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The term “data enablement” has become a favorite among the buzzwords used by organizational leaders in virtually every industry that gathers and collects client data. However, as with most trendy business lingo, the actual definition, scope, and meaningfulness of data seems to get lost in translation.
Though most business leaders are familiar with the phrase, they may not know exactly what data enablement is or, more importantly, how it can benefit their business. You may find yourself in this very conundrum.
In order to clear up the confusion and shed light on the concept of data enablement, QBIX Analytics has created a comprehensive guide. Join us as we explore this concept while comparing data enablement vs. data governance and outlining the benefits of leveraging a data strategy.
In addition to providing business leaders with access to timely, informative resources, such as this guide, we also connect them with leading technologies. A prime example of the solutions we provide is financial planning software, which provides spreadsheet alternatives to finance teams while also empowering such a critical department to more efficiently manage their organization’s fiscal resources.
Back to the topic of data enablement and its propensity to fuel growth for your business, we’ll start this guide by answering that foundational question.
What Is Data Enablement, Exactly?
Data enablement is a methodology of making business more usable by deploying the right technologies and tools. Though modern businesses do collect an abundance of customer data, some have no way of efficiently processing, analyzing, and leveraging all of that information.
Like most analytics and information management processes, data enablement is a practice that is generally managed by a data engineer or team thereof. However, successfully implementing a data strategy requires buy-in from all members of the organization. If front-line staff members, such as sales and marketing personnel, do not adhere to established processes, the strategy will fall flat.
Conversely, organizations that “win” at data enablement will glean powerful insights about their target audiences, products, sales models, operational efficiency, and every other meaningful facet of the business.
Organizational leaders can then use this information to identify weaknesses and proactively remedy shortcomings to fuel business growth. To be clear, though, data enablement is not designed to replace data governance. Instead, these two processes complement one another.
Data enablement ensures that your team members can access the data they need when they need it. Conversely, data governance is geared toward preserving the integrity and usability of your data by setting enforceable standards.
Data governance alone will not optimize information usability. Likewise, a data strategy on its own will not preserve the integrity of your data. Therefore, it isn’t a matter of data enablement vs. data governance: The two methodologies should be treated as inseparable, intertwined concepts.
Together, your data enablement and governance frameworks should function as parts of a cohesive data management strategy. Otherwise, the efficacy of both will be diminished.
Key Facets of a Data Enablement Strategy
Organizations need a comprehensive data enablement strategy that outlines the policies and procedures for harvesting data from all sources, including the company’s website, third-party platforms, and mobile applications. Additionally, that data enablement strategy needs to provide a framework for enforcing these policies.
While the strategy and its policies are integral to the success of any data enablement initiative, the technology that is used is undoubtedly its most important component. Manually gathering, reviewing, sorting, structuring, and analyzing data is incredibly labor-intensive, so much so that approaching your data like so is fiscally impossible.
Therefore, your business must empower its data engineers and other staff with the right technologies if it hopes to facilitate successful data enablement.
The specific technologies that you will need will vary depending on the industry that you operate within, but virtually all businesses will benefit from workday adaptive planning technology, compensation management tools, and a comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, like NetSuite ERP.
Finding and deploying these three complementary tools can be a challenge in and of itself, but fortunately, you can overcome this hurdle of data enablement by partnering with an experienced analytics partner like QBIX Analytics.
The Benefits of Data Enablement for Your Business
Broadly speaking, a data enablement strategy will offset the inherent drawbacks that arise as a byproduct of a rigid and inflexible data governance program. By nature, data governance programs are stifling. The stringent set of rules and regulations that make up the typical corporate data governance program does effectively preserve the integrity of data, but it simultaneously undermines data quality and the usability of that gathered information.
When your organization shifts its line of thinking away from pure compliance and governance, it can implement procedures and technologies that will optimize the usability of data. Creating a data-enablement-centric culture that balances the rigidness of governance will allow your business to tap into a variety of benefits. Specifically, your company will be able to:
Increase Overall Competitiveness
The modern business ecosystem is more complex and crowded than ever before. Dozens, if not hundreds, of companies are fighting to gain ground on your business and absorb as much of its market share as possible.
While there are many ways that you can bolster your company’s overall competitiveness, adopting a comprehensive data enablement strategy is a great place to start. Data enablement will help your company gain an edge by providing decision-makers with timely, actionable knowledge.
Improve Operational Efficiency
Whether you operate in the B2B or B2C realm, efficiency is the name of the game. The more you can fine-tune your sales, marketing, support, and other processes, the more profitable your business will become.
A data enablement strategy can be a valuable asset to your efficiency optimization efforts. You can ensure that your various teams and departments can seamlessly access the data they need to fulfill their respective responsibilities. In turn, this will allow them to better serve your clients, enhance your brand’s reputation, and be more productive.
