In the first season of the Vincit Talks vodcast, female leaders in the IT industry will talk about important topics affecting organizations. Listen in to get insights, inspiration, and tips for developing and renewing the IT industry.
We talked with Business Area Director for Data, Analytics and AI at Vincit, Roosa Säntti, to learn how Finnish companies are moving toward data-driven business.
To begin, wanting to harness the power of data is nothing new – it’s been talked about for at least 10 years. This process began with organizations thinking about creating data warehouses to understand where their data resides and how it’s used.
From this starting point, organizations have wanted to increasingly leverage data. Now, it’s understood that creating a data-driven business is actually a big transformation and change journey.
The steps to becoming a data-driven business
The first step to becoming a more data-driven organization is the renewal of the data technology base and modernizing data-related technology. This goes hand in hand with analytics tools and could include finding new use cases for analytics so it's not limited to just financial reporting, for example.
The next step is to discuss data governance, which includes a data management model, core data management, master data, and metadata management. Data governance covers the entire management model, including roles and responsibilities and decision-making processes. From here, creating a clear digital strategy is also key.
Creating a data strategy
According to Roosa, data strategy covers both data management and information management. Many companies currently lack a concrete data vision and strategy and a related roadmap.
Implementing a data strategy requires leadership from the top and the right people in the organization. But it’s not enough to simply make a slide presentation and assume that will be enough. What’s needed are concrete plans for actually implementing the strategy in practice.
Looking at the Finnish market today, there are pioneers who have their data strategy, data governance model, and data usage all in order. At the other end of the spectrum, we have organizations who are just taking the first cautious steps. Some big companies vary internally, with some business units moving ahead with data utilization while other business units lag.
For those companies who want to move forward, they should definitely get their data strategy in order – this creates the foundation and allows them to proceed systematically. Core data management capabilities are also important as they enable the use of analytics and artificial intelligence on a larger scale.
For more information reach out to Henna Niiranen, Business Director, at henna.niiranen@vincit.com !
Watch the discussion below or tune in on Spotify! 🎙️
