Data Culture Recap
In our previous blog, I covered why Data Culture matters – 'Why you should be a Data Culture Vulture' - but today, we're going to dive in to the four pillars that support Data Culture after a quick recap.
Data Culture is about establishing a mindset where making data-driven decisions is the norm, empowering every member of an organisation. Data Culture should be a part of an organisational vision that aligns its values, practices, and attitudes towards data-driven decision-making.
Data culture is not the sole responsibility of data professionals; it is a shared commitment that permeates the entire workforce. Ultimately, it enables organizations to make more informed decisions, identify new opportunities, and continuously adapt to a rapidly changing business landscape, positioning them for long-term success and competitiveness in the data-driven era.
But how do we tackle the creation and fostering of a healthy Data Culture?
The Four Pillars of Data Culture
The four pillars of data culture—Learning, Governance, Technology, and Innovation—are fundamental in building a strong, data-driven organization. These pillars not only guide how data is used but also ensure it becomes a valuable and accessible asset for driving informed decision-making, fostering innovation, and enhancing competitive advantage.
Learning
Learning is the focus on empowering members of the organisation with the knowledge and confidence they need to incorporate data into their day-to-day role. This requires understanding who the data population are, and where they are on their journey. For example, the biggest cohort will be ‘data citizens’ – those members of the organisation who should be utilising data through reports served to them, daily to do their role. However, they don’t require developer skills like semantic modelling, coding or report building. This cohort should be given training on what analysis is available within their domain, tutorials on how to navigate the Analytical tool(s) in use and included in a wider data using community through forums or Teams/Slack channels that they can use for support. Other cohorts will need different support, for instance, data analysts throughout the organisation will sit within different domains, each with their own specialisation. This cohort should be empowered through user groups that cross domain divides and given more detailed training in how to produce analysis for wider consumption.
Learning isn’t about delivering a training course to a cohort as part of a ‘Data Culture rollout’. This should be a robust learning path with materials and content available on demand to support continuous learning. Learning should also be incorporated into the organisational onboarding process to ensure that new starts are given the information they need to support a successful delivery of their role.
Governance
Governance is about building trust. It is about enabling users to be able to access the right data, not inhibiting access due to arbitrary security protocols. However, to do this, we must understand the data estate of the organisation, and most importantly, who owns data within the organisation. Ownership allows for reliability and accuracy of data by ensuring that data is correct at it’s source, rather than through complex and impossible to maintain workarounds at the data platform level. Governance process design will provide the organisation with the guidelines needed to empower users to seek access to data, improving analysis and pushing innovation.
Technology
Technology refers to the tools that enable interaction with data as well as it’s proportion, storage and metadata. The technology chosen isn’t the important piece here, but rather a focus on the rollout, adoption and continued support for the chosen technologies within the organisation. Users must be empowered and set up for success by understanding what tools should be used for, how to best use them and how to request support. Data Clinics are useful to create rapport between technical and business teams, fostering trust and shared knowledge. Data Clinics are often abandoned after having a surgery with zero visits; however, it is important to understand that this is not a sign of a failed data clinic. The consistency of providing open door support is valuable and should be kept even if there is low turnout on occasion.
Innovation
Innovation is a pillar that may not be plausible at the start of a Data Culture journey; however, it is unlocked through the fostering of the other three. By starting to build and support users in becoming data driven, an organisation with mature in it’s data use. As that maturity strengthens, it allows for innovation to grow. The members of the organisation are the incubator for all of the new ideas that will drive the organisation to innovation. Through dedicated Research & Development teams/projects, the organisation can benefit from exploring new ideas, trialling new methods, and understanding what works or doesn’t work from these initiatives. Hackathons allows users to deep dive into a technology or a problem in a more focussed way than they do in their daily role, unlocking new understanding, more creative solutions and igniting new ways of thinking.
Conclusion
The four pillars—Learning, Governance, Technology, and Innovation—interconnect to create a healthy, data-driven organisation:
- Learning empowers all employees to use data effectively in their role.
- Governance ensures data availability, reliability and security, building trust.
- Technology provides the tools for efficient data discovery and analysis.
- Innovation fosters creativity and keeps the organisation competitive.
Together, these pillars create a foundation where data is a valued asset, readily available to drive decision making at all levels and empower individuals.
Creating a Data Culture doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s the foundation for smarter decisions, innovation, and staying competitive. At Advancing Analytics, we specialise in helping businesses like yours align people, processes, and technology to build a data-driven organisation.
Let’s work together to unlock the potential of your data. Contact us today to find out how we can help!
