Using data should be a key part of the decision making process within any company. However I don't believe it should be the main factor in every single decision. If I used data to decide which football team to supoort I certainly wouldn't have ended up with Liverpool.
There is a lot of hype around data driven decision making, and rightly so. It is important to go into any decision with a clear strategy. If not then theres a risk you make a rash decision and end up with an outcome that doesn't help you at all.
Once you have identified the exact question you want answered then you must find the exact data to answer that question, sounds simple. Most of the time it is. Things start getting complicated when acquiring that data is going to cost a lot of money, then you must weigh up whether it will be cost effective.
Collecting the data can be a long and costly process. You may already have some of the information but you just haven't realised it. Make sure you do your research so you don't spend more money than you should.
The next step is to analyse your data. Probably the most improtant part of the process as this is when you see all of hard work start to pay off. There is a wealth of data analysis software available to purchase such as SPSS and NVivo. These will comprensively analyse all the data for you, although they can get very complicated. NHowever it's nothing an online step by step guide won't sort out.
Now that all the data is analysed and has been presented to the company it's time to start implementing the solutions to the original question. This is the best part of the process because you can finally start to see how your solutions will play out, and hopefully change your business for the better.
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