Channeling my inner Neo!

Why Data & Analytics?

I have never met a businessman or business woman who has said that they need ETL/Data Warehouse/Thingama Visualizer. They all want one thing. Information...

So while the Immortals (you know, you might know them as Elon or Mark), duke it out on the Matrix (I mean the internet) about AI and the bots arguing about whether LeBron or Jordan is the greatest of all, us mere mortals are wondering what to do with data, how to make sense of it and why we should invest in it.

Well, unless you are one of the Immortals, read on.  

Why Data?
Why should you invest in it? Your business is running well, you are making money and you are doing a great job at it. Your family is happy, you make a good living and you have a few toys to show off.
So why is this consultant scaring you by saying that data is the future and that if you don’t invest in it, you are behind the times? Look, they have a powerpoint presentation that looks like a hologram that looks like Princess Leah asking for help, too!
You spend sleepless nights trying to figure out whether you should spend some/any/ more money on this concept called data.

Whether you work in healthcare, finance, retail, a giant corporation or an SME, you are not alone! If you find yourself thinking about data & analytics, read on.
There are only three reasons to spend money on something. Data is no different.
  1. You need to save money. (Cut costs, increase efficiency, control churn, etc.)
  2. You need to make more money. (Increase profit margins, acquire customers/ new/ incremental business, gain market share, build your brand, etc.)
  3. You want to research or learn something. (Customer experience, segmentation or delight, brand recall, competitive analysis, strategic marketing questions such as why some products/services succeeded, or did not,  etc.)

While us technologists ( I am talking about me and my kind), scare you with words like optimisation, efficiency, streamlining, data governance, master data management and confuse the heck out of you, refer back the points above. Do you have a need for any of them? If not, go about your business. Take that vacation you have always wanted, near the azure waters off the coast of the Mediterranean. Go ahead, enjoy your life.

But if you answered yes to even one of them, then you can call someone like me. My presentations won’t have holograms in them. Heck, I don’t even have a presentation. I will simply ask you: “Where do you want to go from here?”. You know, like Neo from the Matrix?

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