Three steps to creating healthy, actionable data
Like a book, your data should tell a story of where you’ve been and where you’re headed. But if the paragraphs and chapters are placed in random order, the information in that book is useless.
Your data is no different, and at Peel, we help you ensure the data you’re using not only makes sense but is strategic, healthy and actionable.
- Identify Critical Strategic Levers
First things first — figure out what really matters to your business, focusing on the vital levers that drive it forward. By zeroing in on these key factors, we make sure you’re not overloaded with data but taking advantage of the numbers you truly need.
- Ensure Healthy Data
Based on the data that matters to your business, we can then form metrics using these criteria:
Is it trustworthy? The information going into your systems should be accurate and dependable, otherwise, unreliable data will halt progress before it begins.
Does it stay consistent? Your data should tell the same story, no matter where it’s used. If your data changes as it moves through different parts of your business, it's like playing a game of telephone — the message gets garbled.
Can you actually use it? Your trustworthy, consistent data should be easy to pull (and actionable) when you need it.
- Create Action-Based Metrics
While charts and graphs are great to have, the information needs to be clear, meaningful and actionable.
Imagine we gather eight decision-makers from your business around a table to look at a chart and answer three questions:
- Do all eight agree that this chart is essential for driving a component of strategy or operations?
- Do all eight interpret the chart in the same way?
- Do all eight agree on the actions that need to be taken?
If the answer is yes, you're on the right track to using data effectively.
By following these steps, we help you cut through the noise and focus on the data that truly matters. It's not about having the most data or the most sophisticated data — it's about having the right data and knowing how to use it.
“According to Forbes, 95 percent of businesses say managing unstructured data is a problem for their business, with those able to do so gaining a significant competitive advantage.”