Competing Through Data: A New Form of Darwinism

Competing Through Data: A New Form of Darwinism Reading Time: 2 minutes

Survival Can Be Fleeting 

In the 1950s, the average company lasted around 60 years. By 2017, that number had dramatically plunged to less than 20 years. The pandemic and its associated economic shutdowns will even further reduce it.

Yet, some companies are thriving. And others are recovering faster than their industry peers. What’s the common thread in their success? 

It’s their ability to derive business value from data—data that helps them better delight customers, optimize operations, and innovate their business models and products apace today’s dynamic business and technology environment.

A recent TIBCO report, “How CDOs Turn Data into Competitive Advantage,” states that, “according to recent research conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC), nearly 200 zettabytes of new data will be created by 2023.” IDC also estimates that only 21 percent of this data is ever analyzed, an untapped opportunity that data-driven companies cannot afford to miss out on. 

Viewing Data-driven Competition Through A Darwinian Lens

We are all familiar with Darwinism, “The natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase an individual’s ability to compete, survive and reproduce.”

So, it is not necessarily the fittest that survive. It is those that are most adaptable to variation, such as the ones wrought by today’s pandemic-accelerated business and technology changes.

Is your business adapting rapidly? Or might it be stuck in its old ways, risking extinction while other, more adaptable organizations take advantage? 

Data Investments Must Continue, Even in Tough Times 

When economic hardships hit, or when an organization faces challenges beyond their control, often the response is to cut data investments. While it’s essential to be prudent and make informed and potentially frugal decisions, it’s also important not to overreact. 

According to McKinsey, “High-performing organizations are three times more likely than others to say their data and analytics initiatives have contributed at least 20 percent toEarnings Before Interest and Taxes(EBIT).”

Twenty percent of earnings before interest and taxes from data and analytics alone! That is an incredible contribution and a significant validator for why you need to continue to invest in data and analytics.  

New types of analytics that deliver more in-depth insights help you uncover new opportunities. And those insights—automated, real time, predictive, and prescriptive—are essential to not only survive but thrive.

It is not necessarily the fittest that survive. It is those that are most adaptable to variation, such as the ones wrought by today’s pandemic-accelerated business and technology changes. Click To Tweet

Getting Buy-in for Data Investments

Data’s business value often means something different to various stakeholders across an organization. To improve your alignment, ask your stakeholders open-ended questions, such as:

• How does our customer experience beat our competition?
• Where can we further streamline our business processes?
• What do we need to do to get our innovative new products to market faster?
• From an opportunity cost point of view, what happens if we don’t act?

With answers to questions such as these, your organization will see that continued data investments are critical to your success. Without them, you will struggle to take advantage of new technology opportunities, drive needed adaptive transformations, and compete effectively. Failure to adapt may accelerate your organization’s demise. 

Read 10 Factors Impacting Your Data and Analytics ROI to help build your business case.