Check it out what you will find on this article about data culture:
- How Data Culture Affects Decision Making
- How to Boost Communication Among Top Decision Makers
- Data Governance Needs to Align with Democratizing Analytical Data
- How the Data Culture Impacts Risk Management
- Combining Talent and Data Culture
- Runrun.it Software is the Collaboration Tool You Need
The managers and leaders of a company have a duty to spread a specific organizational culture throughout the various departments especially when corporations continue to delve further into big data and attempt to inform their decisions based on key analytics. Forbes reports that the culture of a company plays a major part in developing a workplace “where data-driven decision making becomes the norm.” The data culture can move forward the application of analytics and boost its power in the workplace.
In addition, you as a leader of your company will see that an organizational data culture should keep your organization from facing risky outcomes. Below, we discuss some of the principles that will be imperative to embrace an effective data culture.
How Data Culture Affects Decision Making
It is vital to remember that data is meant to inform decision-making within a company. The biggest role of collecting, analyzing, and using data is to make better decisions across an organization.
Executives and managers often have lots of stored data and can use that information to make key decisions within their place of business. Additionally, artificial intelligence (AI) and reporting tools can be used to analyze such data. Business intelligence and big data are also imperative for making the right decisions within a company.
The higher-ups will need to spread the use of data by implementing it in their decision-making processes so that other workers can see the benefits and utilize such information in their own day-to-day responsibilities.
“When workers see the executive team making data-based decisions, it becomes easy for that kind of decision making to flow through the organization,” ShopRunner CEO Sam Yagan explained in a McKinsey&Company interview.
While many executives see the benefits of data analysis, few seem to have properly implemented key tools to have data impact their decision-making. An IBM study found that more than 60 percent of chief executive officers find that AI provides a major value to a company while only 11 percent of human resources personnel claim to have the data tools necessary to experience the benefits.
Why is there such a discrepancy in the numbers? There are significant difficulties regarding implementation of new data analytics systems. Cultural and organizational issues stand in the way. What can be done to resolve this problem? There are three steps company leaders can take.
- Use the tools across several cross-functional teams in a collaborative manner.
- Incorporate algorithms’ data-driven decision making in order to improve workers’ judgments.
- Adapt to changing environments and take on more risk.
Company leaders will need to collect data in ways that focus on using the data effectively and develop systems that can provide quick and comprehensive analysis.
One question still remains. How can you implement a data culture in your organization to make better decisions company-wide? One article from the publication Datanami explains how culture and the people of an organization is what will move a business forward instead of solely implementing a new piece of technology. In fact, one study found as many as 69% of executives stating that they have not developed a data-driven organization.
One way that the company GoDaddy created a culture of data is by putting the data into the hands of people who require it by making a cross-department team that curates data packages. Munich Re, the largest reinsurance company in the world, has introduced automated processes and a data product that aims to help re-insure wind turbine projects. Pfizer is another company that has developed a platform where searching, analyzing, and viewing various types of data have helped employees collaborate better and make better decisions when diagnosing patients.
In addition, communication with top decision makers at an organization remains vital for embracing the data culture. Below, we outline how to best keep a conversation going between managers, executives, and employees who run data initiatives.
How to Boost Communication Among Top Decision Makers
There are specific steps that can be taken to boost communication among top decision makers and the employees who run key data initiatives. According to the Houston Chronicle, an environment of acceptance is imperative. Essentially, communication is better when everyone in a group feels that they are being heard and respected. If the environment is more hostile, however, many employees will be wary of sharing their opinions or thoughts due to potential backlash.
Authority will also be an important aspect toward communication that every company will need to consider. One-way, top-down communication with authority in mind can be utilized in a company where only the top leaders opinions are valued. However, in organizations where everyone is supposed to contribute, this type of authoritative style can be problematic and communication can become disorganized and decisions may be delayed.
Cooperation in terms of employees’ communication styles is also necessary to make better decisions. This entails an equal exchange of ideas between parties. This type of communication style can yield better results because the decisions are made by everyone equally. As such, things that only one or two people in a department notice will be considered. Big or small issues won’t fall through the cracks with a cooperative communication style. The final decisions will be more acceptable to the whole group because everyone’s input was taken into account.
Additionally, secrecy should be minimized in a company’s communication strategy. The reasoning for this is because secrecy makes an impact on decision-making and workers who are not aware of some key information cannot be expected to make decisions based on that particular secret.
Next, we will discuss data governance and the democratization of data.
Data Governance Needs to Align with Democratizing Analytical Data
Imagine being part of an organization that understands the importance of data culture, but various employees with the same data in a department are making different decisions when it comes to using that information. If there is a chaotic aspect to utilizing data in any department, data governance must come into play, according to the Forbes article above-mentioned.
Democratizing data essentially means stimulating demand for data from the grassroots perspective. It entails bringing data to the masses. However, this type of open platform to gather data can lead to chaos where employees have access to disparate and incomplete data. For example, this can lead to the retail website team creating a different customer-centric strategy than the email marketing team, which may lead to more confusion or even twice as many sales, which will leave the company with a smaller revenue.
As such, data governance becomes imperative. This entails quarterly planning and reporting. Companies will need to have more strict control over data access and availability, which means organizations will have to invest in data warehouse designs and database management.
Employees will have semi-regular access to data that is segmented and limited in scope. Important information will only be available to senior level staff members. Data governance along with data analytics should also play a major role in boosting your company’s operational efficiency including streamlining the time it takes to finish projects.
Embracing a data culture can also help organizations improve their risk management strategies.
How the Data Culture Impacts Risk Management
A company’s data culture can greatly impact the role risk plays throughout the organization. A more careful approach that effectively protects data especially customer data is more likely to strengthen risk management while a care-free data culture that allows many individuals to view private data could lead to more data breaches company-wide.
According to the Harvard Business Review, more than 70 percent of employees have access to data they should not, data breaches are becoming common, and data technology isn’t as effective as preferred in terms of privacy and security demands.
As such, organizations will need to focus their efforts on data defense, which is geared toward minimizing downside risk. This entails being compliant with regulations including financial reports and data privacy rules, using analytics to find and reduce fraudulent activities, and creating systems that prevent data theft. These efforts are also aimed at identifying as well as standardizing and managing “authoritative data sources.”
Essentially, risk management will need to involve introducing analytics into specific processes and interactions in a responsible manner. Lastly, it is imperative for company leaders to bring in the right talent for their culture of data.
Combining Talent and Data Culture
Human resource departments and managers will need to bring in the right talent so that employees will be more likely to align with the company’s data culture. In order to find the right talent pool, human resources staff can utilize data analytics technology to identify the best candidates, according to a Forbes article.
Data can also be used to test a company’s recruitment channels to see which ones bring in the best candidates. Does LinkedIn, newspaper ads, or online job sites work best? Or does hiring a headhunter ultimately result in the best candidate for the job? With the right data at your fingertips, you can look at how many offers were made from specific channels.
Your company will greatly benefit from the right tools to improve collaboration and create the right culture for data governance.
Runrun.it Software is the Collaboration Tool You Need
You will find that Runrun.it project management software is the perfect collaboration tool for your team’s needs. It will keep your team motivated and on task due to its time management properties and straightforward deadline reminders. Best of all, communication will be more transparent with this project management tool, which can help improve decision-making at your company. The data analytics available through this software product can tell managers how quickly assignments are completed and how many revisions a document has gone through. Lastly, your workflow will be more streamlined with fewer issues standing in the way.
To determine if Runrun.it software is right for your team, click here for a free 14-day trial.
