The artist James Turrell once said, “Light is not so much something that reveals, as it is itself the revelation.” This is such a profound statement. Given the influx of data and the spotlight on leveraging Big Data, I immediately paralleled light with information. If we were to sit and think about it, information in the right context, at the right time, is indeed light.
Data Dispels Darkness
One data point can shed some modicum of light on a project. Today, with the data deluge, we can leverage much more than a data point to dispel organizational ignorance and influence real decisions. I recently read an article on Target’s skillful data usage to detect customer buying patterns. By mining customer information, they were able to determine if their customer was pregnant and their due date! Darkness dispelled. In fact, McKinsey reports that “Retailers that use big data analysis to better understand consumer behavior could expect to improve its operating margins by 60%.
Data Discloses Danger
Have you ever driven without lights? Pot holes, corners and dangerous precipices thwart any notions of driving blind. Why then do we want to drive organizational strategy, processes and change without insight? If we could just harness our data and exploit it effectively, we can identify patterns and nuances amidst the perceived chaos of Big Data—patterns that incite innovation, efficiency, customer intimacy and forward thinking strategy. Forward thinking that based on hard facts that minimizes errors. Research shows us that “Big data tools could help companies reduce product development and assembly costs by as much as 50%.”
Data Displays Warnings
I’ve been doing a lot of travelling lately, and each time I land, I’m thankful for my skilled pilot and lighted runways. Like lighted runways, buoys and light houses, they caution and warn us of hazards. McKinsey reports that “40% of executives agreed that providing in-depth insights and information to support planning and decision making is now increasingly vital.” By using insights gleaned from big data organizations, it can make informed decisions regarding product development, customer engagement and business operations.
Like Turrell’s statement on light, I’d like to advocate that, “Data is not so much something that reveals, as it is itself the revelation.” How are you using your data to expose insight across your organization?
Big Data, business intelligence, customer data, customer engagement, data usage, information insight, information organization, innovation, McKinsey
On a related note, better access to data is a constituent part of transparency. I’m reminded of those occasional government websites that post unsearchable PDF files on their website. Yes, the data is published, but it isn’t discoverable because your scan didn’t include OCR. I wish there were rules around this. And if you’re disappointed in the various agencies in the executive branch, the courts seem even further behind. Although some aggregators expose court data and documents, much is still kept behind a firewall or login system that prevents citizens from inspecting the actions of courts. Ironic isn’t it? You go to court to shed “light” on a problem, and the results get hidden in documents few get to see. (privacy issues aside)
The more information you have to work with the better informed your decisions can be, but it is also easier to lose the forest for the trees. One of the most important things to remember is to keep the big picture in mind. You can make data look/say anything you want if you slice and dice it the right way, but what is the real story?
Joe, I couldn’t agree more. The old saying goes “Statistics lie”. This is one reason I think it is absolutely critical as when you analyze customer data you not only to look at transactional information like buying behavior but also the unstructured information. What free form surveys have customers responded to? What key insights did CSRs learn while on a support call or sales learn in the field. This knowledge is out there but the challenge is capturing, sharing and analyzing.