How Do You Create A Data Strategy?

Summary

This video script offers a step-by-step guide to developing a data strategy, emphasizing its importance as a valuable business asset. The speaker, an expert in data strategy, shares insights from working with various companies and introduces a four-lens approach to identify strategic data use cases. The script also provides a free data use case template to help viewers assess their business goals, challenges, and data needs, ultimately guiding them to create a tailored data strategy for their organization.

Takeaways

• 📈 Data is a valuable business asset that requires a strategic approach to maximize its potential for driving business performance.
• 🚀 The speaker has extensive experience in developing data strategies for companies of various sizes, including large corporations like Shell.
• 📚 The speaker has written an internationally best-selling book on data strategy, which is available in multiple languages.
• 🔍 Developing a data strategy begins with identifying strategic and important data use cases aligned with the business strategy.
• 👥 Four key lenses to consider are understanding customers, smarter products and services, improved operations, and data monetization.
• 🤝 Collaboration through workshops or interviews can help identify key use cases and strategic goals for data utilization.
• 📋 A data use case template is provided to help organizations systematically identify and define their strategic goals and data needs.
• 📊 Success measures should be identified to evaluate how data usage boosts business performance and addresses challenges.
• 🏢 Data governance implications, including legal requirements like GDPR, must be considered when collecting and using personal data.
• 🛠 Analytical approaches and technology requirements are crucial for turning data into actionable insights.
• 🎯 Prioritize use cases by selecting the most strategic ones and defining quick wins to demonstrate the value of the data strategy early on.
• 📘 The final step is to compile all the information into a comprehensive data strategy document, ready for implementation.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of a data strategy for a company?

The primary focus of a data strategy is to determine what data is needed and how to best use it to drive business performance, aligning with the company's overall business strategy.

Why is data considered a valuable business asset?

Data is considered a valuable business asset because it can provide insights into customer behavior, market trends, and operational efficiencies, which can be leveraged to improve business performance.

What are the four lenses through which data strategy is typically viewed?

The four lenses are understanding customers, offering smarter products and services, improving internal processes, and data monetization.

How does a company use data to understand its customers?

Companies use data to identify who their customers are, what they might buy, and to understand market trends, which helps in tailoring products and services to meet customer needs.

What is the purpose of using data to offer smarter products and services?

The purpose is to provide customers with a more customized experience, fine-tuning services to add additional value, and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

How can data be used to improve internal processes within a company?

Data can be used to optimize operations, enhance marketing efforts, improve manufacturing processes, and increase overall efficiency within the company.

What does data monetization entail?

Data monetization involves treating data as an asset that can be sold or rented, such as telecom companies making data available to other companies or financial services organizations packaging and selling data.

What is the recommended approach for identifying key data use cases in a company?

The recommended approach is to run a series of workshops with a cross-section of people within the company or conduct interviews with key personnel to identify key use cases across strategic lenses.

What is a data use case template and how can it be used?

A data use case template is a tool that guides users through the process of identifying strategic goals, business challenges, measures of success, data requirements, and implications for technology and skills, helping to structure the development of a data strategy.

What are 'quick wins' in the context of a data strategy?

'Quick wins' are projects that can be implemented quickly to demonstrate the value of the data strategy, helping to gain buy-in from stakeholders and show tangible results.

How can a company prioritize its data strategy use cases?

A company can prioritize its data strategy use cases by selecting the most strategic and important ones, defining quick wins, and identifying cross-cutting issues related to data requirements, governance, technology, and skills.