Data-driven decisions are a buzz topic in Martech. It is essential for C-suite executives to understand and more importantly, use their data to move the needle on decisions for their company and work towards a proactive culture.
Defining KPIs and Strategic Objectives: Building a Foundation for Data-Driven Decisions
The key to being able to create data-driven decisions is to collect accurate data and have faith in your company’s data maturity. The levels of data maturity range from ad-hoc to innovative, and where your company falls on that range can help you assess if you are ready to make data-driven decisions.
At InfoTrust, we work with clients that are either just starting their analytics journey, or are ready for cloud integrations, server-side privacy solutions, and innovation. Step 1 of data maturity is to assess your current state. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Are there any particular events or goals within your analytics that you could be missing out on? Taking the time to identify gaps and understand what your goals are is the first step to data management and maturity.
With this, it is essential to define your KPIs and strategic objectives. This may seem basic, but having standardized KPIs that go beyond built-in engagement rates can help you decide where you should focus your attention and make the necessary changes. These KPIs are a key factor in utilizing data to benchmark your progress and in turn, start to use data as a first step in decision-making.
Investing in Data Infrastructure: From Google Analytics to Server-Side Implementation
Once you can determine your strategic objectives, you must prioritize their implementation so you can move towards the defined stage of data maturity. Here, you will recognize data management policies, compliance, and data validations.
While going through this practice, you will be able to trust your data and in turn be able to cultivate a data-driven culture. Some examples of these decisions include using data to improve employee satisfaction, bandwidth allocation, and predictive analysis to determine customer behavior and future trends. These data-driven decisions need to have a sturdy foundation of a data-driven culture with buy-in from the CEO and leadership.
After validating, investing in culture shifts, and laying the foundation for data-driven decision making, your team is ready to invest in a data infrastructure. Google Analytics is one tool companies can use, but as we move into a cookieless future, many companies are investing in server-side implementations and data warehouses like BigQuery. Ensuring reliable data is entering your warehouse and analytics platform, along with data governance, will afford your company a robust system to embark on your data-driven solutions!
Management and optimization of your data warehouse and analytics systems is the “sweet spot.” From here, you can continue to encourage data-driven decision making from leadership, perform regular audits to ensure accuracy, and make sure data is available across departments to prevent silos. Quarterly trainings for your analytics platform are highly encouraged.
Harnessing the Power of Data for Success
When employees speak the same analytics language, it will become commonplace for them to work together towards the overarching goal of utilizing data as the number one force in decision-making.
Once your company reliably uses data for decision making, innovation is where the fun begins! With the ever-changing landscape of privacy, AI, and predictive modeling, this is where creativity can thrive. Leadership can prepare strategies using new tech and how it can effectively transform their current practices. The goal of the data maturity process is to move away from reactive practices and towards innovative, proactive strategies.
