DATA IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE QUESTIONS YOU ASK
all the way out to 12-18 months . They can do this without taking too many risks by providing insight into the downstream customer demand and buying behaviour . Providing better visibility helps customers run their businesses better and suppliers to grow their businesses .”
DATA IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE QUESTIONS YOU ASK
Dr . Catarina Sismeiro is an associate professor at Imperial College Business School on the Executive MBA programme and both the Business Analytics and Strategic Marketing Masters programmes . She argues that many businesses have adopted a twin-speed approach to analytics . Complex algorithms are used to boost operational efficiency , cut costs and track customer behaviour , but only a select few are using what they learn to drive strategic direction . No matter how advanced your IT infrastructure , your data will not deliver a ready-made solution unless you embrace the technology and ask a specific question .
“ The main issues are a lack of data-centric culture , not enough willingness to rely on algorithms or data analytics for strategic insights , and the absence of a strategic plan for data-driven insights , especially at the top level ,” she explains . “ Although the evolution for a datacentric approach at operational levels started long ago , pushed by the need to improve efficiency due to fierce competition , changes at the top strategic level have been slower .”
To help transform data into business decisions , and apply this to real-life problems like supply chain management , you should start preparing the pain points in your supply chain that you want to gain insights into before you even start the data gathering process . Based on your company ’ s strategy , budget , goals and target customers prepare a set of questions that will smoothly walk you through the data analysis and help you arrive at relevant insights . Growing businesses should consider sweating existing data before splashing out on new insights . According to Sismeiro , internal data is often surprisingly rich and it ’ s free .
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