The importance of data in decision-making

Since it's fairly recent inception, analytics has made some huge leaps in development, helping countless businesses across all industries to improve efficiency and become more profitable.

However, seeing the numbers is only half the story; companies need to understand how best to interpret and use their data in order to get optimal results. Being able to do this effectively will give you considerable advantage and gear you up for success in the long run.

Gather the right data

It may seem obvious, but having quality data is the first port of call for ensuring you’re making prudent decisions for your business - performing a data analysis will help identify where there are weaknesses in your data and therefore where improvements need to be made. The sooner you start doing this, the better, and storing it in an efficient, digestible way will help to minimise time spent analysing. In designing our analytics dashboard, we recognised that different businesses have different priorities, so make sure that clients are able to customise and adapt it to suit their needs. Having all these analytics in one place also makes it easy to understand at a glimpse, and is a helpful way to manage all the data that is collected.

Guard against your biases

Whether we like to admit it or not, everyone has subconscious biases that have a direct impact on our decisions. Relying on anecdotal evidence over statistics, being overly optimistic, confirmation bias and recency bias are just some examples of how we do this, resulting in important decisions being made based on unreliable sources. Having an awareness of biases is the first step in ensuring they don’t influence your decisions, as well as collaboration with others and constantly questioning choices.

Analyse and understand

Having the data is only half the battle; understanding what to do with it is what is really going to make a difference. In order to make correct decisions, you need to extract meaningful insights. Creating reports and processes around how you use them will lead you to make decisions supported by statistically significant data, and less based on common biases.

Define clear objectives & set measurable goals

Once you have your data, applied your findings, asked questions, and come to a decision, it’s time for action! What have you learned from your data that needs fixing? What are your options to achieve this? Make a clear plan by identifying a ‘to do’ list based on what your data has told you. Then, write out your solutions and any barriers that might prevent you from achieving them. Set goals by using the SMART framework - ensure your goals all have the following elements:

Continue evolving

An often overlooked, but very important tip, is to continue to question and examine constantly. Becoming over-reliant on existing processes and routines will set you back eventually; just as our industry continues to change, so should your business. By continually changing up and refreshing your business objectives, your approach to decision making will evolve and allow you to keep up with the constantly changing landscape around you.