Data Analytics With the Help of a CIO Adviser

A combination of accelerating business changes, automation, remote and hybrid workforces, big data, artificial intelligence and massive amounts of unstructured incoming information have challenged corporate leadership to align their teams with emerging tech trends and priorities. This shift is placing greater pressure than ever on the role of CIO advisory to manage and lead the organization’s technology and data analytics efforts in a way that drives value.

Data insights are increasingly the driving force for many companies and need to be accessible to all departments and individuals in the organization. However, the data analytics process is often complicated by a wide range of factors ranging from internal IT policies, to data governance, to culture. Additionally, new and evolving technologies are constantly changing the data landscape making it difficult to stay current with best practices. Despite these challenges, companies are increasingly recognizing the need to invest in data analytics capabilities that will enable them to make smarter decisions, faster.

The key to a successful data analytics program is to ensure that the right people have access to the right data. To accomplish this, it is important to focus on identifying targeted business problems and making the data that can solve those problems available to the relevant stakeholders. This will provide fast, early wins and help drive momentum for the overall program. Additionally, it will also help to prioritize valuable data instead of the noise that is always inherent in unstructured data.

Best Practices for Data Analytics With the Help of a CIO Adviser

Once the organization has identified its most pressing business problem, it is important to find the right technology solution that will address the specific challenge. This can be challenging because many new and emerging data analytics tools are rife with hype, making it hard for CIOs to separate reality from marketing. To mitigate this, it is recommended that CIOs meet with venture capitalists to track start-ups and other innovative vendors and keep their fingers on the pulse of the industry.

As part of their responsibility to promulgate business-led analytics, CIOs must ensure that the organization has effective tools in place to empower frontline business users to become more data-driven in their decision-making. This includes democratizing data with advanced analytics platforms, establishing an efficient data architecture for managing production and nonproduction data and leveraging applications and accelerators that speed up the process of moving from insight to foresight.

Lastly, it is crucial for CIOs to serve as an advisor on the art of the possible and work with other departments across the enterprise to remove barriers in technology and get ahead of business needs. This will require the CIO to build trust and credibility with other department leaders, fostering true partnering relationships based on common goals. It will also involve scrutinizing technology choices beyond their costs and high-level strategy parameters to evaluate their business impact. A trusted and unbiased CIO advisory can help to uncover the most suitable technology solutions to achieve these goals. An outsourced CIO can also be a great resource in keeping tabs on the latest IT tools and products that can enhance the organization’s data analytics capabilities.