Data-driven companies: when being good enough is no longer sufficient
November 1st, 2020Data-driven companies outperform their competitors. Yet despite increasing investments in data and AI each year, companies still struggle to fully reap the benefits. 9 out of 10 firms point to cultural challenges — not technological ones — as the bottleneck. Organisational alignment, change management, people's skill sets, and resistance to change slow down the process.
Three practical recommendations
Pick the low-hanging fruit first: focus on clearly identified high-impact problems with a critical business need. This builds value, credibility, and momentum. At Arinti, we use Data Audits and AI Project Canvases to uncover viable AI cases with interesting ROI. Let data flow freely through the organisation — it shouldn't be tucked away in a dark corner. And practice patience: becoming data-driven doesn't happen overnight. Don't abandon efforts when results aren't immediately impactful.
Mindset comes first
At Arinti, we see first-hand that data science projects often require a cultural shift. The experimental nature of data science calls for agility and flexibility. It doesn't matter how big a company is or how long it's been around — mindset is the determining factor in whether a data science project will succeed. And not every experiment will succeed: there are always several ways of approaching a problem. We find the best solution and are not afraid to fail in the process.
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