Data culture, from head to toes
Top-down & bottom-up changes for a successful business
For the episode 041 of Airccelerate podcast, Marco Brienza had the privilege to discuss with Benjamin Protais (Consulting Director of Business&Decision) and Jérémie Wagner (General Manager for French-speaking Switzerland). Business&Decision (B&D) is a data intelligence consulting company recently acquired by the Orange Business Services group.
In this French-speaking interview, a discussion took place on how to plant the seed of data culture within a company. Perhaps the name Benjamin Protais rings a bell? I already had the chance to talk to him about data management in Swiss companies. You can find the resulting article here:
Data culture
Imagine the picture: data culture is when a company uses its data to support its growth. But it is not so clear-cut. What’s the point? Isn’t it just a fad that will pass? For Benjamin Protais, the condensed definition of data culture is the following:
Data culture is the awareness that data is a business asset.
Therefore, we understand that the use of data is not just a competitive advantage for an organisation. It is critical to its health, even its survival. There are things to be explored, and Benjamin will be able to guide us.
Three significant consequences of a data culture
A data culture is lived within a company and will add value for everyone. The three biggest improvements following its implementation are :
- Improved time-to-market: data analysis helps to understand what is important and to get to the point more quickly;
- Increasing customer retention and acquisition: the company will develop the product or service that works, that customers like, by generating data, analysing it and making decisions that are aligned with its business goals;
- Increasing employee retention: this one is less understandable at first glance, but it’s important to understand that the data culture is coming in at all levels. “You have to treat employees like customers, personalise services”, says Benjamin. This is in line with the Quality of Life at Work (QWL) and employee empowerment!
Implementation from above
It sounds easy in theory, but what about implementing data culture? The answer is simple: a CDO, or Chief Data Officer. You will tell me that this is a bit like using a bazooka to kill a fly, and you would be wrong, because implementing a culture in a company is not done by personal initiatives (the IT manager who develops a home-made application; the marketer with his Excel sheet; etc.).
The best way for the culture to spread is from the top, i.e. from C-Level. Now you understand why a Chief is needed. It is a change that must become transversal and global.
A CDO is the beginning of the company transformation. The CDO, like a conductor, will steer this change and ensure that this culture is maintained. His position gives him the legitimacy to do so. However, the company must have a critical size in order to hire a full-time CDO. In the case of an SME, this role can be filled by an existing employee who devotes part of his time to the task. This solution may work better than hiring an external CDO who is not familiar with the internal culture, for example.
How to make the most of your data?
A data culture consists of 4 phases:
- First, define how the data will serve the company’s business priorities. This is the data strategy phase;
- Increasing the value of the process by targeting specific use cases that can significantly increase in size, thanks to the use of new data;
- Identify all sources of data, whether internal or external, that make sense and address the strategy points through them;
- Finally, promote the subject of data in all departments, in a transversal way.
An iterative process
I told you that the beginning of the transformation was driven by the CDO, but the implementation and maintenance of the data culture will be undertaken in an iterative way. You start with a use case, then you improve, extend and increase the value. Little by little.
A company that makes this change must test, learn and improve while keeping in mind the strategy, the direction to follow. The company is not a rocket scientist, it will make mistakes, but it will remain agile and improve. This iterative process will be increasingly effective and will help to benefit the company, its employees and the customers they serve by harnessing the potential of data.
Hopefully, you now know a bit more about data culture. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Benjamin for his time and his explanations.
You can contact him anytime on his LinkedIn, here you go:
Thanks,
Jacky
