3 steps to elevating your data analytics strategy

Want to drive smarter business decisions? It starts with a strategic assessment of your data environment and approach to analytics.

The importance of gathering, understanding, and using data is vital to the success of your business. But when information is coming in from everywhere without a great deal of context, it can seem daunting.

The good news: You don’t have to be a data scientist to get the most out of your data. You can improve informational context and make better business decisions by taking the following steps:

Get some quick wins with data
Instead of thinking about how to do everything right away, identify your most critical performance metrics. What can you achieve in the next month with the data you have now? What would the next 90 days look like? Use data to decide where you can get a quick win to demonstrate benefits, and then measure results so you can validate and celebrate – or change – your approach. Those successes can add up fast and provide more support for larger endeavors.
Develop a complete analytics plan
You don’t need a lot of fancy new tools to succeed. Your current IT system likely holds all the data you need. You just need to know how to find and organize that information. Take your quick wins and use them to help analyze longer-term trends. That historical data can help identify things that are really helping – or hurting – your business.
Support business decisions with better data
When it comes to making business decisions, you don’t have to go solo. Everyone performs better when they have support – especially when that comes in the form of strong data analytics. Using data-driven decision-making goes beyond your gut and gives you a richer, more harmonious business case for how to address challenges and move forward. Whether it’s tracking sales trends, understanding expenses, or analyzing new market capacity, data can help you make smarter choices.

Three questions to ask your leadership teams

What are our key success metrics and where is our data?
The answer might surprise you – in many companies, data lives in multiple systems across the organization. Figuring out how to connect this data with your key metrics to success is the first step.
What systems do we have, and how do they work?
Knowing what you have helps you determine what you need – and how much it will cost. Get a detailed understanding of this landscape before you formulate a data strategy across your enterprise.
What is currently working well and where are the gaps?
You need to understand where your current challenges are to address them. Business intelligence and analytics can show you what you need to know, when you need to know it.

Get a 360-degree view of your business

Data analytics solutions

Let’s talk about your data analytics strategy

From quick wins to big decisions, our team of specialists at Crowe can help you use data to find solutions. We know what questions to ask and can help your organization make better, data-driven business decisions based on your most critical success metrics.