Most businesses don’t know they have a data problem until their data is already holding them back.
Spreadsheets that used to work are now cumbersome. Reports that took an afternoon now take a week. And no two teams are looking at the same numbers.
Sound familiar?
If so, your organization’s lack of data strategy could be quietly stifling your growth.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
Businesses are collecting more data than ever before. And you know what they say about data…
Information is power.
But here’s what a lot of business owners don’t realize…
It’s not enough to just collect data. You also need a plan for that data. An organizational data strategy defines how data gets collected, stored, managed, and used to make smart decisions. Without one, businesses are literally flying blind.
This is where data strategy consulting plays a key role in any serious conversation around organizational data strategy. Spending time laying the proper framework upfront will pay massive dividends down the road when it comes to turning your data into growth.
But here’s the truth:
Only 23.9% of businesses consider themselves data-driven organizations, and only 20.6% say they have a strong data culture. This leaves a vast majority of businesses floundering without a rock solid foundation.
So how do you know if your current setup has become outdated? Here are six of the most obvious signs.
One of the biggest red flags of all. And unfortunately, the most common.
Leaders are making decisions without reliable data to back them up because they simply can’t access that data in a timely manner. Taking major decisions off-gut is never a good look. But when it happens regularly, instead of the exception, you’ve got a problem.
Your data strategy should empower your organization by putting the right information into the hands of the right people at the right time. If leaders are forced to make important decisions without reliable data to back them up, your strategy simply isn’t ready for prime time just yet.
And no, that’s not meant metaphorically. The data is actually living in far too many different places.
The marketing team is pulling numbers from one platform. Sales has its own spreadsheet. Finance is looking somewhere entirely different. And no one’s data is aligning with another team’s.
Welcome to data siloing. It’s a real issue and 68% of businesses cite data silos as their biggest data management challenge — up 7% from last year.
When your data lives in silos (far-flung systems with little to no connectivity), gaining a clear understanding of what’s actually going on inside your business becomes impossible.
If it takes days of cajoling and concatenating spreadsheets just to build a basic report…you have issues.
Reporting should be fast, repeatable, and reliable. When it’s not, what you’re really seeing is your data infrastructure starting to lag behind the growth of your business. Instead of spending time analyzing data, your teams are bogged down with just trying to find it.
Not only is this a pain, it’s a problem that compounds. Slow data leads to slowly grinding growth — and missed opportunities at every level of your business.
Is every data request sent to the same handful of people? Are your analysts buried under backlogs of ad-hoc requests rather than working on meaningful projects?
BAM. Scaling issue.
Data teams tend to become permanent bottlenecks when businesses grow, but their data strategy doesn’t. Everyone is waiting on hold for data. Projects are put on pause. Opportunities are lost. The right data strategy will build self-serve access and empower everyone to get the info they need without having to wade through gatekeepers.
The thing most businesses don’t see coming? Delayed data = delayed decisions = missed revenue.
If your teams stop using reports because they’ve been burned one too many times by inaccurate data, your data’s credibility is shot.
Having to pour time and effort into reports that don’t add up is incredibly frustrating. So teams ditch them altogether and go back to making decisions based on opinion. And when that starts happening, the data function loses its value entirely. Teams stop trusting it — and quickly stop using it altogether. Gartner estimates that poor data quality costs businesses anywhere from $9.7 million to $15 million per year.
That’s not a data quality issue. That’s an organizational data strategy issue.
And now we’ve reached the granddaddy of them all. The sign that no one sees coming until it’s too late.
The data function was built to support the business at its current size. Not its future size. So what happens when expansion begins? Suddenly new markets + new product lines + additional customers = way more data. Only, the existing stack doesn’t know what to do with it.
Enter exponential headaches.
If any of these signs land close to home, that’s actually a good thing. Recognizing the gaps is the first step. Fixing them is where the real progress begins.
Understanding your weaknesses is the first step. Fixing them is where the real fun begins.
The good news? None of these problems are permanent. Businesses who prioritizes building a solid data foundation with clear ownership, reliable infrastructure, and a framework that can scale consistently outperform their competition. Businesses who invest in data and analytics see an average of 20% more profitability and overall business performance.
Data doesn’t have to slow you down. But if you wait too long to fix foundational issues, the longer it will take (and cost!) to set things right.
If any of the signs above resonated, it might be time to step back and reevaluate the current setup. Learn how to build a data foundation that will scale with a growing business.
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