Have you ever considered the possibility of driving at night with your car’s headlights off? Charging down the road without being able to see properly borders on the insane. Navigational tools that began as a simple beam of light affixed to the front-end of cars have gained orders of complexity, and the way we drive is continuously evolving. These days, not having a satellite-guided navigation system, whether through an app on your smartphone or an onboard GPS, is almost like driving without your headlights on. With the emergence of disruptive technologies, driving styles are changing even more dramatically, to the point that there is no longer such a need for so many drivers on the road. The same type of paradigm shifts can be seen in business management, and that is the reason why more and more people are talking about the data-driven company.
High-performance organizations are already steeped in an informational culture. They are engaged in a corporate race to consistently renew themselves while implementing increasingly faster and more precise tools that combine automation and artificial intelligence. The companies that face the greatest challenges are the ones that have yet to begin incorporating that use of data into their day-to-day operations.
>> Recommended reading: Trends defining the composition a high-performance team
The time when an executive’s gut feeling defined the company’s direction is already a thing of the past. Insight no longer stems from sleepless nights, but rather from information that is often taken directly from the user experience. Companies must structure the collection of data, give the resulting information its due weight and create systems capable of rapid and comprehensive analysis. After all, being adrift in a sea of meaningless information does not help executives make good decisions.
For a definitive transformation, change must come from above. In this text from NG Data, executives give tips on how to run companies using an approach based on numbers. Learn about a few ways you can begin introducing a data-driven culture to your organization.
Gather data
Sean Higgins (co-founder of Ilos, a screen-capture tool) expresses his opinion in the text. Moreover, it’s even somewhat obvious. However, when we begin talking more seriously about numerically-driven management, the company must define what the data it will be its focus. Higgins points out that it is necessary to target KPIs that define the company’s performance, quality, capacity and strategic results.
It is still quite common to find companies that collect information and keep it for reference only, without really refining and using that data. After capturing the information, the best path is to process it in an automated way so that the company’s systems can use that data to alter forecasts, confirm strategies and identify problems before they even appear.
Initially, some data may not seem to be directly linked to decision making, and the volume of the information that is being gathered and stored may be daunting. However, this level of data can subsequently be combined with the necessary infrastructure for analysis that will then undergird future decision making. If your company does not work with cloud-based computing yet, the time has come to start.
>> Recommended reading: Work management systems are at your side
Demonstrate the importance of data
As an executive, give your teams autonomy as long as they recognize that they must make their decisions on the basis of concrete data. According to Jay Dwivedi, founder of xInvest Consultants, your team will be left adrift if it has doesn’t have access to the necessary performance metrics, in-depth analyses and a clear indication of the business’ numbers.
Dwivedi believes that the need to base decision making on factual data motivates the collection and use of elevated informational flows. This is the case even at an early stage when the data is employed merely to confirm the executive’s intuition or empirical knowledge.
These decisions can go from hiring a new employee to whether to promote a member of your team. Decision making must be taken off autopilot, and everything questioned closely, prizing data as a means to truly change your corporate culture.
>> Recommended reading: Visual management to engage teams and increase productivity
Turbocharge your company’s analytical capacity
Increasing the use of automation will expand your company’s capacity for analysis. To get to the point of using big data to help run your company, you have to be able to digest huge amounts of information. Thus, in addition to your teams, platforms and tools will be indispensable for effective management.
This already occurs in healthcare, where artificial intelligence can often indicate the best course of treatment while simultaneously calculating probabilities and the associated risks to patients. Physicians continue to be in charge of treatment, but the heavy analytical load is largely taken out of their hands.
It’s easy to envision the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare, where there is a high level of precision and diagnostic advances. However, it is present in every sector. Artificial intelligence is also used in advertising, an area which, at first glance, is highly subjective.
The blockchain rupture
The financial market was the first sector to have been directly affected by blockchains. With the emergence of cryptocurrencies, the monetary system as we know it is in danger of extinction. Individuals and organizations may soon be able to make payments directly, dispensing with the services of financial institutions as intermediaries.
However, if those intermediary services are well-structured and useful, they will still be used and even, needed. Nevertheless, their continued relevance will only be possible if the individual companies analyze the data generated by their clients throughout the user experience.
Leaving the financial sector and delving deeper into the potentialities created by the use of data, blockchains can change the very structure of companies. This is the case with DAOs – Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. In a DAO, the company uses a system of hard-coded rules that define which actions an organization will take through intelligent contracts via block-chain technology. Also, stakeholders can vote on potential investments via blockchain, for example.
Moreover, data (and the data-driven company) gains even more force in such a democratized and decentralized system, since everyone should be aware of the relevant numbers before making a decision.
The automation tool and the data-driven company
Numbers are an essential part of decision making and a necessary step towards a broad and profound understanding of your business. With the increase in competition, there is no room for suppositions or considerations: becoming a data-driven company is fundamental. These days, driving with your headlights on isn’t enough, we need geolocation, route planning and easy access to Big Data and the Internet of Things.
We, here at Runrun.it, fervently believe in the power of data, and that is why it is an important part of our platform’s functionalities. The tool provides KPIs and practical reports to manage projects and teams based on accurate and up-to-date information. In addition, the tool automates bureaucratic processes, organizes workflows and includes automated timesheets.
See for yourself the impact that the use of data can have on your company’s performance. Sign up for a free trial today at https://runrun.it
