Businesses collect data. For many businesses masses of data pours in from websites, social media, apps, digital forms and more on an hourly basis. It makes sense to use this data to create a valuable data driven business strategy.
You can base your business activity on hard evidence in the form of carefully gathered, managed and analysed data so there’s no need to rely on guesswork.
With rapidly accelerating technology advances, the recognised value of data, and increasing data literacy are changing what it means to be “data driven”. Creating a data driven business strategy can significantly enhance decision-making and drive growth. It’s a process that can be built with help from technical experts offering data strategy consultancy.
8 Key steps to building a data driven business strategy
Building a data strategy involves the whole data process from initial data gathering to turning data into actionable information.
Here are some key steps to help you get started:
- Define Your Objectives: Clearly identify the specific, measurable goals you want to achieve with your strategy. This could include improving customer engagement, increasing conversion of leads into sales orders or enhancing operational efficiency.
- Identify Key Metrics: How will you measure success? Define the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you measure progress towards your objectives. These metrics should be aligned with your business objectives and goals as decided in point 1.
- Collect Relevant Data: Gather accurate and up-to-date data from multiple sources. Ensure you are collecting the right data to reach your goals. Such as, customer interactions, sales records, and market trends. You may need to include variables such as exchange rates and weather data for example.
- Store & Organise Your Data: Structure your data in a way that makes it easy to analyse. This might involve using or developing bespoke databases, data warehouses, or cloud storage solutions. Speak to your software development team to get recommendations on what software solution suits your situation.
- Analyse Your Data: Engage a data analytics company to help you use analytical tools and techniques to extract insights from your data. This could include statistical analysis, machine learning, or data visualisation.
- Visualise Your Data: Present your data in a clear and understandable format using charts, graphs, and dashboards using the likes of Microsoft Power BI. This helps stakeholders quickly grasp key insights and make informed decisions, and drill into the information should they wish.
- Develop Data Models: Create predictive models to forecast future trends and outcomes. These models can help you anticipate changes in the market and guide you to adjust your strategy accordingly.
- Refine & Improve: Continuously monitor your data and refine your strategy based on new insights. This iterative process ensures your strategy remains relevant and effective.
According to a recent McKinsey study – The Data-Driven Enterprise of 2025 – Smart workflows and seamless interactions among humans and machines will likely lead to most employees using data to optimise nearly every aspect of their work.
Speak to our team about how we can help you with your Data Driven Business Strategy.