Optimizing Business Performance Through Strategic Data Management

Across every industry we work in, we see the same pattern. Business owners run their company on what they know and believe, put in the hours, and still fall short of the goals they set for themselves. The gap is rarely effort. More often it is that the operating data telling the real story never makes it to the decision. Strategic data management closes that gap by helping the owner step back, review the numbers, and make choices grounded in what is actually happening in the business.

The evidence backs this up. In a study reported by MIT Sloan Management Review, 59 percent of managers said they use analytics to gain a competitive advantage, yet only 20 percent of their firms qualified as analytic innovators, and 34 percent described themselves as “analytically challenged.” Middle market firms feel this most acutely. They tend to believe they do not know where to start, or that serious analytics is something only larger companies can afford. Strategic data management is the foundation that makes business data analytics work, and it is well within reach for a middle market operator.

Our team has deep experience helping organizations put this discipline to work in pursuit of growth and profitability.

What is strategic data management?

The term means different things to different people. Put simply, strategic data management is a method for optimizing the systems and processes a business uses to collect, analyze, and deliver timely information in support of its strategic goals. It is less about buying software and more about building the habit of letting good information drive the business.

What the approach entails

We work through three principal steps.

• Understand the key business goals. We start with the company’s articulated strategy and the underlying objectives of management, investors, and other stakeholders. The data has to serve the goals, not the other way around.
• Assess current data and run a gap analysis. We review business operations alongside financial, manufacturing, customer, and market data. From there we identify the key drivers, metrics, and best practices, and pinpoint the gap between the current state and the desired future state.
• Make recommendations and implement. The final stage covers data governance, infrastructure, applications, analytics, staffing, communication, accountability, and incentives so the business can be managed to its key metrics. We help prioritize operational improvements, set goals, monitor progress, and report on it.

Looking forward

If any of this sounds familiar, it is worth a conversation. We offer a no-charge initial assessment of how strategic data management might help your business hit its goals, and it pairs naturally with our broader business growth advisory and financial modeling and analytics work. The aim is straightforward: improve your operations, reduce costs, and reach the goals you set out to reach.

About Inglewood

Since 1983, Inglewood has delivered practical business acumen to clients facing a wide range of challenges. Our principals bring hands-on experience as interim and full-time CEOs, CFOs, and board chairs, and we specialize in business performance advisory, business turnarounds, interim management, M&A due diligence, expert witness, and project management.