TALKING
business
‘‘
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
may be leveraged to help drive training
and development. Management can
engage with them to create a data literacy
programme which will see knowledge
workers embark on a specialised roadmap to
become more data-aware and capable.
The trick is to make people excited about
those activities. It sees instilling the notion
that the business is data-driven and
doing everything to help guide it become
successful in that regard. And once there are
business units who have already transformed
into data-driven entities, the business
must celebrate it and tell stories through
awareness campaigns to build interest
throughout the business.
Beyond obstacles
Yes, there will always be challenges
to overcome. An organisation cannot
only create awareness and not provide
employees with the ability to change. This
means the organisation must focus on more
than innovation and making breakthroughs
with data. It must underpin everything
with ethics and principles of good data
stewardship to foster a healthy – and not a
maverick – culture.
Always remember, people might also be
threatened by this new approach. For
example, if someone has been responsible
for creating a monthly report for the past
several years and it now becomes automated,
will their job be at risk? Resistance to change
will be a key obstacle. But people must
“
PEOPLE MUST
START ACCEPTING
CHANGE AS
NECESSARY FOR
THE COMPETITIVE
NEW WORLD.
start accepting change as necessary for
the competitive new world. This does not
mean that the business should simply allow
a free-for-all when it comes to data policies.
It must focus on the process level to ensure
that the data-driven culture enforces robust
governance and management mechanisms
that enforce healthy data practices.
Investment in controls such as data quality
and master data management become
foundational in ensuring reliability and security
of data. A data-driven ship, driven by poor
quality data is bound to become lost-at-sea!
A data-driven culture is one that requires a
significant rethink on the existing processes,
systems and approaches, and how they
must be adapted to cater for a more
innovative and agile enterprise. However,
industry disrupting enterprises like Amazon
and Uber has already proven the potential
competitive advantage proper data-driven
organisations can achieve. So, while the
‘how’ of becoming an intelligent enterprise
may seem overwhelming now, take courage
in the predecessors that showed us: it’s not
impossible and it’s well worth the effort! •
32 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com