A data strategy is a vision of methods and techniques by which a company will collect, store, manage, share and use data. It is a central, integrated document that articulates how data will support business operations and overall business strategy. Reliable accurate and real-time management information is indispensable in any modern organization today.
Every business collects data in various forms; a data strategy enables a company to manage and interpret all that data. It puts a company in a strong position to solve potential challenges such as:
- Slow and inefficient business processes.
- Data protection, data integrity and data quality issues that undermine your ability to analyze data
- Lack of deep understanding of critical parts of the business (customers, supply chain, competitive landscape, etc.) and the processes that make them work
- Lack of clarity about current business needs (a problem that descriptive analysis can help solve) and objectives (which predictive and prescriptive analysis can help identify)
- Inefficient movement of data between different parts of the business, or duplication of data by multiple business units
In short, a company without a data strategy is poorly(er) positioned to operate efficiently and profitably or to grow successfully.
