Generating added value from your own data
Data should be experienced in an exciting, profound, varied and profitable way. At the same time, it must produce the unexpected and be transparent so that it becomes comprehensible, useful and value-adding. This is even easy to implement with little preparatory work. The best way for companies to begin their data analysis is to identify relevant data sources and make the added value of the data visible. The Data Value Creator helps with this.
Value creation requires one thing: data must come to life
Value creation is at the heart of data analysis. Recognizing, collecting and processing data makes no sense at all if its overall value for the company is not defined. This is exactly what leads to problems:
"Many companies lack acceptance for data analysis because it is not perceived as adding value."
Till Aufderheide, Managing Director at taod
The emphasis in this statement is explicitly on the word "experienced". What data projects always urgently need is an individual connection to their own world, i.e. to their own business. This is the only way to recognize and understand their value.
Companies need a person who captures and elevates data potential in order to place it in the overall corporate context and ultimately breathe life into it. This so-called data value creator is either already located within the company or is brought in externally. A new hire can be considered here or an external data specialist can be brought into the team on a temporary basis.
The term "data value creator" is a generic description used by taod for a person who identifies data within a company as value-adding and leverages the associated potential (data value creation). Typically, project managers or business development managers fill this role. However, people from IT, marketing or sales also take on this task. Data value creation can be driven both internally and with external help.
Tasks of the Data Value Creator: Creating value with brains and communication
The Data Value Creator functions as an insider of the company who understands its needs in terms of data utilization and knowledge gain. This is a creative mind with foresight who recognizes the added value of company data, but also an entrepreneurial character who can make bold decisions. He is also a connoisseur of current data analytics technologies and opportunities. He often acts as a diplomat who mediates between the data team and other departments such as marketing, sales or IT. He has product ownership and manages the data team. Constant communication with other departments is an important part of their work. He translates the needs of a department for corresponding data and AI projects into data strategies, establishes a methodology for data utilization and inspires stakeholders for more effective data utilization.
With practical use cases and small application examples, he illustrates in the short term how a lot can be changed with just a little data. Even a small investment generates value that can be built on gradually. A common misconception in companies is that data analysis is time-consuming, expensive and particularly advisable when developing complex automation processes or AI applications, for example. However, high value can already be generated in small data applications, for example in everyday sales processes, marketing tasks and logistics processes ("low-hanging fruit").
Who is the value creator in the company?
Often there is already a person with the right profile in the company. In some cases, he or she already performs at least some of the activities mentioned above or is well on the way to doing so. Even if there is not yet a data team or a data strategy has not yet been established, the official appointment of a data value creator helps immensely to professionally drive forward the topic of value creation around data management.
Data can uncover potential and solve problems. The preconception that data analysis is complicated can be quickly dispelled with easy-to-learn tools and modern, clear dashboards. However, data analysis should never be an end in itself, but must always be placed in the direct business context.
Together with the Data Value Creator, companies should urgently identify their relevant data treasures and leverage their potential. It must be clearly defined what exactly value means. As a result, better decisions are made in less time and with company-wide transparency and cost savings, which are particularly convincing for business areas. This process can take years and is never complete, as enablement does not end with data management. But the journey is worth it, right from the start.
