By Felix C. Veroya
Data has been tagged as the new oil of the 21st century and we have seen how powerful it is to have it, interpret it and convert it to insights used for decision making. Based on Techopedia, analytics is the scientific process of discovering and communicating the meaningful patterns which can be found in data. Insights can be utilized properly if and only if it went through a structured process.
Below are the six key steps that a typical data analyst will use to come up with value adding insights for decision-making purposes.
- Recognize the problem. One must frame the business problem before doing anything else. Establish a clear picture of what needs to be answered or needs to be addressed in your business or organization. As Charles Kettering said, “A problem well defined is a problem half solved.”.
- Review previous findings. Learn from the previous efforts that has been done. Check “what went well” and “what went wrong” to adapt best practices and avoid pitfalls in trying to address the framed problem, respectively.
- Select the variables and model the solution. Establish the Y = f (X) relationship of the representative metric of the outcome (Y) and the corresponding variables (X) affecting it. Variables can be taken from the previous findings if still applicable and/or from the formulated hypotheses at the current time.
- Collect the data. Gather primary and relevant data based on the model you generated to support your claims or hypotheses.
- Analyze the data. Run a statistical analysis, assess the appropriateness of the analyses, and repeat the process until a good fit for the model is found. Check on the assumptions of the data collected and its alignment with the framed business problem as well as the statistical tools being used.
- Present and act on the results. Use the findings to communicate the insights to the stakeholders especially the decision makers to influence them to act. Make it as easy as possible to understand so people will make the most out of the insights generated.
These six steps in analytics-based decision making are just an overview of how a typical data analyst will use to make sense of the data that he or she acquired. There are other approaches that can be utilized to get the same insights. For someone that is just beginning his or her journey in data analytics, this is good start. If you are really interested to learn more about data analytics, there are a lot of resources that you can take and from there, try to apply what you learned so you can start maximizing the advantage of an analytics-based decision making for your business or organization.
Let’s continue to be #significantlybetterlifelonglearners, together!
Wanna talk? Get in touch with me thru fcveroya@asklexph.com