How Data Shapes Your Business Priorities

Over the course of a year, a month, or even a single day, your business accumulates and utilizes a lot of data. You need systems in place to make good use of this data, otherwise your business is leaving efficiency on the table. Today we want to go over some proper uses for your data and how to make the most of this golden opportunity.

Identify Your Goals and Objectives

First, you should define what your specific goals and objectives are. What exactly are you trying to do, and why? Knowing this can help you prioritize tasks and make better decisions.

Collect Data That Matters

For your prioritized tasks, make sure you are collecting any relevant information. This data could be gleaned from project management tools, spreadsheets, customer feedback, performance metrics, and surveys.

Clean and Organize Data

Data is no good if you aren’t making sure it’s cleaned up, organized, and in a usable state. Be sure to remove any duplicates or unnecessary information so that you get an accurate analysis.

Lay out Your Key Metrics and Criteria

Identifying the important information is only half the battle; you’ll also need to know why and how you are measuring this data so you know how it all impacts your goals and objectives. Some examples of how you could apply this information include urgency, importance, impact, and effort required.

Conduct Data Analysis

You must conduct data analysis according to the criteria you have chosen and assign numerical values to them. You could assign scores to tasks based on how urgent or impactful they are, for example. You might use a mathematical mode, a spreadsheet, or a data analysis software.

Assign Weights to Data

You can use weighted scoring to reflect how important specific data are to your metrics. All you have to do is multiply the score for each set of criteria by their respective weights.

Visualize Your Data

With visual representations of your data like charts, graphs, and dashboards, you’ll be able to clearly see the impacts your data has and its relationship to other tasks and criteria.

Consider Your Limitations

Your time, your budget, and your personnel are all resources that have a limit on them, so be sure to prioritize tasks according to what you have available.

Review and Adjust Your Practices

Periodic review and adjustment of your practices according to new data will help you adapt to whatever life throws at you. You might need to adjust your priorities over time.

Collaborate and Communicate More Effectively

If you can share your task list with involved stakeholders and workers, you can more effectively communicate and collaborate, ensuring that priorities are in the right place for all parties involved.

Monitor Tasks to Ensure Progress

As you work through your tasks, be sure to monitor progress and adjust your priorities accordingly.

White Mountain IT Services can help you implement solutions to best use your data. To learn more, call us today at 603-889-0800.