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The secret ingredient in any successful data transformation is people
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Published
10 December 2024
We believe that the true success of data transformations (ensuring data usability and data quality to increase business output and impact) starts with proper change management and empowering people through communication, governance and capability building. Business development triggers data transformation, and every organisation needs a solid data strategy to guide the organisation and its people towards becoming data-driven and fostering a great data culture.
Data is your organisation’s most important value driver
Data is everywhere, and the amount generated is growing exponentially, impacting all business developments and increasing the demand for strategic transformation that centres data as the organisation’s most important value driver. Organisations that succeed in data transformation are those that leverage the strategic advantage of data by effectively managing and harnessing their data, transforming it into actionable insights that drive optimised decision-making across the organisation.
Transforming an organisation into becoming data-driven is not a purely technical exercise but inherently involves changes in the capabilities and ways of working of the people within the organisation. Therefore, the biggest obstacle to creating a data-driven organisation is not technical but cultural.
Developing a data culture in the organisation
Adapting any data transformation in an organisation is by no means linear, and there may be huge differences in the data literacy of the employees. Such a literacy lag is not only inefficient from a business development perspective but also demotivating and frustrating for the people falling behind.
Therefore, creating a great data culture is immensely important in any data transformation. A strong data culture is rooted in every level and business area of the organization, fostering engagement and enthusiasm about how data empowers and enhances both business processes and people.
Creating a data culture is essentially about changing the mindsets of people, from top management to the operational level. At the management level, fostering a data-driven culture begins with executives setting a clear ambition to base decisions on data. This involves making strategic investments to develop an effective operating model and establishing the necessary frameworks to achieve this goal.
At the operational level, data culture is driven by people adapting to and taking ownership of data as an enabler of their work. The push for an organisation to become more data-driven might even come from within the organisation, with employees demanding change and asking management to make these investments.
Fostering a great data culture is thus the real key to success, but it will not happen without the right strategic initiatives to ensure that data transformation at its core is supportive of and driven by people.
It starts with people
Creating a great data culture is initially a change management exercise, with a focus on aligning key stakeholders to establish a common understanding of the vision and goals that will engage the organisation. This is done through three vital elements: communication, governance roles and capability building.
