High quality interaction with data is the market leaders’ hallmark. Data has become the foundation for groundbreaking concepts like Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things. The main goals of using data: products and services upgrade, internal processes optimization and performance improvement, understanding user needs and behavior, monetizing and additional revenue generating.

Everyone understands that it is necessary to work with data, but not everyone understands where to start. Any process should start with setting goals. Before you can start working with data and getting value, it’s necessary to establish long-term and short-term goals for the company (for example increase profits, scale, reduce customer churn and manufacturing defects, understanding customers and the market). Moreover, each team member must know and understand them.

Here are a few guidelines to help you identify a company’s capabilities using data:

1. Use cases

An effective solution would be to familiarize yourself with existing cases and look at the other companies’ experience, how they used the data and what result was achieved. A great example is the American company Netflix, which has adopted data mining. The company uses the collected data on the behavior of their customers to form recommendations for films and shows, content, etc. With the help of data company monitors the quality of video playback and it helps to increase the customer service level. Also, Netflix monetizes the received data through advertising partners.

2. Brainstorm

To solve the problem, it is necessary to gather all interested business participants and brainstorm the way. The purpose of this process is to combine business goals and possible use cases of data to achieve a result.

During the brainstorming process, it’s important to answer the following questions:

• What is the goal? (reducing the churn of customers to competitors, determining the inefficiency of business processes, determining the target audience and its characteristics, drawing up a marketing strategy and forming a budget);
• What metrics to use to measure success? Any idea should have indicators of success in order to understand how effective or ineffective each specific action is;
• What data is needed? It is necessary to understand whether the company owns all the necessary data. Whether internal data sources are sufficient or is it necessary to use external ones. It is also worth defining the data type (structured or unstructured);
• What technologies and skills are needed? Depending on the request, the company can choose cloud services, creation of an individual structure or a hybrid solution. Also, at this stage, it is important to understand the requirements for technologies and determine whether it is possible to cover them with the help of internal resources of the company or to attract new employees and partners;
• What are the standards of governance? Working with confidential personal and other data presupposes strict compliance with all applicable laws. Improper use and placement of data can lead to high fines and losses;
• Who is the consumer of the data? Understanding the end data user is an important step in the process as it affects the way the data is transmitted. The end data user can be a real customer or a company employee who turns data into actions;
• Who is the leader of the use case? Such a person takes responsibility for implementing the scenario and tracking the indicators of success.