I frequently get to meet with analytics teams and ask them about their data challenges.
Most often, I hear “we have issues with data quality” which is typically followed by “in the next year or so, we’re going to be mostly focused on improving our data quality.” 😔
Yet, when I meet with these same teams one to two years later, they are still at it - focused on data quality, with no progress deriving actionable insight. 😔
❗️ These timelines make it difficult for analytics to make an impact on revenue. Having robust and trustworthy data is a crucial ingredient. Yes, you have to crawl before you walk. But realize, data quality is the means to the end, not the goal itself. 💡
You need to improve your data, so that you can then use it to drive insights that will eventually increase revenue for your company. 🏆
If analyst teams spend all of their time, for years, focused on data quality, yet remain unable to generate actionable insights that drive revenue, we have to step back, look at that, and call out what it is - broken. 💔
In the current environment, where stakeholders are looking to understand the next levers we should focus, we cannot afford to spend so much time and resources on infrastructure.
Sure, you need to get to a place where you trust the lion’s share of your data - that you have an agreed upon set of high-level KPIs that you focus on, etc. But, if this is all that the analytics are doing for you, you probably need to consider charting a different analytic journey for your team.🚀
-Tom
