As business owners, I think we can agree that no one is underestimating what it might take to trade out of the pandemic. With months of lived experience behind us, we have a new perspective and appreciation of the challenges ahead.
But we also have access to an asset that can help us chart new paths to customer satisfaction and revenue. That asset is our data and when used to its full potential, it offers a treasure trove of value.
It should be about us, be about trust
Customer and staff needs have changed drastically over the last six months and businesses have had to quickly adapt to meet that change. In a digital world, people leave data footprints everywhere and by following these footprints, we can better understand a person’s needs and preferences. We know that staff and customers alike have forged stronger ties with businesses that prove they can handle COVID curveballs in a flexible, trusted, and ethical manner.
Let’s talk about data
Most of us have a lot of it, but often it’s spread between internal, third-party and even remote locations across multiple software applications. This is data sprawl. Research shows this sprawl won’t change significantly over the next two years, but in the longer term it must because winning businesses know that how they treat their data can directly translate into business growth. The more they can put their data to use, the more value they can potentially derive from it.
We under-utilise data
Seagate’s Rethink Data study found that just 32 per cent of data collected is ever put to work. The remaining 68 per cent is unleveraged. Are our businesses so finely tuned that we have the most valuable 32 per cent of our data already at work, or are we just not that good using our data? It’s likely we’re missing something by leaving 68 per cent of our data untouched, and now is a critical time to take steps to get it right.
Today’s business environment calls for measured plays
Out of necessity, we’ve all tightened our foundations these past few months. It’s back-to-basics across the business when it comes to resourcing, expense management, customer service and overall strategy. At a minimum, data can support the decisions we make or directions we choose to go in. But it could do so much more, if only we used more of it.
Your opportunity is waiting
Collecting data is easy. Intelligence is hard. That’s why data is most valuable in the hands of people that know what to do with it: your domain and subject matter experts. They already understand the data you collect about their area of interest, the insights they can gain from that data, and where any shortfalls or barriers to using the data exist. As a business owner your challenge is to provide them with an unobstructed, easy view of all your data, so they can view it as if through a single pane of glass.
DataOps for the win
The process of connecting data to the people who want to use it is known as DataOps, Considered the missing link of data management and the solution to business owner’s data headaches, DataOps can help improve customer loyalty and satisfaction, drive better profits, higher revenues, and deliver greater employee retention and productivity.
Above all else, DataOps is about being intentional on making the most of data and along with other data management solutions, it can bring useful, usable data to the people that need to see it most to help strategise a way through the COVID-19 crisis and find a pathway to busines success.
Jeff Park, ANZ Country Manager, Seagate
