Show Me the Data
FountainBlue's March 19 Front Line Managers' Online meeting was on the topic of 'Show Me the Data' featuring:
Zane Hall, Executive Director, IT, Maxim
Tracy Meersman, Director Sales Enablement, Skybox Security
Ravindra Thadani, Sr. Director - IT Business Applications & Services, AMD
Our panelists shared their wide and deep experience around data collection, management and reporting. They commented on how we can evolved from the days of large file cabinets to an era where data is kept in the cloud, and now on the edge as well.
They consistently remarked on the volume of data and provided advice on how we can better strategically and tactically manage data.
Thoughts on Being Strategic
Start with the end in mind, to design a strategy for gathering and reporting on data which reports on specific objectives. Develop a consensus and understanding of what’s being measured for what purpose.
Focus on the needs of the customers - whether they are internal or external.
Data is used across use cases, across industries.
Separate measurement from ownership so that there's less likely to be a conflict of interest, and more likely to be objectivity.
Embrace Data Democratization - provide the data and tools to the people, with clear policies and guidelines on how to measure, use and report on the data collected
Ensure there's not an agenda around the data.
You will get garbage-in->garbage-out (GIGO) if you don't measure the right data.
You can get data to make the case for just about anything - but make sure that the report/the data is valid.
Data doesn’t have an ROI, it has a POC so plan accordingly.
Understand the velocity of change around the data collected so you can have the right strategy on how to manage it.
What’s the so-what of data? What actions/decisions would it trigger?
Think through who needs to know what, when and why?
Thoughts on Improving Execution
Provide guidance on data usage and governance on how to use it
Make the conversations around data not personal, the culture data-philic.
Agree on metrics and how to report on these metrics
Develop and use a Common language around the data
Ensure Compliance
Password Management
Providing Security at the Data Level
Proactively Manage home and work networks
In closing, we'll conclude that data is the lifeblood of the organization. How we use it, communicate with it, manage it, work with it, says much about our culture, our leadership, our ability to get things done.