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The 10 biggest strategy mistakes companies make
In my role as a consultant, I’ve seen so many company strategies fall flat because of simple errors that could easily have been avoided. What’s interesting (and frustrating) is that organisations, regardless of industry and the size of the business, tend to make the same few mistakes over and over again. With that in mind, here are my top 10 mistakes to avoid when creating your own business strategy. 1. Regurgitating last year’s plan Even if you’ve had a great last year and business seems to be booming, there’s no excuse for serving up the same strategic plan all over [...]
Experian Asked 2000 People About Their Attitudes Towards Data Sharing – Here’s What They Found
Data is fuelling our world. Never before in the history of mankind have we generated, collected and exploited more data. When it comes to using data, particularly personal data, I have long argued that trust must be an essential aspect. When you are working with personal data, your success hinges on convincing people you can be trusted with their data. If people decide you are untrustworthy, they will give their data to others instead, along with the competitive advantages that go with it. There’s good reason for this – barely a week goes by without a large-scale corporate or governmental [...]
How Is Big Data Transforming Business?
When new technologies become cheaper and easier to use, they transform industries. That’s what is happening with Big Data right now. Let’s take a look at some key industries and explore how data is driving performance and competitiveness. Healthcare Big data in healthcare is transforming the way we identify and treat illnesses, improve quality of life and avoid preventable deaths. The drive now is to understand as much about a patient as possible, as early in their life as possible – hopefully picking up warning signs of serious illness at an early enough stage that treatment is far simpler, and [...]
Big Data – Too Many Answers Not Enough Questions
One of my favourite examples of why so many big data projects fail comes from a book that was written decades before “big data” was even conceived. In Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a race of creatures built a supercomputer to calculate the meaning of “life, the universe, and everything.” After hundreds of years of processing, the computer announces that the answer is “42.” When the beings protest, the computer calmly suggests that now they have the answer, they need to know what the actual question is - a task that requires a much bigger and more [...]
Performance management software – data integration and data management
Data Integration and Data Management using Performance Management Software The data issue is important in any comprehensive performance measurement system. Any strategic performance management software application must be fed with the relevant data. Since a strategic performance management system provides a holistic view of performance, it needs to bring together data from very different organizational units and departments. A strategic performance management software solution should work in harmony with existing data sources to fulfill its function as a data integrator. Managers often believe that it is just a matter of connecting to the existing databases and then pulling out the [...]
The 6 Key Data Science Skills Every Business Needs Today
The number of jobs related to Big Data is growing by the day, as more and more companies become aware of the benefits data analysis could have on their competitiveness. Many of these jobs come with very attractive six figure salaries, and for anyone interested in data and analysis, could provide extremely rewarding careers. Demand is likely to rocket, so getting into the industry in its early days could set you up for a future-proofed career. The one question I get asked a lot is: What are the key skills required? My clients are asking me this question so they [...]
Performance management software – improves data analysis
Performance Management Software improves data analysis The second major benefit of strategic performance management software applications is the ability to analyze performance data much more effectively and comprehensively. The interactive drill-down capabilities described above are the most intuitive way of exploring and analyzing strategic performance data. However, many of the strategic performance management software applications provide much more sophisticated analysis features, such as: Drill-downs Data visualization (including comprehensive graphing) Trend analysis Impact analysis Correlations and regression analysis Multidimensional OLAP analysis Simulation and scenario features Using performance management software to visualize data in more graphical formats can be very powerful. In [...]
Future-Proofing Your Strategy: How To Use McKinsey’s Three Horizons Model
A valuable framework to move your company from inertia to innovation is McKinsey’s Three Horizons Model. Here I look at who can use the model, what it is and how companies can put it into practice to drive continuous growth today and in the future. When companies are born, they are filled with forward momentum, innovation and growth. As the years wear on, that innovative spirit is often replaced with inertia. Organisations get bogged down with the day to day and aren’t as proactive about looking toward the future. That’s precisely the set of affairs McKinsey’s Three Horizons of Growth [...]
How To Build A Platform Strategy For Your Business
If you want to compete on the playing field with the most successful companies of today, then you might need to consider a platform strategy. Any business, particularly start-ups and small businesses, but even businesses with a more traditional business model can and should think how and where they could apply a platform business model. What is a platform? In its simplest form, a platform is a mechanism or network—physical or digital—that creates value for individuals because it facilitates connections and exchanges between people for products, services and information. When you think about it, platforms have existed for years: shopping [...]
What are the 4 Vs of Big Data?
How do you know if the data you have is considered big data? There are generally four characteristics that must be part of a dataset to qualify it as big data—volume, velocity, variety and veracity. Value is a fifth characteristic that is also important for big data to be useful to an organization. Our world has become datafied. From data that shows activity such as our Google searches and online shopping habits to our communication and conversations through text, smartphones and virtual assistants, and all the pictures and videos we take to the sensor data collected by internet-of-things [...]