Consider the possibility that your business already has everything it needs to succeed. Your product is in demand, your people are talented, your message is clear. Many of you are confident you do, in fact, have what it takes.
So, why aren’t your profits through the roof?
Data science could lead you to the answer.
“Data can be a road map for companies to look at how different branches of your business are connected,” Kathy Williams Chiang, co-author of Monetizing Your Data, says.
Before we get any farther, don’t let the big D-word send you hiding under the covers. Data is probably not what gets you up in the morning to build your brand. But, the valuable insight you can gain from it is enough to keep you up at night strategizing ways to reach your company’s full potential.
In fact, Chiang recommends not getting too tied up your data points.
“I’m always going out of my way to say numbers don’t tell the whole story.”
Chiang co-wrote Monetizing Your Data with Andrew Roman Wells because she recognized the need to connect the qualitative decision-making process to quantitative data. She breaks data analysis down to digestible lessons and offers you the tools, templates and checklists to put them into practice.
No, you don’t have to be an analytical expert to gain value from her methodology. You just have to be serious about turning your company’s challenges into profit-making opportunities. Every business has them.
“We’ve found that there are silos in the business world and that becomes a very real issue,” Chiang says.
For example, one of the author’s most inspiring experiences for the book was in working with a lighting manufacturer going through lean training.
“This particular manufacturer had a large complexity issue. They were dealing with all kinds of factors, millions of combinations, that prevented the production, sales and marketing departments from working efficiently together.”
Chiang’s data analysis identified the gaps in efficiency between the departments. She helped them implement a system where all of these departments met once a month to review which products the sales team needed to push harder, which needed to be discontinued.
As a result, the company saved $16 million dollars by creating what Chiang calls “a seamless flow to unlock more money.”
Exciting, isn’t it? The possibility that money could be hiding in inefficient processes within your business. Monetizing Your Data points you in the right direction. Chiang has done it for Fortune 500 companies. Now, she’s breaking it down for HER readers.
“We can help the big and small figure out where to go.”
Before you begin the journey into analyzing your systems and efficiencies, Chiang offers a warning. Don’t expect the answers to reveal themselves.
“The biggest problem with data is that there is a lot of it. You have to be careful or you just start reacting to noise.”
Chiang will guide you in understanding which data points are relevant to identifying your problem areas and her expertise will help you define strategies to solve them.
Monetizing Your Data is now available on Amazon.
Like what you’re reading? Access HER magazine’s monthly publication in iTunes or Google Play – it’s where we feature powerhouse women you can learn from and share exclusive content you won’t find here.
