The COVID-19 pandemic put enormous strain on data and analytics/models of businesses across North America. Many quickly realized that not only were they working with outdated data, their analytics/models too were not equipped to handle the growing range and volumes of data that are being continuously shared and updated by employees working remotely. To be of value to businesses, data management should be capable of tracking changing conditions and offer relevant and timely insights to support actions.
We surveyed 600 business leaders across North America to understand how they are coping with this unprecedented change in the ways and means of work. We found that businesses are not only upgrading their data and analytics arsenal, they are also strengthening their efforts with digital tools, although uncertainty prevails over how things will pan out.
Our survey uncovered five key to-do’s that businesses can focus on as they strengthen data and analytics for a post-COVID world:
- Incorporate perishability into analytics processes. Build on the lessons from COVID-19 to incorporate the concept of model and data perishability into their analytics processes.
- Cast a wider net for data to create a more complete picture of conditions. This means using data from disparate sources including operational data, social media, and the internet of things (IoT).
- Three-dimensional analysis for assessing perishability. Make sure the data is current, accurate, and relevant.
- Constant reassessment of data from social media and IoT as it can vary significantly over compressed timeframes.
- Embrace agile analytics, which is designed to help in situations where the information needed is fast-changing, unknown or even unknowable.
