Navigating effective data management in a dynamic environment

Consumer behaviour is in the middle of a massive transformation – one that has only further accelerated in our post-COVID era. These changes led to the rise and increased importance of niche data agencies, particularly as they cover the quickly expanding channels beyond conventional brick and mortar. For businesses, not only the volume of available data sources increases, but the pace of change has also become more frequent. As organizations attempt to prioritize a data-centric approach, the need for data quality and readiness for a diverse user base becomes even more critical. To keep up with external velocity, today, more than ever, businesses need to keep adapting and refining their data strategies to stay competitive.

In the past, data from consumer or retail panels followed standard structures, usually organized in hierarchies that masked finer granularity. This approach worked well in an earlier era, but as data became the new “oil,” new, more pressing needs emerged. Organizations now demand the fusion of all available data sources to form a central source of truth or wisdom. This shifting goal significantly affects how data sources are structured and used. The trend toward more flexible data models that enable real-time aggregations has gained momentum.

Managing a variety of data sources and sets, each with unique structures, isn’t easy. The urge to avoid the challenge by simply not using certain sources in strategic analytical projects is an attractive temptation. But not using valuable data and falling behind the latest market data trends has built-in costs and long-term risks for organizations operating at scale.

We believe that every team is capable of managing even the most complex data sources. To navigate this complexity more effectively, consider the following principles:

1. Embrace Knowledge: Acknowledge the distinctive nature of each data source in your journey and invest time in learning, training, and talent acquisition. Equipped with the right expertise both internally and externally, your data journey becomes safer and will bring more consistent results.
2. Democratize your Data: Maximizing the ROI from consumer tracking data means making data available across all levels of the organization. Finance should use the data to keep an eye on the competition, R&D to spot emerging trends, IT to make all data sets available in data lakes, and Insights to make data useable on knowledge sharing platforms. Ensuring that the dots are connected in both your short-, medium- and long-term views, which engage your various stakeholders, will make your strategies relevant and long lasting.
3. Instil Governance in Decision-Making: Even the effort needed to map an organization’s data sources can be a time-consuming and intimidating task, but the payoff is great once these feeds are collected and consumed centrally. Setting up robust but flexible governance processes will ease the complexity of managing your data day-to-day, while embracing your data’s richness. As fresher data streams in, good governance will ensure quality and timeliness while using your data.
4. Design for Resilience: In an era of constant change, resilience is no longer optional–it’s essential. The data one needs and licenses is bound to evolve, and data products have to be designed to adapt to that. By pre-emptively identifying impending changes and designing or using tools to minimize disruption, retailers and manufacturers can navigate data transformations more easily.

Data is the lifeblood of modern businesses, yet some of the most valuable information sources are more complex to manage. Through pragmatism, transparency, and flexibility, businesses can maximize the potential of even the most intricate data feeds. By sticking to these principles, organizations can successfully navigate the changing landscape of complex data management, elevating their ROI and simplifying well-informed decision-making.