Enabling a Modern Culture of Data with Alteryx
Data has permanently changed the way organizations run. To stay competitive in today’s environment, you must take in an ever-expanding amount of data and use it to engage customers, define new revenue opportunities, and identify new products.
Many companies are focused on building technology platforms and tools to support data objectives. But data tools and technology are nothing without people.
And people make culture.
When you have a culture of experimentation and innovation — where people have the power to accelerate business outcomes by putting insights into action — you can achieve the full potential of your investment into data and analytics.
But without that fundamental shift in culture, organizations attempting to make the most of their data will face significant barriers.
According to Gartner’s 3rd Annual CDO Survey in 2018, Chief Data Officers say culture change is the number one inhibitor to progress. You must change the mindsets and behaviors of your people to successfully create a modern culture of data.
What is a modern culture of data?
A modern culture of data is an environment of experimentation, empowerment, curiosity, critical thinking, and collaboration.
In this culture, employees have the power to use data to test hypotheses and new ideas. They think critically about the data to derive insights, and they work together to bring the data strategy to life.
Achieving this environment requires a shift in how you work.
You must leave the siloed operating model behind and embrace a collaborative operating model, where employees can share objectives, goals, data, and insights. You must resist decision-making based on intuition and use data to drive decisions. And you must embrace risks, allowing for an experimental, fail-fast culture.
A successful shift in your operating model, decision-making, and approach to risk can drive innovation, growth, empowered employees, and more.
How to build a modern culture of data at your organization
At Slalom, we believe a modern culture of data requires five key elements:
- Bold vision
- Access and transparency
- Guardianship
- Data Literacy
- Ways of Working
Alteryx unifies analytics, data science, and process automation in one platform to accelerate digital transformation and rapidly upskill the modern workforce. The Alteryx portfolio enables three of the five key elements above: access and transparency, guardianship, and data literacy.
But the other two, bold vision and ways of working, are just as critical. Leadership drives them and they must be in place for the technology investments to deliver value.
Bold vision: chart a clear path
To build a modern culture of data, you need to know where you’re going, how you’re getting there, and why it’s important.
When you define a bold, overarching vision that’s aligned to the corporate strategy, the entire organization shares a unified sense of purpose.
To support your bold vision, you need to:
- Clearly define the business case.
- Establish key performance indicators.
- Gain sponsorship by executive leadership.
- Articulate the strategic and operational objectives across all functions.
Access and transparency: build integrated data and flexible, scalable systems
In a true data-driven culture, everyone has easy access to data and tools.
A scalable data architecture with flexible, user-friendly systems lets people analyze complex information and quickly reach data-driven decisions.
Alteryx has two products in their portfolio in particular that enable data access and transparency: Alteryx Designer and Alteryx Connect.
- Alteryx Designer is a standalone desktop application that connects to all sizes of data sources and puts data in the hands of employees.
- Alteryx Connect makes employees aware of all the data available within the organization. The social components enable certification, ownership, and forum discussion.
Guardianship: establish trust in data, tools, and systems
Data guardianship ensures that the use, ownership, and maintenance of data is safe, secure, compliant and ethical.
With good guardianship, the organization follows data compliance policies and adheres to legal regulations, and people understand the difference between legal and ethical use of data.
Good guardianship also gives people confidence in their use of data, believing that it’s trustworthy and high-quality.
The Alteryx products that enable good guardianship are Alteryx Server, Alteryx Connect, and Alteryx Promote.
- Alteryx Server supplies self-service tools in a collaborative, secured, and governed environment where users can share their process with others.
- Alteryx Connect appoints a data guardian who serves as the point of contact for inquiries. Users can identify a trustworthy asset using the “Certified” tag.
- Alteryx Promote allows the management and maintenance of a deployed model to remain with the SME, rather than an application developer who may not be as familiar with the model.
Data literacy: develop the mindset and skills that drive action.
People need a fundamental understanding of data, how to analyze it, and how to use it to make decisions and take action — at all levels, functions, and processes.
Data literacy empowers employees to uncover insights, ask questions, think critically, and challenge conclusions with data and experimentation.
Three Alteryx products are relevant for this key element of a modern culture of data: Alteryx Designer, Alteryx Server, and Alteryx Connect.
- Alteryx Designer lets non-experts harness the power of advanced analytics and continue to grow their knowledge.
- Alteryx Server enables collaboration between users and groups so they can learn from each other and dig deeper.
- Alteryx Connect provides the business definitions of typical terms and collective knowledge about each data asset, so anyone can understand an asset without needing an subject matter expert’s help.
Ways of working: embed insights in behaviors and operations.
To make sure data and analytics become part of day-to-day operations, planning, and decision-making, leaders need to create an operating model with processes, roles, and responsibilities that support the organization’s bold vision.
Then, leadership and champions can incentivize an analytical mindset and data-driven behaviors. You should also prioritize gaining new data skills and resources through recruiting and training.
Where are you on the culture continuum?
To identify your next steps toward building a modern culture of data, you first need to know where your organization stands:
- Uncharted: Data is an important focus, but activities haven’t been initiated and the organization is siloed.
- Discovered: You’ve initiated an assessment of data capabilities.
- Established: You’ve implemented capabilities that support a data culture.
- Embedded: Data is an integral asset, there are no barriers to data access, and you use it to challenge hypotheses, inform business operations, and drive decision-making.
At Slalom, we use our experience supporting clients across industries to assess where organizations are on their data journey and help them build a modern culture of data, from business advisory services to Alteryx technical implementation.
