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BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

It’s all about understanding the

connections between data

Specialist in IT technology and process optimization
are probably the best to bring these systems together
and integrate them.

If controlling is to meet the requirements of digital trans-
formation, it must be able to look to the future – with
powerful analysis systems and the time gained through
automation will be used in the future for forward-looking
analysis, i.e., for "predictive analytics".

There is a plethora of software tools capable of spotting
patterns in vast amounts of data or making connections
Data is now an important part of a company’s between seemingly unrelated data. This software is
assets and for some even the most important used not only to dare to make forecasts with the help of
one. It is not about collecting as much the appropriate algorithms, but also to calculate the
information as possible, but about converting probability of occurrence of certain events and to deter-
the "raw material" information into usable know- mine the risk distribution.
how: knowledge about the customers and their Computers can now predict with relative accuracy who
likes and dislikes, knowledge about the course will cancel their newspaper or magazine subscription or
of business processes and how they are when they will switch insurers. The art of looking into
controlled, and knowledge about which friction the future is not art, but the result of careful evaluation
losses must be avoided to increase employee and correct interpretation of huge amounts of data. In
productivity. order to be able to make forecasts about future devel-
opments in the company, you need reliable data on the
Analysts at Altimeter Group once delivered one of the probability of occurrence and risk distribution. This is
best definitions of digital transformation that puts this the only way to create reliable scenario calculations
task as its core, namely the "realignment of technolo- and make decisions based on a stable database.
gies and business models to enable collaboration with
digital customers at every possible touch point with the Unfortunately, financial planning (profit and loss ac-
company and the customer relationship lifecycle.” This count, balance sheet, cash flow) and operational plan-
means it’s not about collecting data, but about being ning (sales, production, human resources) are carried
able to understand the connections between the data. out separately in most companies. They therefore often
have no real connection to the drivers of the operative
A major strength of big data is the ability to use the business. However, if strategic goals are not taken into
computer to identify correlations and patterns where account, this can lead to different expectations at differ-
humans only see data chaos. According to a report by ent levels in the company, and thus to a considerable
the analyst firm Gartner: "In the future, machines will be amount of coordination work.
intuitive enough to process human intentions instead of
just reacting to instructions." As the systems deliver It is quicker and more efficient to directly link the value
increasingly complex data, the demands on data quality driver planning tailored to the business model with pre-
multiplies. Someone has to make sure the data is up-to dictive analytics, as used in many companies today. In
-date, relevant and comes from trusted sources. Today this way, significantly better predictions can be made
this is by no means always guaranteed. and the effects on the operational business can be
shown more clearly.
Consistency checks and data cleaning, as well as the
creation of so-called “meta directories”, are tasks that Automated systems do not need to think twice but can
are located somewhere in the middle of nowhere be- act in fractions of a second. For major decisions, the
tween marketing, controlling and IT. Today, data is system can promptly provide recommendations for ac-
generated and stored in different systems, the famous tion, which are then discussed in management and ulti-
"data silos", which usually only the responsible depart- mately decided by people. ◊
ment has access to.

20 July 2022: Search Marketing