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Numbers are more persuasive; visual representations gravitate bringing the ‘wow’ factor. All this is possible by the sophisticated tools of today that churn large amounts of data into nice beautiful picturesque dashboards. Some look like abstract art that would have certainly thrilled Picasso. The CxOs use these to make ‘fact based’ business decisions. I met a CxO, whose screen saver is a series of dashboards and she mentioned with pride that she has her fingers on the pulse of the business and the executives run business on quantitative facts. Very impressive. It did not take long for the company to run into trouble. The primary reason being the attractive dashboards showed numbers that are not truly representative. What I am driving at is the user of analytics mandatorily needs to have a full understanding of the underlying algorithm that shows the numbers. This is a life saver and it requires shredding the masterpiece of the dashboard and poke ones’ head a bit into the unknown. Data in itself is an asset; digital gold. The problem lies in the packaging.
I list out the 5 greatest ‘devils’ as a result of poor packaging that can make analytics a punching back to relieve stress.
When an analytics project is under consideration, it is necessary to have a project team conversant with the business and with sound knowledge of principles of statistics. Secondly, the data source that is not included in the project must be ring fenced and the risk assessed from such exclusion. Thirdly, as the project progresses each of the algorithms that is coded must be reviewed, tested and ‘dry run’ before moving into production. Finally the biggest devil, the documentation must be comprehensive and have generous examples (use cases if you will) in the use of data and clearly describe the outcome.
The one reality for any flavor of analytics is a necessary reliance on historical data; it does not matter if the analytics is descriptive or predictive or prescriptive. Make sure it is accurate.
Now to the cliche; Data is the new oil. Oil in itself cannot run an automobile unless processed in the right way.
This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author.
Victor Irechukwu Head, Engineering at OnePipe Services Limited
29 November
Nkahiseng Ralepeli VP of Product: Digital Assets at Absa Bank, CIB.
Valeriya Kushchuk Digital Marketing Manager at Narvi Payments
28 November
Alex Kreger Founder & CEO at UXDA
27 November
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