What’s Missing in Many Data Strategies Created by Organizations?

I’ve been working in the industry now for over 20 years and I’ve loved every minute of it!

Recently, the area of data strategy has exploded as more and more companies realise the investments they have made in data and analytics isn’t paying off and they aren’t achieving the expected value they were promised.

One of the areas that I and my merry team at datazuum are often asked by our clients is to review their data strategies.

In most of the strategies that we have reviewed there are still big gaps.

What are these gaps I hear you say?

👉 Alignment to the business strategy.

Why is this the case?

Simply put many who work on a data strategy come at it from a technical lens. They don’t often know what to look for and which questions to ask.

If you are embarking on a data strategy or at least going back and reviewing yours, here is my starter for 10 to ensure you gain alignment to the business strategy.

My top 7 steps for aligning your data strategy to your business strategy:

1) Understand Vision and mission of the organisation – what the organisation wants to achieve and how t will accomplish those goals.

2) What are the business drivers for the organisation – speak to the CEO to understand their vision from an operational and financial perspective

3) What are the key strategic objectives – speak to the CEO to understand these e.g. double revenue by December 2025, or increase customer acquisition by 15% by April 2024 in region x

4) Alignment with other strategies and investments – the CFO can tell you based on the strategic objectives what investments commitments have been made to specific tech investments, business model changes etc.

5) Short-term goals – what does the org want to achieve in the next year – improvements in specific products or teams

6) Longer-term goals – what capabilities does the organisation require to achieve these and deliver over the years to come

7) External views: political, social, economic, environmental, technological, competitive etc. changes that may affect both short and longer-term views that will impact the strategy

Where can you get this information from?

You can get these from documents, through interviews, several tangential strategy documents, quarterly reports, and from an external perspective: competitive intel, government etc.

Are you missing this business alignment with your data strategy?