So, your company has decided that there is value in data. You have invested in infrastructure to professionalize the data process and you brought data specialists to unlock its value. Do you know that these people could suffer a curse that if not managed, can cause much more damage than the value it can bring?
A curse, what curse?
Yes, there is a curse. It is hidden, not immediately obvious even to the most seasoned professionals. But it is there. It comes from the nature of the data itself. The data is abstract, usually disconnected from the main purpose of a typical employee. Being abstract, it requires specific skills from the professionals that deal with it. The best analogy that we can make is with chess. What separates good players from the average ones is the number of moves they can see ahead. When two parties compete, this ability is definitely an advantage, but when the requirement is for teamwork, this advantage disappears. The data people see the opportunities coming from good data and consequences that could rise from bad data. They see this much further up and down the value chain than the rest of the organization, something that could quickly become a source for an internal clash. The result is that the data itself and the people around it become counterproductive, which from a company standpoint is nothing else but waste.
Can this curse be avoided?
In theory yes. But only if the company invests in educating their workforce, not only their data professionals. If everyone knows the value of well-organized data, that is also protected from misinterpretation, then chances are that the waste will decrease. And many companies do realize this and embark of a path to regain (a sense of) control. Therefore, the topic of data governance is getting hotter and hotter nowadays for example. This can undoubtedly work if such activities are not mistaken with just collecting work instructions and documents that “govern” and “support” the data effort. When it is a holistic approach that touches the whole data value chain in the organization, yes, then it works. We leave to the judgement of the reader if, and how often, this happens.
Preventing the curse without breaking the bank
There is another way to prevent the curse without the need to invest in large, company-wide transformation or educational programs. And that is – make sure the data is fit for the purpose you want to achieve with it. In many cases, you have data, yes, but it is not directly ready to deliver value. That is why companies bring data people on board. If the data is in form and shape, ready to use without the necessity to spend time and effort in knowledge sharing or education, this will decrease the amount of confusion and will streamline the process. And your data people will start bringing actual value and not just getting your data in order. How you achieve this – by focusing on the purpose that the data should deliver. Every other objective should be taken into consideration but should not be placed above the purpose you want to achieve with your data. Because the data usually is the foundation that all other corporate goals are built on.
A tangible example
And as the data itself, this blog so far has been uncomfortably abstract. To really illustrate what we mean, let’s give a tangible and functional example.
You have a purpose – you want to increase your sales pipeline by sending marketing material over email to your current and prospective clients. For this you need, at minimum, an email address and a name. This is data, right? Let’s say that such data in your organization is collected by the account managers. The usual process is to fill in a spreadsheet form and send it to your data specialists who process it and create a record in your customer database. Here is where the curse starts manifesting itself. There are three parties in this value chain, all with different core purposes. Filling this form for the account managers is an administrative task. Most often they do it between meetings where the primary goal is to sell, not to collect data. The data professionals’ main goal is to organize and systematize the data they receive as soon as possible as it is required by multiple parties in the organization down the line. The purpose of the marketeer is to send the communication to the customers. Three parties with three different focus area and requirements towards the data, with the data professionals sitting in the middle. They know that if well filled form arrives from the account manager, the marketeer will have good data to work with. If not however, for example the email is missing, the data specialists will have to go back to ask for a rework. Or, even worse, they will process the form and will record a customer without an email. In fact, this sometimes happens completely unintentionally, especially when the volume of forms that arrive is high. So, the data professionals are in a difficult spot – whatever they do, they will obstruct the main purpose of someone up or down the value chain. Should they ask the account managers to do extra administration that will prevent them from selling, or should they provide the marketeer with emails that will never reach their destination? This is just an example of a lose-lose scenario that data people face on a daily basis. Such situations happen in all shapes or sizes and, in general, we refer to them as “A CURSE”.
How Your Data Inspector solves this curse
First and foremost, we accept and endorse the fact that everyone has their own specific purpose and that this purpose is not more important than the others.
Second, we believe that everyone in the value chain knows the importance of data.
Third is that if each stakeholder in the value chain has the approach and tools where the balance between their own goals and the data requirements is optimal, they will do their best to make sure the latter is of good quality and the process is seamless.
Forth, create and provide such approach and tools, tailored to the need and purpose of each stakeholder in the value chain.
In summary, the focus of Your Data Inspector is to remove the waste associated with THE CURSE. This is the value we deliver and it works.