Home »  blog »  Data-democratization-is-key-to-business-growth-and-innovation---Anjna-Bhati--CTO--BluePi-Consulting

Data democratization is key to business growth and innovation - Anjna Bhati, CTO, BluePi Consulting

With the growing use of mobile phones along with the high social media and internet usage and innovations across mobile networks and Wi-Fi, data creation and consumption is growing exponentially every single day.  Organizations are generating massive amounts of data across Sales, Marketing, Operations, Customer Service, and more! But the old practice where only data stewards, such as data analysts, data scientists, engineers, and other IT personnel could access data, process, and interpret it is still prevalent in several organizations even today.  The interpreted data is used by other employees and business leaders and has a strong influence on the decision-making processes. 

Challenges of data availability in the hands of only few

If data is interpreted only by the data stewards, this does not provide a full picture to everyone, and business decisions by non-analysts and business leaders can get skewed or delayed. Now the hurdle faced by businesses is to get hold of the appropriate data at the appropriate time and place from the right business unit for accurate analysis and interpretation. The approach of allowing only data stewards for this task suited well in the past as the majority of the employees were not trained to interpret data effectively.  With the foundation of modern business models built on data, business leaders want to optimize the value of the available data. The idea of business analysts and marketing teams depending on IT personnel and data stewards does not sound right anymore.

If data is available to all, meaning democratizing access to data is done where it is analyzed and interpreted by non-data analysts also, then, accuracy, transparency, equity, speed, and new opportunities are seen across the organization. 

The concept of data democratization is getting accepted

Data has now become dear to all businesses and fueling the need for data democratization.  Yes, data democratization comes with several benefits to businesses and individuals. In this approach, data can be accessed, consumed, and leveraged by decision-makers helping them gain real-time insights into their organization’s business activities.  Moreover, with new age and advanced technologies, even non-data experts can analyze and interpret data effortlessly and effectively.  Technologies such as 5G, advanced analytics, blockchain, IoT, and cloud computing among others are enabling data democratization.

Business benefits of data democratization

Organizations transforming the way they manage and consume data across all business units will certainly benefit the employees, customers, and partners.  It also frees the time of the data stewards who can invest more time in discovering new data sources and cleaning and analyzing them.

  •      Enables taking informed decisions

With data democratization, data access is provided to everyone in the organization where team members are empowered to make informed decisions in real-time.  Organizations can also unlock the full potential of more employees.  They do not have to rely on only data stewards for the analysis of data with others also now equipped to make faster decisions leading to the delivery of better customer experience.  The Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service teams can directly take necessary action toward customers by leveraging effective and suitable channels.  These business decisions are what give any organization the competitive edge to stay ahead of the curve.

  •      Enhances customer experience significantly

Today’s informed and demanding customers expect a unified experience as and when they communicate with the seller. In traditional business models, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Experience business units had to make a great effort to deliver the right service to the right customer at the right time with the right product or service. This led to several misses without delivering complete satisfaction to the customer. However, with data democratization, all these teams have direct access to customers’ and market data that is also integrated and enriched. With the 360-degree view of customers and market conditions, teams can efficiently deliver what the customer wants in record time.

  •      Promotes innovation and faster growth

Transformative change across the organization follows data democratization where different teams can come up with new ideas and share them with others to explore its usage.  When many ideas are discussed during a brainstorming session within the company, the possibility of experimenting with a new discovery is greater, which drives innovation.

On the other hand, data in the hands of only a few can create roadblocks for innovative thinking. 

With data democratization, where employees are empowered, business decisions are enhanced and customer experience is improved, nobody can stop the organization from growing at a fast pace.

What lies ahead

Despite the several benefits of data democratization, risks and concerns of it keep organizations from implementing the approach.  Data is more siloed and available from a single source where businesses fail to gain the full value of it. The culture that prevails in established and traditional organizations does not support sharing data and changing this is definitely not an easy task. There are security concerns too.

Having said that, the advantages of data democratization certainly outweigh the risks with employees comprehending and leveraging data better to drive business growth and innovation while delivering a better customer experience.