Navigating data chaos

Being Friday, once again everyone seems to be on the road. It’s traffic chaos.

“Is it worse as a result of us all working remotely?”, I wonder. “Can we now all getaway earlier for the weekend?”, “Are we all driving due to reduced overseas holidays?”

It is interesting how (at the time) seemingly unrelated things cascade through to unexpected impacts elsewhere…. of course, much of this is true at work too.

A return to reporting

This week I have been back in the mix on KPIs and reporting.

The level and detail of data we have available these days is just amazing. Slice and dice, mix and match, it seems you can find what you need and (with a good process) drill down to a granular level. Increasingly data is becoming less of the problem.

However, with this explosion of data has come other challenges.

With so much data, and now so many more places to find answers, time is at a premium. (unfortunately, our time available in the day has not changed!)

And, with our distracted nature these days, with computer and social media notifications, finding answers quickly does not seem any easier.

Back to basics

Of course, we don’t always have to re-invent the wheel, often taking a step back and focusing on the basics can help.

  • What are the 5-10 key measures that I need to focus on to run my business?
  • How many of these are measurable, and if not can I get something close?
  • Trend and look for movements. It removes systematic errors and helps you gain insight on linkages.
  • Be consistent and measure regularly overtime… stay focused
See also  Opinionated crunch time

Don’t get lost

All of this is not to say that there is not huge value from data warehouses, data lakes, BI systems, and statisitical models, there absolutely is.

However, rushing to dive into all this sophistication without knowing where you are going (or having a guide I suppose) is a recipe to easily get lost…

Workwise, we seem to be in somewhat of a lull still. I have no doubt the economy, and arrears levels will change at some point.

This is of course when the value of KPIs and data becomes critical. Be lost is somewhere where none of us will want to be.

However with time and focus now, we can all get the clarity we need to be ready! A journey starts with a single step and even taking a step back first can help too.

Have a good weekend everyone.


RO-AR insider newsletter

Receive notifications of new RO-AR content notifications: Also subscribe here - unsubscribe anytime