Today’s topic was Data Strategy. What’s in a name? According to our colleague Sebastiaan, who set the scene with an intro presentation, data strategy is all about achieving business objectives and driving informed-decision making. This can range from data dashboards or deep-dive, to fully data-driven products and services. The recipe? A flywheel where data projects, data governance and data infrastructure strengthen each other. 

Who better to tell us about their data kitchen, than Wannes De Vriese from Barry Callebaut, and Isabelle D’hooghe from KBC. What do a bank and a cacao producer have in common? 

Quite a lot, it turns out. Here are a few insights on how to boost your business with data. And more specifically, how to get there.

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Buy-in is crucial, but not that hard

Maybe not the most surprising finding, but both companies did not have a hard time getting buy-in from the top. But how they got there varied. For KBC, the start of their data adventure was triggered by an ambitious new company strategy: to be 100% customer-centric, and digital-first. Breaking down silos and becoming data-driven was mandatory. For Barry Callebaut, the flames were fanned more bottom-up: by demonstrating how making product lines more insights-driven, the value was immediately clear. After a few more projects, the team received top-down endorsement which significantly streamlined the rollout of data initiatives across the company.

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The culture is there

Maybe more surprising, is how easy things went once the data dice were thrown. Building a data-driven culture is key, but don’t feel intimidated, because you will quickly find allies and trailblazers. Their successes will prove contagious. Isabelle shared how they also worked on instilling the data mindset in their management teams, by making sure there are ‘business data stewards’ in every department’s leadership.

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Data is not optional

Another learning to make data an essential part of the company culture, is to embed it into the decision-making process. Make sure every project briefing or idea needs to from data insights or hypotheses, and evaluate early whether they will indeed move the needle. By making measurable impact a key criterion for investments, data becomes even further embedded into the company culture. 

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It’s a shared mission

If data becomes crucial, everyone needs to be on board. So it’s important to increase data literacy across the organisation. This can happen through training and upskilling, creating self-service environments for straightforward questions, and providing access to data experts for more advanced data safaris. An interesting group discussion arose around the place of data teams in the organisation: centralised, or decentralised in every business team? There is no right answer. It can depend on the data maturity, where having a centralised centre of excellence is great for kickstarting data ambitions. But even in mature organisations, there is a merit to both embedded data experts and centralised teams. 

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Governance is not a dirty word

Call us old-fashioned, but we thought governance was a bit scary, and not all that sexy. On the contrary, it turned out: having good governance is an enabler, not a slowing factor. Good governance is a lot more than mere legal compliance. Good governance makes sure data becomes a part of every process, safeguards data quality, and stimulates a shared vocabulary. Because successful organisations have data in their DNA. 

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Food for thought, but the kind of food that energises you. 

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