Five key principles for data insight success

How can you use data to grow your business? Ian Bobbett, Chief Data Officer at Crimson and George Lynch, Head of Tech Advisory at NashTech (both part of Nash Squared) look at 5 key principles for success. This article first appeared on ComputerWeekly.com.

It’s a moment that no Chief Data Officer (CDO) or other technology leader wants to experience – when a new BI data dashboard is presented to the exec and the reaction around the room is, “But that just doesn’t feel right!”

In today’s business environment, one thing that is not in short supply is data. But managing that data, and turning it into accurate decision-useful insight, is much harder to do. It’s an issue that is more relevant than ever right now as businesses look to deploy AI and Generative AI solutions into their business – data is critical to success.

The data challenge is a theme that consistently comes through in Nash Squared’s annual Digital Leadership Report. The 2023 report showed that only one in four digital leaders rate their organisation as very or extremely effective at using data insights to generate more revenue. This is despite the fact that half of digital leaders see data & analytics as one of the top two deliverers of return on investment.

Across the piece, businesses routinely struggle to get the value they should be getting from data. The picture is similar across small, medium and large enterprises – although medium-sized businesses seem particularly squeezed, with significant volumes of data but not the sophisticated systems to deal with it that some of their larger counterparts have been able to invest in.

So, given these issues, how can businesses begin to get their hands around their reams of data and use it to maximise performance, productivity and insight?

Read the full blog here for five key principles that we see as fundamental to success.

Crimson is part of Nash Squared, the leading global provider of talent and technology solutions.