• • • DATA CENTRE MANAGEMENT • • •
Getting the data lifecycle right to accelerate digital transformation strategies
Accelerated by Covid-19, businesses have started to become more data-driven and embrace digital transformation strategies, says Peter Ruffley, chief executive at Zizo
H
owever, these often become wasted endeavours as organisations are not brave or honest enough to look at their existing
data resources – and realise what they have been missing from the start: the right data. This failure to understand data, what a business
has, and what a business needs, is compromising far too many digital transformation plans, and leading businesses to waste years on projects that ultimately, will never deliver.
Digital Transformation Paralysis One of the biggest issues facing companies of all sizes is a complete lack of knowledge – or honesty – about current data resources. Don’t assume for example, that data is being regularly collected as stated; or that customer files are up-to-date and accurate. The quality of data that an organisation can
function on is much lower than the standard required for digital transformation. Therefore, that is a fast track to expensive mistakes and wasted endeavour. The catalyst for a business to embark on a
digital transformation journey is having a desire to ‘change something.’ But after spending months, even years, to determine short, medium and long term business goals – it is only later when the teams discover that the data required to support this change has not been collected. Businesses’
digital transformation journeys will fail before they begin. A ‘data-first’ approach turns the model on its
head. By understanding the existing data resources first, organisations can then drive effective change and unlock immediate value – only then will they be able to explore the real opportunities they have to meet needs and realise ambitions. Businesses need to get the foundations right – having the right quality of data, and it being available at the right time. Additionally, changes in personnel over time can
put a halt to the digital transformation journey. Such initiatives are often driven by specific individuals from within the organisation, but these cannot be sustained if those originally inspiring change are no longer within the business. To make a success of the digital transformation
journey, businesses have got to start this process quickly to ensure that the same people with the same impetus are running the process, or else efforts will be wasted. This speed will also ensure that the business can achieve change quicker, and in turn, inspire broader business commitment by encouraging employees to recognise quality data as a vital contributor to the firm’s success. A different approach is needed for digital
transformation to ensure businesses succeed. They need to go through the four stages of the data lifecycle to understand what data they
have, how they can use it, and if necessary, make the decision to take corrective action on the data – rather than pressing ahead towards inevitable failure.
Collect It can appear simple to collect data but, as far too many companies have discovered, there is a huge difference between any data and the right data. Without the right approach, businesses can end up either collecting too much (or too little) data or, in the worst scenarios, collecting the wrong data. Data quality is also vital if business users are to
trust the information to make key decisions. What is the point of collecting ‘free text’ information with inconsistent spelling or missing postcodes, for example? That data is guaranteed to be of insufficient quality to use in a digital context. Without collecting the right, usable data from
the outset, businesses risk compromising the entire data lifecycle – and derailing digital transformation initiatives as a result. Robust data collection processes look closely at the ‘how, where and what’ to ensure the correct data is in place, and uses expert data validation to determine the quality of data before moving to the next stage of the data lifecycle.
Combine Organisations of all sizes are often data-rich, but insight-poor: there is a huge gap between creating an extensive data resource and actually unlocking real business value. Single sources of information can be interesting, but the true business picture can only be revealed by combining multiple data sources. What information is required by the business?
Which data sources can be combined to reveal vital business insights? And what is the best approach to combining data to ensure the right information is produced? Combining data is a
24 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • JUNE 2022
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
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