3 Data-Driven Takeaways for Driving Growth: Data-Driven Decision Making

There’s no denying that data is the fuel for business growth. Research from McKinsey & Company shows that data-driven companies are 23x more likely to acquire customers, 6x as likely to retain customers, and (most importantly) 19x as likely to be profitable.

But becoming data-driven is not a light switch that can be turned on or off — it requires dedication, practice, and consistency to see the long-term benefits.

We discussed this topic extensively during a recent webinar, titled “Six Steps to Becoming a Data-Driven Organization.” During the webinar, our data gurus Tony and Jordan Berry discussed how you can confidently drive your business forward — instead of just looking in the rearview mirror — by making decisions based on actionable, real-time data. 

“Would you drive your car if you could only use your rearview mirror? I think the answer is pretty obvious that we wouldn’t try and drive our car forward,” said Tony Berry during the webcast. “If you think about it, a lot of businesses are run [through the rearview mirror]. We make decisions off spreadsheets that are stale. We’re looking at systems that may show us what happened last month, last quarter, maybe this week, but everything seems to be from a rearview standpoint. You’re not really looking forward and prescribing and predicting what’s going to happen. That’s really what it means to become data–driven: you don’t use the rearview mirror solely. It certainly provides good information, but you try and go beyond that.” 

Here is a quick look at three takeaways from the session to help highlight the importance of looking to further develop your company’s data-driven capabilities and initiatives.  

1) The Volume of Data is Large and Expanding; How Can We Control That?

Many businesses cannot comprehend the amount of data that is being created daily. Berry noted that 70% of an organization’s data goes unused for analytics and reporting.  

The first step should be to learn how to contain the flow of data, so it doesn’t feel like you’re getting sprayed with a firehose. According to Berry, it’s vital to focus on one measurable business outcome at a time where an insights-driven approach can directly impact profit, cost, efficiency, or customer satisfaction. Understanding that business need will lead to easier adoption internally and set the foundation for a streamlined, data-driven business process in the future. 

2) Data is Scattered Across Siloed Departments; How Do We Connect Them?

So many aspects of a company’s tech stack — CRM, marketing automation, customer support, financial, etc.–that is generating this data, but they all, unfortunately, live in their own systems. Berry shared research highlighting how, in a company’s data strategy, three-quarters of time is spent manually finding, cleaning, and organizing their data.  

This highlights the importance of knowing where your data lives and trying to connect them into a single source of truth. This includes creating procedures and documentation to ensure that employees know how to adjust and maintain data sources for optimal function. 

3) Data Integration is Slow and Prone to Error; How Can We Improve?

Integrating data together can be like herding cats. It can take a long time and you are never 100% sure if all the data is in the right place. But all hope is not lost! 

The session detailed how it is possible for companies of any size to connect, relate, and blend data through the power of having the right people, process, and technology! New Data as a Service (DaaS) technologies allow an organization’s various data sources to be left in place, easily connected, related, and then blended in real-time to form intelligent connections for more informed decisions. We can help with that, by the way (humble brag). 

Questions Data-Driven Companies Can Confidently Answer

In the end, data-driven companies can drive growth in a measurable way. Are you unsure where you stand as a data-driven company? Below is a list of questions you should be able to confidently answer: 

• Am I hiring the right people at the right time to meet my customer’s needs? 
• Are my teams consistently meeting the deadlines that matter? 
• How accurate is my forecast for this month, quarter, or year? 
• What does my sales pipeline look like and is it enough to hit our revenue goals? 
• Are my largest customers my most profitable? If not, who is and why? 
• What payments are most at risk for our current open invoices? 
• Is my customer onboarding process working and how can it be improved? 
• What is my ROI by marketing channel and where should I allocate my spending? 
• What products should we introduce to meet unmet customer demand? 

So, can you confidently answer these questions? If not, no worries! We’re here to help. Check out the on-demand recording of this webcast to gain six streamlined steps to becoming a data-driven company. Or, if you have more specific needs, feel free to reach out. We’re always happy to chat!