Value in Analytics - Driven by People or Technology?

I’ve just read a great post by Samir Ahmed where he highlights the importance of managing knowledge and expertise; and how the management of an organization’s intellectual asset also gets an explicit mention in the last revision of the ISO 9001 standard, the world's most recognized Quality Management System (QMS) standard.

This triggered a topic that I am passionate about, especially as we ourselves continue to drive our own data services – which is how to maximise the value in the data and analytics that is now available to us all.  

Technology has transformed the way that we can access this data over the past few years - enabling executives to connect and manage multiple sources of information, and bring to life insight that had been hidden or not easily accessible before. 

However the interesting part is that having the data and technology isn’t enough.  You’ve got to have the expertise, experience and culture in your teams (and the extended partners you work with) to ensure you:

• have identified the people the analytics are targeted at
• understand the objective these stakeholders are trying to achieve
• have created an effective and focused way for the insight to be delivered
• are crystal clear on what action will be taken

Technology helps enable the opportunity but it is the people, the expertise, the processes and passion that help convert that data into knowledge and insight which consistently drives the correct action to support your intended objectives.  As Samir states in the article below, having a clear and systematic way to maintain that expertise and knowledge really is key.