The exploding quantity of data has the potential to fuel a new era of evidence based innovation for corporates.

Buoyed by hopes of streamlining operations, better satisfying customers, and clarifying strategies, firms over the past decade or so invested in analytics technologies and paid big amount to big data analytical talent.

In 2021 and by the look of things even for the foreseeable future, the term “big data” has pretty much become a main stay for bigger enterprises and corporates – and that too for good reason.

By leveraging the power of digital insights available at your fingertips and embracing the power of analytics, it’s now possible more than ever to make decisions that will fuel business growth and an increased bottom line.

If you have the right analytics tools and brain power in your organization to utilize those large data sets, you’ll be in a position to drive your business forward.

Of course, this does sound really intriguing in theory.

But as most of us might have seen during our corporate careers, even if you have access to the best data sets; if the decision makers make decisions based on intuition or gut feeling than your definitely not on the path of evidence based decision making.

Even though sometimes it’s fine to make a decision based on gut feeling but if you’re in for the long run than its advisable to make most of your decisions that are based on hard core metrics, facts or figures.

To facilitate you in the path of data-driven decision-making, we’re going to take you through the what it is all about and its importance for a corporate sector organization – be it a financial institution, FMCG or health care related entity.

What is Data-Driven Decision-Making?

Data-driven decision-making (often abbreviated as DDDM) is the process of utilizing data to inform your business decisions and through validation understanding the course of action before actually committing to it.

In business entities in 2021 this is seen in many forms. For example, a company might:

• Collect survey forms
• Launch a new product or service in a test market
• Analyze shifts in demographic data

How exactly data can be incorporated in the decision making process is dependent on several factors, including your business goals and how you could align them with the data points that you have available at your disposal.

The collection of data and its analysis have always played an important role in enterprise level corporates.

Over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day it’s never been easier for corporates to collect, analyze and interpret data into real and actionable insights. Even though data backed decision making has been around businesses for centuries but in the 21^st century it has gone to an all new level.

EXAMPLES OF DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING

1.     Coca Cola uses Big Data for Customer Acquisition and Retention

A real life example of a data driven decision making company is Coca Cola. In 2015, Coca-Cola managed to strengthen its data strategy by building a digital led loyalty program.

So what did Coca Cola do exactly to grow exponentially?

Director of Data Strategy for Coca-Cola in an interview with ADMA Managing Director said:

“Data plays an increasingly important role in marketing and product development. Consumers do a great job of sharing their opinions with us – either by phone, email or social networks – that allow us to hear their voice and adjust our approach. We often talk about why we have two ears and one mouth – it’s better to listen more than we speak. This holds true with our approach on consumer input. Data is also helping us create more relevant content for different audiences. We want to focus on creating advertising content that speaks differently to different audiences. Some people love music. Other people watch every sport no matter what time of year. Our brands are already visible in those spaces, and we’re working hard to use data to bring branded content that aligns with people’s passions.”

2.     Netflix uses Big Data for Targeted Adverts

Another great example of a big brand utilizing big data for targeted advertising is Netflix. With over 100 million subscribers, Netflix has a huge repository of data which it collects and analyzes – one of the major reasons why it has achieved the level in the entertainment industry that it currently enjoys.

If you are a subscriber of Netflix you would know how for how the algorithm of the provider gives suggestions on next movies to watch. This is primarily done though watch data and past search data.

This data is utilized to provide suggestions to users on what to watch.

A research shows that 80% of the recommendations given by Netflix influences the watch time and watch trends of subscribers.

Why Data Driven Decision Making Is Important?

If you’re part of a business entity you would know how important continuous growth and consistency are to enterprises. That’s where data driven decision making comes in.

Data analysis allows businesses to look at new opportunities with a possibility of generating higher level of revenue, chose new business opportunities with a higher probability of success and prepare the business for future growth by more accurately predicting the future direction of the industry it operates in.

Using big data for decision making will help establish your business, heading it in the right direction, making it easier to provide decision makers with really important insights to make better business decisions.

With the evolving digital nature of businesses in 2021, it is important for businesses to utilize data to make informed decisions to allow them to move and grow with the ever changing industry standards.

HOW TO BECOME MORE DATA-DRIVEN?

If you and your business want to become more data driven in your approach, there are easy steps through which you can reach the goal.

Here’s a look at some of the ways through which you can approach your tasks with an analytical mindset:

Identify business objectives from the get go

To get the most out of your analysis define your business objectives from beginning your analysis. You need to set a strategy to avoid following the hype instead of the business needs of your business and define clear KPIs. There are multiple KPIs which you could select but we would recommend that you focus on the most important ones for your enterprise.

Find unresolved questions

Once your goals and strategy is set, you will need to find the questions in need of answers, so that you can manage your goals. Asking the right data analysis questions will help your team and broader organization focus on the right questions.

Look for patterns in all segments of the business

Data analysis is at its heart an attempt to find different data points and find patterns within.

It’s form these correlations and these patterns that insights can be easily drawn.

The initial and one of the most important step in becoming data driven is making a conscious decision to be more analytical. While it may seem a simple piece of advice but it’s something that takes practice.

Tie every decision back to your data

You have to focus on not basing things on gut feeling or past behavior when determining a certain course of action.

Data Driven Decision Making Mistakes You Should Avoid at All Costs

1. Ensure that the quality of data is trust worthy
2. Never over rely on past behavior
3. Don’t go with your gut and cooking the data
4. Ignore cognitive biases

USING DATA TO ANSWER CRITICAL QUESTIONS

While there are many benefits to data-driven decision-making, it’s important to note that you don’t need to take an approach that is all or not nothing in nature. By starting small, benchmarking your documenting everything, performance measurement, and adjusting as you go, you can become more data-driven and thrive at your organization.

There is practically all evidence in favor of data backed decision making. You stand to propel your business to new exciting heights.

While concluding this write up – Remember for maximum success you need to keep in mind the importance of such decision making at all costs. A failure to do so will lead your business decision to be based on gut feeling or past behavior rather than basing it on numbers.

At Al Intisar, we’re 100% committed to helping you make the best data driven decisions in your business.

To start your path to successful evidence based decision making, you can contact one of our experts to guide you on the way forward.