Data-driven culture is the most advanced stage of adherence to data-driven decision-making processes. When the company reaches this point, all its employees work informed in their decisions.
From the top executive to the frontline workers , it seems that everyone has a natural “feel” for making important decisions from an analytical stance .
On the other hand, this does not mean that the company becomes bureaucratic, to the point of embracing micromanagement, which is not healthy.
Being part of the data-driven culture, therefore, is not about being “stuck” in a method, but knowing that it is necessary to be strategic to make certain decisions.
Over time, this becomes the natural attitude of employees, making itself felt mainly through their above-average results.
How does data-driven culture relate to Big Data?
We’ve already discussed what data-driven culture is, but what does this have to do with Big Data ?
There would be no data-driven company if there were no environment, real and virtual, from which data in immense volumes could be collected.
Therefore, Big Data is the term used to refer to the context of digital transformation in which data began to be generated massive.
This is mainly due to the massification of digital communications via the internet and the culture of sharing, in addition to the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) .
As the Statista website points out , between 2020 and 2025, the amount generated globally is expected to increase by 180 zettabytes.
For your information, 1 zettabyte (ZB) corresponds to no less than 1,099,511,627,776 GB.
So, there has never been so much information available , so that today, businesses only operate in the dark if they want to or are not prepared to work with data.
How does data-driven culture work?
Companies that embrace data-driven culture tactics are strategic by nature.
Its leaders are very aware of the value of the information generated by structured data, so they avoid taking a step forward without knowing what they are doing.
There is no shortage of real-life cases of companies that have benefited from this approach to illustrate the incredible feats that can be achieved by being data-driven.
One of them is American Express , which gained the power to identify a quarter of the accounts that will be closed in a 4-month period.
To do this, she developed predictive models based on 115 statistical variables to predict churn, the cancellation rate.
Even in sports, data-driven culture is present. So much so that there is now a content market focused on disseminating statistical data about competitions, games, teams and players.
This is how data-driven culture works, in which data is a fundamental part of behind-the-scenes business, guiding what will be done by the people who make decisions.
Advantages of data-driven culture
There is no doubt about the many benefits of a data-driven culture in business.
The first is to depend less on intuition and people’s opinions to decide what to do and how to do it.
While this isn’t bad in itself, when it becomes the company’s modus operandi, running the business becomes a big lottery.
Data-driven culture represents a safe haven, helping managers to make decisions based on what reality shows. Understand the advantages this represents below.
Increased sales
The Harvard Business Review magazine (content in English) already pointed out that companies that use Big Data are 6% more profitable than others.
This is the expected result when working with information obtained from structured sources, such as sales databases, for example.
Unstructured data also has its value. Social media posts, texts and videos are some of the content that, if processed, can also help to develop accurate prospecting and sales strategies.
Personalization of marketing and customer relationship actions
The case of American Express is a great example to illustrate the potential of data analysis to establish marketing management .
Based on the data collected and analyzed, the credit card operator was able to predict the percentage of customers who would cancel their card in months.
This is extremely valuable information because it not only helps to reverse the decline in sales , but can also guide your relationship with the customer.
Knowing what happens and how a cardholder behaves before canceling the service, the operator can take measures that bring the customer closer to the brand , as they already know what they are going to do.
Services become much more personalized and focused on what the customer really needs and expects to find.
Team independence
Deciding based on feeling or according to the opinion of experienced professionals is not a mistake, as long as this is not a constant practice.
When this happens, the business becomes dependent on people to make decisions based on personal criteria, thus creating a dangerous dependency.
Data-driven culture is like an antidote to this, by making the decision-making process impersonal. As a result, the company’s direction no longer depends on individuals, but on well-defined processes, with a reduced margin for error.