Your business runs on data. Who sold what to whom? When did they sell it? How did they sell it? Who do we buy this from, and how much does it cost? How can we reduce transportation and logistics costs?
These are pretty simple “who” “what” “when” “why” “how” questions. And the answers might seem pretty straightforward.
But one of the biggest issues facing management is the quality of data–the answers to these questions you get from your managers and assistants is only as good as the data you collect and whether that data is correctly interpreted.
At ATC, we recognize that all data is not created equal. What’s important to your business may not be important to another business. One size fits all data management solutions won’t work if the person implementing them is not core to your business operations.
Possibly even more important, you need someone in a CIO role at your company who understands that data isn’t just answers: it poses questions. Your CIO needs to be smart and creative to look for questions your data is asking and knowing what data to collect moving forward.
When people talk about how little they want to pay for IT, the old carpenter’s adage comes to mind. “You can’t afford a cheap tool.”
Don’t shortchange your business being penny-wise and pound foolish. Rather than hiring another manager to analyze spreadsheets, hire one who will drive your digital transformation.