Analytical competition: how to become a truly data driven company

We are in the age of data, intelligent machines and artificial intelligence. These technologies challenge organizations to develop new skills, behaviors, business models and strategies.

However, this is no longer an ignorable trend. On the contrary, companies that do not adapt to these new developments will not survive the coming decades.

But how to start and who to draw inspiration from?

Look up to those who are already doing it right.

This content focuses on data driven companies that navigate the interstellar stage, the last phase of the data driven journey .

You will learn everything about:

• Data driven companies
• Analytical competition
• Interstellar, the fifth stage of the data driven journey
• Data, technologies, people and processes of data-driven companies

What are truly data driven companies?

Many companies believe they are data driven, as they collect and analyze data. But that is not true.

In data driven companies, everything starts from data, that is, it guides all actions and guides business strategies. Therefore, they are true analytical competitors.

According to Davenport and Harris (2018, p. 32), an analytical competitor is “ an organization that uses analysis systematically and extensively to surpass and surpass the competition. ”

What does that mean?

Truly data driven companies exploit the power of their data to remain competitive and stand out from other market players. These are organizations that set trends for the future , are not afraid to innovate and focus their efforts to stay ahead of the analytical competition.

Netflix is ​​an example of this. The company that creates and distributes online content, which revolutionized the video rental sector, is a born analytical competitor that uses the millions of data generated by the platform to improve its services and deliver excellent content to its users.

As?

Applying mathematics, statistics, data intelligence and advanced modeling techniques, such as recommendation models, to improve your services and deliver excellent content to your users.

Conclusion : Netflix is ​​not a market leader by chance, it competes analytically to maintain its leading role and prominent positioning. Therefore, it is positioned at the highest level of the data driven journey, the interstellar phase .

Interstellar, the fifth stage of the data driven journey

Interstellar companies use data science and analytics fully as a business strategy to stay at the forefront of analytical competition.

They are spread across different sectors and industries , however, they share common pillars such as:

1. support from senior management
2. structured data driven culture
3. efficient and applied analytics approach across all business departments
4. data-driven decision process

It is important to remember that comfort and stagnation are not in the dictionary of these organizations.

They do not underestimate analytical competition, on the contrary, they understand its volatility. Therefore, they are resilient, innovative and are always attentive to adapt and renew analytical strategies, when necessary.

Furthermore, it is only in the interstellar phase that all elements of the analytical competition begin to work together.  

We explain .

In these companies, data, technologies, people and processes are complementary assets that operate together to position them as market leaders. And it is precisely this approach that differentiates them, because, without it, it would not be possible to reach the interstellar stage of the data driven journey.

Continue reading and understand what these organizations do differently.

Data

In the interstellar stage, data is managed intelligently and used as a strategic asset.

Companies have a fully developed, sophisticated and competitive data infrastructure that incorporates a complete view of departments and aspects of the business.

And that says a lot about the nature of the data in these organizations.

In technical terms, they are:

• integrated
• bulky
• dynamic
• consistent
• rich in quality
• easily accessible by all users in the company via data lakes , data warehouses, data marts or business intelligence tools .

But remember: quantity is not always quality.

Large volumes of data alone are insufficient for accurate analysis. Therefore, interstellar companies strive to improve the quality of their data and, as a consequence, reduce the amount of repeated, redundant and outdated information, improving the accuracy of their decisions.

Technologies

Here, organizations have the technologies necessary for analytical competition.

They have their data organized and stored in modern and technological infrastructures, such as data lakes, data warehouses, data marts, and use analytical, outsourced or customized tools to incorporate their data into decision-making processes.

In the interstellar phase, several advanced analytics tools are used, including:

• Data visualization and BI tools connected to data repositories that enable real-time data visualization and manipulation, such as tableau, qlink and looker .
• Customized analytical software and data apps , created with modeling techniques to simulate events, business rules, etc.
• Artificial intelligence, machine learning and other cognitive technologies, such as neural networks and deep learning.

Furthermore, there is the development of advanced techniques such as:

• Predictive and prescriptive analytics
• Process automation with AI
• what-if models

Therefore, an interstellar company invests and applies all the latest to remain competitive in the analytical race.

People

At this stage, analytical culture finally becomes part of the companies' DNA. This means that:

• there is executive commitment and analytical passion
• everyone is aware of the importance of data in business
• decisions, from the simplest to the most complex, are based on data
• all departments use advanced data analytics

It can be said that everything that was planted at every stage of the journey is finally harvested here.  

Executives consume data every day, are innovative , are not afraid of error and are open to data-driven tests and experiments . Managers deal with data as strategic resources, use them routinely and supervise activities with an analytical eye.

In the technical field, there are departments specialized in analytics with highly qualified analytical professionals, such as data scientists and engineers, analytics engineers , etc.

Furthermore, analysts are highly trained , have advanced analytical skills, know how to deal with advanced tools, such as Python, SQL, DBT and R studio, and are qualified to create business rules and do modeling.

However, the difference in the interstellar phase goes beyond technical professionals.

Do you know why?

All employees of these companies understand the importance of indicators and metrics in every decision in their daily lives, even those without an analytical profile.

Law Suit

At this stage, data science and analysis are part of the strategy and business processes, which are well defined in all departments of the organization.

Here, the focus is on monitoring and optimizing high-performance processes to reduce risks, increase efficiency and improve results. Therefore, all processes are structured, automated, integrated and committed to the analytical mindset.

Selection processes, for example, include steps that assess candidates' ability to think analytically, regardless of the position in question. Furthermore, product and service development is also 100% data-driven.

Finally, data science and analytics approaches are incorporated throughout the company, bringing a comprehensive view of the business with information from the past, present and future. As a result, all business cores have access to and use data to leverage their competitive advantage.

Be an interstellar company

Interstellar companies not only understand the importance of data in business, but also use it as a source of competitive advantage to stand out in an increasingly competitive market.

And all these efforts are rewarded with numerous positive business impacts, including:

• increased sales thanks to predictive sales modeling , customer segmentation, recommendation models and clustering techniques
• cost reduction with the help of techniques for inventory optimization, churn modeling, sales forecasting, etc.
• accurate decisions supported by intelligence reports, simulation models (what-if), complete BI tools, among others.

These are some of the benefits that data driven companies have to remain market leaders, but remember: they do not eliminate intuition completely, they only use it in a reduced way, when it is not possible to validate hypotheses or strategies with data.

Now that you know everything about interstellar companies, you might be wondering: how to get here.

Follow these tips:

1. Develop your data driven culture: do not underestimate the power of people and organizational culture. Seek to develop analytical thinking in all business departments so that the use of data is a spontaneous consequence of these efforts, inaugurating a more modern and analytical stage for your business.
2. Invest in data integration : implementing integrated systems and centralizing data is fundamental and highly recommended for anyone who wants to advance on the journey.
3. Be resilient and persistent: the data driven journey is a journey full of challenges and winding sections. Therefore, persistence is one of the main attributes that a company needs to develop to evolve along this path.

Do you want to transform your company and participate in the analytical competition?

Talk to us and find out how we can help.