Better Connect with Consumers
A robust data enablement strategy will provide insights not only about internal processes but the customer-facing aspects of your business as well. As part of your data enablement initiative, you will institute new technologies and processes for examining the customer experience.
You can gather and analyze feedback about the quality of your support processes, client options for your products and pricing, and much more. Cumulatively, these insights will guide your marketing, product development, and sales strategies. You will be able to optimize every facet of the sales journey so that it cultivates loyalty toward your brand and increases revenue.
Strengthen Revenue and Protect Business Continuity
Regardless of the industry you operate within, the corporate world is unpredictable, a fact that was never more evident than at the height of the global pandemic. Millions of workers were relegated to work-from-home positions, supply chains across the globe experienced prolonged disruptions, and many businesses found out just how rigid their internal processes had become.
By prioritizing data enablement, your business can make better use of the abundance of big data it collects, which you can leverage to conduct advanced analyses of market conditions, identify emerging opportunities, and proactively address potential supply chain or staffing issues that could endanger business continuity.
A winning data enablement strategy will also benefit your bottom line. You’ll be able to optimize the efficiency of your operations and generate more revenue, which, in turn, can fuel the continued growth of your business and enable you to maintain a foothold within your industry.
How to Get Started with Data Enablement in Your Organization
Embracing the concept of data enablement can significantly improve your company’s competitiveness and operational agility. The question, however, is how do you begin incorporating the notion into your business model?
While your specific strategy must be tailored around the unique needs of your business, your plan must address the following three components of data enablement:
Teams
Your data enablement strategy starts and ends with your staff. If your data management teams include talented, passionate individuals that have bought into the process, your enablement strategy will be successful. Conversely, if your team lacks the skills, abilities, or desire to contribute to your cultural shift away from governance to enablement, your plan will fail.
Therefore, your top priority should be assessing the aptitude of your existing teams. If your teams do not have the skills necessary to achieve data enablement, invest in them and bring in new talent to augment their abilities. Doing so will boost morale and demonstrate your organization’s commitment to data enablement.
Additionally, you must keep your team in the loop. Explaining why data enablement is important to your company’s organizational goals and outlining why the team is critical to the success of your new management strategy will increase buy-in and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
Technology
Once your team is up to speed, you must put them in a position to be successful, which involves investing in leading-edge technologies that will streamline data collection, structuring, and analysis processes.
A world-class ERP solution like NetSuite ERP can serve as the centerpiece of your new technology suite. You should also supplement its capabilities with integrated technologies, such as Workday Adaptive Planning Software and CaptivateIQ.
You should also consider partnering with a strategic implementation firm, such as QBIX Analytics. We can work hand-in-hand with your in-house team to oversee the deployment and integration of the three aforementioned technology solutions.
Techniques
The final pillar of a great data enablement strategy consists of the techniques and processes your team will use to tap into all of the data. Training your team on the data enablement methodology and turning them loose with powerful new tech tools can cause them to get lost going down the information rabbit hole.
With an excellent strategy in place, Instead of being unable to efficiently use the information you collect, your team will be inundated with actionable data. While it is important to give your team the leeway to flex their creativity, you should also lay out which reports must be generated and at what intervals.
Ensuring that the process of accessing your data remains standardized will support your governance protocols. Establishing clearly defined techniques, protocols, and processes will also keep your team focused on relevant data points and your company’s overall goals.
Create a Winning Data Enablement Strategy with QBIX Analytics
Data enablement is essential to the success of your business in the modern marketplace. Leading organizations have mastered the art of locating, capturing, enriching, and analyzing data in order to derive timely insights about their operations and ultimately improve their customer experience.
If you want to thrive within your respective industry, your business must follow suit, but developing a winning data enablement strategy is no easy endeavor. Thankfully, you can successfully do so by partnering with an experienced analytics firm, such as QBIX Analytics.
At QBIX Analytics, we leverage our decades of industry expertise and the latest data enablement strategies to help clients tap into the true power of their data. We can assist with the selection, implementation, and deployment of solutions such as Workday Adaptive Planning Software, CaptivateIQ software, and NetSuite ERP.
If you are ready to modernize your business with these leading technologies and a carefully-crafted data enablement strategy, we invite you to connect with QBIX Analytics today. Contact us to arrange a consultation or inquire about the dynamic suite of solutions that we provide.
FAQ
A data enablement system is a framework that facilitates the management of data using clearly defined and enforceable policies.
Analytics enablement is a subset of data enablement. Analytics enablement is a strategy designed to facilitate the analysis of data so that businesses can gain meaningful insights from the information they collect.
An effective data governance program will emphasize your data architecture, as well as its integrity, usability, and availability. It will also support an organization’s compliance initiatives so that the business can stay on the right side of regulatory requirements and avoid fines.
Data governance provides meaning and context to the massive amounts of data that modern organizations gather. Without good data governance, businesses would not be able to effectively leverage all of their data.