Data isn’t Disruptive Anymore
You can’t afford to not engage with data anymore.
You can’t afford to not engage with data anymore. Maybe 10 years ago it was considered to be a real competitive advantage but these days its par for the course. Over the last few decades we’ve seen online business evolve drastically. In 2003 it was seen as a fairly niche market to sell scented candles and cheap imports from your garage. Now however it is home to some of the world’s largest companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook. This move to the internet is not a fad as some predicted. In 1995 Rober Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet, predicted that the Internet would “catastrophically collapse” in a year or so. This didn’t happen and the internet is here to stay. As this marvel has evolved and progressed we have seen the rise of mass data collection coupled with easy to implement and affordable analytics tools. These permeate our daily lives and will continue to do so more and more.
A Changing Landscape
Back in 2005 Roger Mougalas coined the term Big Data to describe the vast data landscape that was rapidly developing. Since then this landscape has grown and grown as more and more companies and individuals realize its potential. We have grown accustomed to our personal data being tracked and used to market “new and amazing” products. The modern image of a billionaire isn’t a grey haired old magnate in a stuffy suit its a barefoot t-shirt wearing nerd who built a data-driven empire. Companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google provide services to their users but in return aggregate massive amounts of data that can be leveraged or sold. These companies have redefined the business landscape with their data use and it isn’t going to stop.
It used to be that the ability to engage with data was a competitive advantage. Companies that were really on the cutting edge were tracking cookies and clickstream data to understand and engage their customers. Today this is just expected. Maybe 5 years ago you could get by not having an ML powered recommendation engine but today it is just the cost of doing business. The barrier of entry for these technologies has never been lower. In 15 minutes you can start a website and it will have built in analytics telling you who is visiting, what they are doing, what content they are engaging with from day. If you are not gathering and engaging with your data you are not just old school you are falling behind.
So if gathering data is just par for the course what makes a competitive difference? The ability for leaders to engage with it.
What really makes the difference
While the barrier for entry in gathering data grows lower and lower many companies still have trouble leveraging it. We are swimming in data but desperately lacking meaningful change. The Harvard Business Review in their article The Two Big Reasons That Digital Transformations Fail says that there are two big reasons digital transformations fail. One is a gap around the ability to scale necessary technologies. The second is a lack of alignment from leadership. The data can only inform it can’t make the necessary changes to improve your business nor can it do the hard work of discussing and interpreting the information. Time and time again leaders fail their companies and thier people by refusing to listen to the data and the feedback it brings. Everyday is like an episode of Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey where there is a mess and everyone refuses to clean it up or even acknowledge its existence. The competitive edge in business isn’t seeing the messes, its the humility to engage with them, own them and act on them. The competitive edge is humility.
Humility is the key to unlocking our data filled businesses. As stated, anyone in the world can gather vast amounts of data but it is those leaders who engage both the available technologies and listen to what they say that will make a difference. This is a side of digital transformation that can’t be bought. It can’t be downloaded. It can’t be outsourced. It can’t be bundled into an email. It takes leaders who are willing to set an example for their organizations and make the hard decisions. It takes people who are willing to engage with each other and engage the problems they find together. In essence the only barrier of entry into this ever expanding world of data and analytics is you and that is fully in your control.
