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Technology is synonymous with our everyday lives, and as we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the technology we use and the rate we can use the data we collect will become more and more important.
For almost everyone reading this article, we collect significant information about our clients, customers and even about ourselves and our social circles. But how many of us actually use the data to make better decisions about how we act, interact and make decisions? Rather than talk directly about utilising the latest and greatest technology, let’s instead talk about something more powerful.
Actually using the data you have already collected.
I have made a career out of exploring and exploiting the data around us, and to a large degree I don’t actually care how it has been collected, and more around what the data is, how clean it is and how accurate it is. Now this is not saying that you shouldn’t use the latest technology, but rather you should use the technology that make your line of business most efficient. What I would love to see people and businesses do is leverage the data inside of already existing system. In some circumstances we have decades of data that has never been used!
Why is data so important?
The data you have collected is an archive on business dealings and performance, but often once recorded never gets looked at again, a report never gets run from it, we never learn from it, and we almost never analyse it. But that can change with the ever increasing prevalence of data reporting and analysis functions (like our own PT 2.0).
So what’s the upside on data, since you are already collecting it?
Firstly and most basically we can report on it. What actually happened?
We can analyse it, here we take the data and turn it into information (data with context) where we can do things like see trends over time (sales, customer satisfaction, average basket size, turnaround time, profitability, labour utilisation, KPI’s etc)
We can turn that information then into knowledge (information that is then embedded with our team), and use it to action-learn from, make better decisions, change behaviours of our teams, make sure people and processes are aligned, create actionable KPI’s that drive performance.
The biggest travesty we have with the new easily accessible tools to leverage data is that we have already spent the time to collect it, but we tend to overlook it when it comes to making decisions.
When was the last time you used the data you’ve collected to make a better decision? If it hasn’t been recently talk to your Power Tynan or PT 2.0 advisor to discuss how you can unleash the dormant performance you already have in your business.
