Harnessing Analytics for Future Success

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If you build a report and no one reads it, does it have any impact?

COVID-19 has shed light on the enormous impact and importance of data analytics on business continuity and resiliency, as well as the need to share information freely between government and the private sector. Communicating meaningful data to leadership in order to make well-informed decisions is essential, more so now with the raised stakes of navigating a global pandemic.

As organizations have stabilized several months after COVID-19 dramatically changed the economy and world at large, CDAOs must continue to improve processes through information sharing and collaboration. 

To set the stage for this conversation, the following information was shared from a 2019 Gartner CDAO survey that discussed generating measurable economic benefits from data assets:

77% of CDAOs are currently sharing data assets internally

31% are currently sharing externally and 21% are exploring this as an option

61% are currently using data assets to improve internal processes

Moderating this panel discussion was Erik Erickson, chief data officer of Hennepin County. Joining Erickson was Saiful Islam, VP, product & technology Strategy at Optum and Kiran Mysore, vice president, analytics and insights, global operations & business services at Medtronic.
 

Data Informing Business Decisions

With an added layer of uncertainty about what the near future and life post-pandemic will look like, it is imperative for CDAOs to give business leaders the right information that will guide future directives. CDAOs should partner with the business by relaying multiple options for consideration based on data that is objective and accounts for various scenarios. 

In any field, new technology is attractive and promises new capabilities around accuracy, speed and efficiency. Understanding the bottom-line value and the benefit to shareholders are a helpful baseline to use when considering how necessary — or not — new technology is. With constrained budgets, it is imperative that leaders evaluate if implementing new technologies is necessary for the business at this time and what the value add to the business is.

There is a need for leaders who have the capability to translate a technology capability into a business context. To do this effectively, leaders in any technical field within the business must be able to speak the language of the business, knowing that the decision-makers often do not have the same technical vernacular. 

In order to leverage data to inform business decisions, that data must be delivered at the right time and in the right way. Modeling various scenarios can demonstrate the art of the possible, but for that to be successful, CDAOs must have a deep understanding of the business. In any function, business enablement means understanding the business and what core objective needs to be solved for.

Data culture is interpreting and understanding data, being objective by taking bias out of the picture and communicating those observations to the business to enact meaningful change.

Data Supporting Communities

Many organizations are adopting a message of “we’re in this together.” While this may seem cliché at times, there is a huge opportunity for private and public partnerships. 

Data sharing between government and public companies is helping advance the greater good. An important example of this was the publication of source code for ventilators and partnerships with various manufacturing plants. Sharing this information was helpful in the immediate response to COVID-19 to ramp up the production of lifesaving equipment.

Another example of increased information sharing is the recently established “ventilator training program” that was started by leading manufacturers to easily share training materials for medical equipment with anyone who needs it. Public sharing of important information such as this is helping, in a measurable way, improve the quality of life for many. These public and private partnerships have made meaningful impacts on the community and country.
 

Data Adapting and Iterating

COVID-19 has sped up the need for and ability to make decisions quickly. The timeline for testing and determining value has been accelerated. 

Out of necessity, CDAOs must conceptualize, test and fail quickly in order to refine their processes at the pace the business demands. As organizations have had to be nimble and expeditious in decision making, the importance of working with good data has increased. Any new initiative needs to be able to be tested and validated quickly as organizations do not have the time or resources to take this process slower.

Maintaining an agile approach by breaking down deliverables into smaller pieces can also help data leaders show value quickly. CDAOs must truly act as a “data evangelist” and be ready with a clear answer to the question, “What do you do?”

by CDAOs, for CDAOs

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