Prashant Nema is EVP and Deputy Chief Operations Officer at Arch Capital Group Ltd.
What exactly does it mean to be a data-driven organization?
It’s a question that many CEOs are contemplating these days as leadership teams and boards push businesses to make data an integral part of business decisions. This concept holds true across all companies and industries. The more you can rely on data, rather than making choices based on experience or intuition, the better prepared you are to navigate the volatile and rapidly evolving business landscape.
That’s not to say experience and intuition have no place in decision making—they absolutely play a role. But intuition is hard to teach, and it’s become increasingly apparent that businesses make better decisions faster when they can base choices on metrics rather than memories.
As a technology leader, knowing how to support your organization’s transformation to become data-driven can be complicated. Every company is organized differently, and each takes a unique approach to how and where data will be housed, as well as which systems are used. Facilitating your company’s data transformation won’t be easy, but you can increase your odds of success by striving for alignment at the top of the house.
The first step in any journey is often the most difficult. When it comes to changing your company’s relationship with data, there’s one piece of advice I can offer: Be intentional before you begin.
Start with leadership.
At the outset of any data journey, companies should strongly consider appointing a “data champion” who is ultimately responsible for leading the charge into becoming a data-driven organization and facilitating the creation of a “single source of truth.”
This chief data officer, digital officer or other comparable role will help set strategy, coordinate the consolidation and cleansing of data and encourage adoption of the practice throughout the business. It is critical that this be someone who represents key business stakeholders and their needs outside the (equally important) compliance and reporting requirements.
As a technology leader, having a strong and dedicated partner to help you achieve your company’s data goals will improve your business’ chances of success. This is particularly true because data is owned by the business and not technology teams. Therefore, having a data champion—one who is well aware of business needs and innerworkings—take ownership of both data strategy and data governance is crucial to long-term success.
Beyond having the right people in the right places, another critical element is a mindset shift that prioritizes timely decision-making based on facts.
As with all organizational shifts, this one must start at the top. You must ensure your executives are brought in early and that they believe in the objective, its value, goals and vision for how it will be put into practice. Becoming a data-driven organization is not easy for most companies and requires both commitment and a shared vision.
One way to encourage adoption is to ask leaders across the company to model the organizational commitment to becoming data-driven by continually asking for data. This encourages their teams to be more fact-based and strategic in their decision making. Leadership involvement and reinforcement cannot be singular; it must occur regularly and consistently. Then, slowly, almost without notice, this mindset shift will become a part of your organization’s culture.
With a strong partner overseeing the data and the rest of the leadership being intentional in how they ask for data and expect it to be used in decision making, you will be in an advantageous position as you begin the steps of establishing a data governance framework and navigating roadblocks.
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