User Review
( votes)
Many companies are awash with data, but they have no overarching strategy to manage that data across the enterprise. Instead, each department accesses the information that concerns them and ignores everything else. Data becomes isolated in each department, and there is no one in the organization that sees all the data inputs available.
When an organization can step back and see all the data inputs available, they are in a much better position to leverage the data for their competitive advantage. But it starts with an enterprise data strategy.
Building an enterprise data strategy
Creating a data strategy starts with an inventory of all the data inputs coming into the organization along with the data elements available. This is not limited to tracking customer interactions, but also from any data source – census data, industry data, customer reviews, surveys, etc.
The first goal is to identify all sources of data in the organization, where they come from, and the data elements available from them. This inventory of your data will help you catalog all the data available to you.
After creating the catalog of data sources and each data element, you will be able to identify the sensitivity to each piece of data and establish governance policies – in other words, determine which data elements should have their availability restricted to certain individuals.
Creating the enterprise data architecture
Now, consider the architecture that will let you gather all your data sources into a single repository, like a data lake, and make the data available to each department with the proper governance. Don’t try to bring everything in all at once. Rather, approach this step in phases – bring the most important data feed in at first, resolve any issues, then move on to the next.
A centralized approach to your enterprise data lets you remove data silos while giving your staff access to the data that is driving your decisions. Once your entire staff has access to the data across the organization, they can perform more comprehensive analytics, measure their performance against trusted metrics and KPIs, and make smarter decisions going forward. Departments can leverage this data to create new products and services, reduce costs, and gain greater insights into business performance.
From silos to competitive advantage: How HSO can help
Maintaining isolated data silos can cost your company thousands of dollars in duplicated effort and missed opportunities. However, adopting an enterprise data strategy can be daunting.
We will perform a comprehensive assessment of the data feeds and elements you have available and help you develop a data strategy unique to your business. This strategy includes a calculation of the Return on Investment (ROI) that the initiative represents for your organization. We have found that most companies realize a full payback on hardware and services within the first year with a reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) going forward.
Armed with a comprehensive plan, ROI figures, and lower TCO will support the decision to commit to an enterprise data strategy.
Contact us today to discuss your options.
The post [Video] Gain a Competitive Advantage with an Enterprise Data Strategy appeared first on CRM Software Blog | Dynamics 365.
