The main misconception that I encounter every day is that for a business to become data-driven, it must be governed by data based on facts, rather than on human judgment or intuition. However, being a data-driven business does not mean ruling the human factor out of the equation; on the contrary, it is about enabling automated decision-making more accurately.
Influence positive decisions with data
Being data-driven means providing access to the right data at the right time to employees across the organization. Only then, the employees can interpret and make informed decisions that have a positive impact on the business and its goals.
TechQuilibrium at data-driven companies
At the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2019 in Florida, Val Sribar, Gartner Senior Vice President, Research & Advisory, spoke about the importance of discovering TechQuilibrium of their organizations.
TechQuilibrium is Gartner’s description of the equilibrium point that a digital business must have to change and execute its plan. So, it’s not all about more digitalization, but about finding the right balance between the traditional and the digital business – a balance that varies from company to company and from industry to industry.
Val Sribar explained how it is only getting harder for the digital leaders to keep up with the time when companies are implementing more technologies, and when business processes are becoming more automated. The reason, he stated, that organizations must find TechQuilibrium between the human decisions and those taken by artificial intelligence. Therefore, in my opinion, being data-driven is all about how humans and technologies interact to achieve efficiency.
CIO as the focal point for business decision making
Gartner also emphasized that all CIOs should focus on finding the business’s TechQuilibrium through data-driven decision making, leadership, customer experience, and the digital community.
Data-driven companies use and compile data in a sensible and meaningful way, allowing them to be more agile and act dynamically. These companies ensure that the data presented is relevant, visual, and clear to each employee’s job function and area of responsibility. This data support enables the employees to make fact-based decisions and change behavior, where needed, to achieve profitable growth and higher customer satisfaction.
Independent data interpretation and decision-making
The most sophisticated, data-rich work environments will require a human-machine partnership where machines need to do the heavy lifting work of processing data. At the same time, employees have to interpret these data outcomes and make impactful decisions.
Data-driven companies must, therefore, be aware of how and what data they collect and use to manage and further develop their business.
As another speaker at the symposium, Gartner’s Analyst, Rita Sallam, noted, getting data is no longer a problem, but deciding how to use data responsibly is. Companies must ensure proper information governance and create real value from data so that customers, business partners, and the company’s other stakeholders can share data securely with each other.
Finding the right balance of being data-driven is crucial to a company’s success on their digital journey - so your decisions have a positive impact.
