In the last article, we looked at why organisations should focus on becoming more Data Driven. Today, we look at the 3 pillars of Data Driven WM organisations, and how unlocking the gate to Data gives businesses the keys to AI-Driven technology.

Treating Data as a Commodity

Data Driven WM businesses treat their data as a commodity — one that is generated as a ‘free’ by-product of their service offering. The focus here is on quality data not big data. Once an organisation commits to being Data Driven the next step is to automate the ingestion, consumption and transformation of data to make the best use of it — subsequently curating the expert knowledge and data relevant to the operation. By learning to recognise opportunity from insights through data, past, present and future, and discovering and ingesting every data touchpoint, a business can drive remarkable value and truly transform the way they do business.

Data is the new revenue generator. By treating Data as the commodity it is, WM organisations can pursue relentless data improvements. Better business predictions fuel current and future decision making, thus a data-driven organisation can outsmart their competition and improve business innovation to unlock new revenue streams and drive more revenue year-over-year.

“Collecting data is just part of it. Data often exist in silos, for example, sometimes overseen by protective divisional heads. For one thing, people need training in how to use data — especially since hiring data specialists can be hard and expensive. Moreover, concerns about security and privacy often stymie data sharing. On the other hand, there’s not much use in collecting more and more data if you don’t let people see it.”

Data Democracy

The goal of data democracy is to nurture a culture where everyone can learn from data — and anyone can challenge preconceptions. “Data silos are a serious business problem…companies need an operational data layer that is core to business processes and supports data sharing”​, writes Walter Scott of Devvo Inc. The end goal is to spread data as far and wide in an organisation as possible, ensuring high quality decisions are made by all. Work Management (WM) businesses have specific problems due to the mobile/dispersed nature of their operations — enabling non office-based teams mobile access to data has particular benefits:

• Less time spent in back office, on non productive tasks
• Reduction of work failure in the field
• Better outcomes through more accurate data

Is your Company a Frog in a Well?

An ancient chinese fable about “The Frog in the Well” tells the story of a frog quite happily living in a well — always bragging to the other animals about how wonderful his home is. The other animals, outside the well can see the frog’s narrow viewpoint: he can only see the sky, plants or animals if they pass over his well. One day, a turtle decided to educate the frog about the world, describing the vastness of the sea, richness of the land and diversity of life. Only then does the frog realise how much more of the world there is beyond his well.

This enduring story illustrates a universal phenomenon: Your view is limited by what you can see — the only way to change that view is to get out of the well: to ensure there are no frogs (teams) in any wells (data silos) in your organisation.

Metrics Driven

Data Driven organisations do more than just measure KPIs. They become truly metrics driven, seeking insight from their data first and foremost — making decisions with hard, empirical evidence, and not just gut feel. Technology tools that help automate intelligent processes and sift through data to aid human decision making are critical adoption pieces — tight integration of data and analytics enhance an organisation’s core competencies to unlock hidden business opportunities and become more efficient and effective.

Fundamentally, metrics driven operations end up with a high level of ‘data literacy’, analysing and arguing with data, developing a curiosity and willingness to make organisational changes. Targeted data analytics render key insights and play a paramount role in decision making — defining the future, entering new markets and disrupting existing ones.

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