Data has become one of today’s most important business assets. This means that any business, big or small, public or private, has to consider how it can use data to boost business success. And the best way to do this is with a solid data strategy.

1. Why Every Company
Needs A Data Strategy
For 2019

2. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
Text
IntroductionIntroduction
Data matters to any company, regardless of size, sector or type. In fact, data is
one of your biggest business assets, alongside your products, services, intellectual
property, and people. But to get the most out of data, it's vital you have a data
strategy in place.
Why Every Company Needs
A Data Strategy For 2019

3. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Focusing Your Data Efforts
Where It Matters Most
Technology is developing so fast these days, many businesses – particularly smaller and mid-
sized companies – feel like they’re struggling to keep up. Sometimes, this leads the company
to dive eagerly into new data opportunities, investing in new technologies and fancy analytics
that aren’t right for their business. And sometimes, it leads to inaction, or a compulsion to
bury heads in the sand and ignore the data revolution. Either way, these businesses don't fully
realize the possibilities of data.
That’s why you need a data strategy, to set out how you want to use data in practice, clarify
your top data priorities, and chart a course for reaching your goals – including what kind of
data you need, where you'll source that data, how you'll store and analyze the data, and so
on. The data strategy helps you drill down to your core business needs and create an
achievable plan for the future.

4. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Relating Your Data Strategy
To Your Business Strategy
Creating a data strategy isn’t a standalone activity; it must be driven by your overarching
business strategy. Therefore, a critical starting point for any data strategy is the business’s
strategic objectives. To put it another way, what is your business trying to achieve and how
can data help you get there?
After all, what's the point of a data strategy – indeed, what's the point of data in general – if it
doesn't help you achieve your organizational goals? So before you charge ahead to your data
strategy, review your business strategy first and then develop your data strategy (here is how
you develop a data strategy, including a data strategy template).

5. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
How To Use Data In Your Business
So how can data help you achieve your organizational objectives and deliver your business
strategy?
There are five key ways businesses are using data:
• To inform decision making
• To understand customers and trends
• To provide smarter services and products
• To improve internal operations
• To create additional revenue
Let’s look at each area in turn.

6. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Making Data-Driven Business Decisions
Improving decision making is one of the top priorities for most of the clients I work with. And
with good reason – from developing new products to increasing revenue to hiring the right
talent, it’s all about making the best decisions for your business. And what fuels better
decision making? Data.
Data can be used to help every business function, department and team make better
decisions. For example, in HR, data is being used to calculate the likelihood of employees
leaving the company, which helps HR and managers better engage key talent and reduce
employee turnover.
Here’s a really simple example of data-driven decision making in action. Thanks to data, US
restaurant chain Arby’s discovered that its renovated restaurants made more money than its
un-renovated restaurants. As a result, the chain decided to drastically ramp up its remodelling
programme.

7. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Understanding Customers and Trends
Identifying market trends and understanding customers’ needs is a key driving factor of most
sales and marketing activity. After all, the more you understand your customers, the better
you can serve them.
In the past, this activity used to be based on which customers previously bought which
products or services, but now companies are increasingly becoming more predictive –
anticipating what customers will want in the future. One classic example of this is Netflix
recommending what you should binge-watch next, based on your viewing preferences.

8. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Delivering Smarter Products and Services
One of the big benefits of knowing more about your customers and markets is being able to
give them exactly what they want: specifically, smarter products and services that react to
each user’s unique needs and habits.
The Nest smart thermostat is an excellent example of this. These incredible devices monitor
activity in your home and detect behavior patterns. Then, based on what it knows about how
you use your home, the thermostat dynamically adjusts the temperate to keep the home
comfortable, without wasting energy where it's not needed.
This overall trend towards smarter products and services is all possible thanks to advancing
computing power (the average phone packs the kind of computing power that would have
been unimaginable 15 years ago), and the connectivity offered by modern devices and
gadgets (otherwise known as the Internet of Things). Expect this trend to continue as we
become increasingly inseparable from our smart devices!

9. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Improving Internal Operations
The ability to optimize business processes, streamline operations and run the company in a
more efficient, cost-effective manner is an attractive prospect for any business. Thanks to
data, it’s easier than ever to make improvements and generate efficiencies.
For example, in manufacturing or industrial businesses, production line machines, vehicles,
and tools can be made ‘smart,' meaning they can be connected to each other and
continuously reporting on their status. This, in turn, means every aspect of the manufacturing
process can be monitored and tweaked for optimal performance. It can also help to reduce
costly machine downtime, by anticipating when parts need replacing before they break down.
This is known as predictive maintenance.
In other sectors, companies are using data to optimize stock control (such as automatically
replenishing stock when it hits a certain threshold), anticipate and prevent service outages,
optimize delivery routes, automate repetitive and mundane processes, and much more.

10. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Monetizing Data
When you use data to make smarter decisions, optimize business process and so on, it's likely
to have a positive effect on the bottom line. But this link between data and the bottom line
can also be much more direct. In other words, data can be monetized to increase revenue and
create a new income stream.
This monetization may take many forms. For example, it may involve bringing new, data-
driven products or services to market. Or it may involve selling data to customers through
optimized services (think of Facebook's data-driven advertising offering). And sometimes,
data can even increase the value of the company (think of Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn).
As well as making money, data can also save your business money. One great example of this
lies in fraud detection. Data-driven fraud detection technology, which is used by Amex and
other credit card providers, helps to identify and prevent fraudulent transactions in real time,
saving billions of dollars.

11. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Defining The Strategic Data
Use Cases For Your Business
Once you have identified the key strategic use cases for your organization, you can define
them further by using this Data Use Case Template.
If you don’t already have a data strategy, it’s not too late to create one for 2019. (And if you
do already have a data strategy, now is the ideal time to review and update it for 2019.)

12. © 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

13. Title
Subtitle
Be the FIRST to receive news,
articles, insights and event
updates from Bernard Marr & Co
straight to your inbox.
Signing up is EASY! Simply fill out
the online form and we’ll be in
touch!
© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved

14. BernardMarr
hello@bernardmarr.com
www.bernardmarr.com