12 Tips for Developing a

Successful Data Analytics

3. Identify your key stakeholders

4. Conduct market research

5. Map out your strategy in reverse

6. Build your data acquisition plan

7. Research what’s possible with the

10. Avoid obsessing over vanity

11. Set up operational planning

12. Integrate your strategy into

 The first step is to get clarity on the goal or problem you are solving. “The
most important thing to consider is the data you want to measure,”.“What is
the business goal? How will you measure success? By having a clear goal, you
can focus on getting the right data.”
 For example, if some of the products/services you offer are more important
to you than others, chances are, you would want to look at these products
separately. If so, you may want to pre-build functionality that would allow
you to do so.”
2. Make sure your strategy is based on your core
business needs
 When you know the problem you are trying to solve, this helps you set a data
analytics strategy that is aligned with your overarching business strategy.
 “Try to identify your stakeholders, which is a group that influences your
business. Stakeholders include management, shareholders, employees,
customers, suppliers, government entities, and the community at large. Your
strategic plan should consider each group relevant to your operations, how
each group may affect your business, and what opportunities your business
may have to engage, influence, or serve these groups.”
3. Identify your key stakeholders

 Knowing who will be reading and using this data to make decisions will help
you design the data in a way that is most accessible for them.“Most teams
look for analytics that they can use to make data-driven decisions, but there
is also the need for sharing analytics with executives to show progress and ROI
for the company. Making this determination will help you then plan out your
key performance indicators and the context to provide around those data
points.”
4. Conduct market research

 “It is a good idea to do proper market research and come up with a few
assumptions about your brand,” “These assumptions should not be very
positive but motivate you to grow.
 For example, ‘In the Financial year, Business XYZ can grow by 20 percent in
comparison to previous FY’s 10 percent’. Thereafter, list all components that
could help in ‘discarding’ this assumption by making it true. Also, list down
the aspects that could confirm your achievement. So, it is kind of an internal
goal campaign. And you will have to analyze the data throughout to make
sure that you achieve it. A part of your strategy now explains how to do so.
You may have 3-5 such assumptions, and analytics setups for each of them.”
 5. Map out your strategy in reverse

 In fact, once you know the desired goal and key stakeholders, it can help to
map out the strategy in reverse
6. Build your data acquisition plan

 Data is a strategic asset. You want to make sure that you are collecting and
storing the most impactful data in the right places.Data is an asset
7. Research what’s possible with the tools you
are using

 A key piece of your analytics strategy is having the right data infrastructure.
“An often overlooked piece of a good analytics strategy is the technology
infrastructure requirements to carry out the strategy,” says Brian Donovan of
TimeShatter (https://www.timeshatter.com/). “You can have an excellent
plan, but you need the infrastructure in place to carry it out.”
8. Build your data strategy based on the
current moment
 As you are building your analytics strategy, there will inevitably be data points you can’t collect
right now or things you want to implement that don’t make sense at this point. Instead of letting
this derail your progress, It is best to implement based on your current situation and then create
a roadmap for future iterations.
 What is the Collaboration Direction? Internal/External? Is the thrust of the analytics effort
internal to the organization or external to partners, vendors, suppliers, etc.?
 What Is the Data Space? Transactional/Big Data. Will the data be largely transactional (CRM, ERP,
proprietary systems)? Or will it be big data (a loose term, but roughly described by data with the
5Vs: Volumes, Velocity, Variety, Value, Veracity?
 · What Is the Value Impact? Strategic/Service? Will the major intention of the data strategy be
to improve existing processes? Or is it to create new strategic possibilities?
9. Focus on the metrics that matter the
most
 Just because you have data doesn’t mean you need to use it. In fact, some
people overcorrect and hoard all the data. This leads to analysis paralysis.
 “Technology makes it easy to get overwhelmed with data and information
today ,“ The key is to not collect and measure everything but to focus on the
3 top drivers only and leverage the technology to gain important insights. A
good analytics strategy does not let you get distracted once you prioritize
what drives growth.”
 “Data is key to business. However, you don’t want to be drowned with
analytics and have metrics all over the place. Gathering data is easy but what
you want is to analyze this data and understand it. To do that, what I suggest
is to focus on data points that are important to your business. Metrics that
help your business grow and help you move the needle.

R&D Metrics – Input and Output
The 2 most clear metrics to assess in R&D are inputs and outputs. Input can
usually be defined as the time or cost spent on R&D. Output on the other hand can
be more complex. It must summarise what the department produces – the results
of successful projects. On the surface, this might include:
•Time savings
•Monetary savings
•Safety improvements
•Product improvements
•Service improvements

R&D however is as much about the journey as it is the destination. Output should
also consider the less tangible outputs. This might include things such as:
•Learning achieved throughout the process
•Transferable skills gained
•Capital assets acquired
•Valuable business relationships formed
10. Avoid obsessing over vanity metrics

 Another easy trap that you can fall into is sticking with the simplest data that
you can find instead of the data you actually need.
 “The most important thing when planning an analytics strategy is to sort out
your key performance metrics away from vanity metrics (numbers that look
good but mean nothing to the bottom line),”
 “Attribution tracking for ROI should be in place to effectively measure
different steps of the marketing funnel, as you can only improve through
measurement. If you only look at vanity metrics, your report can look great,
but it can lead you to a dangerous position where you end up burning
resources and ad spend on campaigns that don’t generate a direct return.”
11. Set up operational planning

 Once you have your strategy in place, it is time to build a project plan or
roadmap for you are going to implement it. This requires operational
planning. “You have to do operational planning,” explains Toby Dash of Five
Star Skincare (https://www.fivestarskincare.co). “It would help if you plan
when everything is going to be done, then actually do it. There is no point in
brainstorming an analytical strategy for two days, then not following through.
12. Integrate your strategy into your actual
daily processes
 Ultimately, your success will depend on how accessible the data is to the key
people who need it and how often they use it to make data-driven decisions.
“The success of an analytics strategy depends on how well it’s integrated into
work processes,”
 “Analytical models can generate rich insights, but their value is only realized
if managers and employees can understand and act upon them. Output that’s
too complex can generate confusion or mistrust. The solution often lies in
utilizing appropriate tools that integrate analytics into day-to-day processes
to deliver quantifiable business benefits.”