• Author: George Krasadakis, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft
What is this about?
This post written by George Krasadakis, a veteran of Analytics and AI, covers the three keys to make the transformation to a data-driven company; data, technology and mindset.
Why does it matter?
There is an abundance of information regarding the data and tech side of data-driven transformation, but much less written about the people/cultural side. In our experience, this is actually the biggest inhibitor to achieving data-driven growth. Yield Group can build out a data and analytics engine that turbo charges revenue growth, but if the company continues to make decisions with intuition or worse, HPPO (Highest Paid Person's Opinion), then the potential will never be realized.
How can you apply it?
It starts with a mindset shift at the leadership level. As you find your teams contemplating a decision, start asking, "so what is the hypothesis? How can we test it? How are we going to measure success? What data do we still need?"
Do this consistently and the impact on the organization will be profound.
Time
This is a 5-minute +/- read.
