who's data strategy is it anyways?

In a recent conversation, the head of data strategy & analytics at a large biopharmaceutical company shared his thoughts around data strategy.

His gripe was that there was no cohesive mission and vision that described the company’s overarching strategy with respect to data. Everybody in the organization that he talked to spoke of data being a strategic asset, that they need to value it, curate it and benefit “win” with it.

“We have high level principles but no data cohesive strategy. If anybody in the organization asks me about our data strategy, we have absolutely nothing.”

As Life Sciences clients mature their data management and operations, they are grappling with legacy proliferation of data, processes and ambiguity of ownership across functions.

Everybody wants clean, integrated and timely data but nobody owns or wants a data strategy. Most data strategies are an afterthought.

I firmly believe that lack of transparency in data (& people) investments and value generated is the single biggest reason why a robust data strategy gets watered down to data guiding principles.

So, what do we mean by transparency in data (& people) investments.

All data & analytics investments in any organization can be categorized across 3 dimensions

1. “run” the Business

a. Refers to all usage of data for operational support processes. These operational processes, while not revenue generating are essential to running the business

2. “grow” the Business

a. Refers to all usage of data for processes & analytics that are geared towards growing the business.

3. “change” the Business

a. Refers to all usage of data for analytic processes that aim to introduce a fundamental or transformation shift in the business model. These are greenfield analytic processes that support key strategic shifts in business decisions

It is important for any organization to track it’s investments data (acquisition cost, processing cost, analytics cost), people ($, hours) across each dimension and compare and contrast it as a percentage of brand revenue.

This visibility will allow organizations to factually set the direction to where they would like their investments to move towards.

This is the first step towards setting a data strategy.

Clients who are passionate to win with data by using it to create better products/ product services invest more in “growing” and “changing” the Business.