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What are the key factors of a good data strategy?

In this tutorial, we will learn what are the key factors of a good data strategy?
Submitted by IncludeHelp, on May 16, 2022

The use of data is becoming increasingly and critical to the success of businesses across the industries. Hence, to successfully apply analytics and integrate new technologies across the organization will provide more business value and increase productivity, allowing businesses to stay one step ahead of their competitors who do not.

However, even though Data Science and Analytics can give many fantastic benefits for business organizations, it's still a struggle to successfully embrace and utilize Data Science and Analytics across businesses. Without a robust data strategy and a skilled team of data scientists to extract meaningful information and insights from data, firms would waste important resources and the massive data collected lose all elements of its utility.

Hence, it's vital that organizations have a robust data strategy in place and have a staff of qualified data scientists to analyze and manage data and generate insights, discover usable intelligence for enterprises.

Following are the key points of a successful data strategy:

• Which data do we require to track progress toward the organization's goal?
• Is the information easily available, or do we need to track down a reliable source?
• How the data is clean, latest and updated, dependable, and suitable for integration with analytics tools and what steps do we need to take to get it ready for the challenge?
• Who will be involved in the use of data to achieve this goal, and what will be the responsibilities of each individual?
• The analytics dashboard(s) associated with this goal will be viewed by whom, and what actions will they take as a result of what they see on the dashboard(s)?
• How will people obtain data-driven insights related to this goal? What tools will they employ to do this?
• Are the tools that are currently available adequate for the job?
• Were all users forced to use a single analytics platform, or could we accept users from a variety of different applications?
• For the organization to achieve its business purpose, what processes must be in place to convert information into action that moves the organization forward?
• Is it possible to improve existing procedures in order to achieve this goal, or will we have to develop entirely new processes?

After understanding the key factors playing a vital role for making good data strategy, we observed that the successful implementation of a data strategy within an organization necessitates the alignment of all stakeholders around a single goal and a single set of guiding behaviors. The vision should be consistent with and supportive of the broader corporate vision, mission, goals, and strategy, as well as the aims and objectives of the organization. As part of the overall organizational strategy, data strategy must be aligned with that plan in order to be effective. Keeping it short, simple, and straight-forward is the key to crafting a data strategy vision that is effective. When building the data principles, we can use the same approach that we used to develop the vision described above.

Data strategy principles are guiding behaviors that are specific to any organization and will differ from one another. These principles lay the groundwork for the outcomes we hope to attain in the future. The goal is to keep your principles concise and succinct, just as you did with your vision. It is critical to choose a governance model for your organization. We will have a more successful plan if we understand the data we are attempting to manage, who is involved, and how it will be governed, among other things.

The definition of the target state is an important part of the plan. This sets the stage for where we want to be once we've adopted data strategy, as well as how that will contribute to the achievement of your organization's strategic objectives. Because things change so quickly in the realm of data, it is recommended that the plan be implemented for no more than three years. In addition to data, the plan should incorporate desired capabilities for:

• Technical capabilities
• Process capabilities
• People capabilities
• Architectural components

The vision should be consistent with and supportive of the broader corporate vision, mission, goals, and strategy, as well as the aims and objectives of the organization. As part of the overall organizational strategy, data strategy must be aligned with that plan in order to be effective.

Your strategy consists of a succession of projects that will take us from where we are now to the desired state of the strategy's target state. A good plan helps you accomplish your desired condition as well as your vision. Your strategy should include the following elements:

• Technical changes that will be necessary
• Organizational changes that will be required
• Individual projects or initiatives
• Overall delivery model

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