With more information at our fingertips than ever, there’s a constant battle between relying on data to make decisions and trusting our instincts. We see it everywhere: in sports, where teams have seconds to decide whether to be aggressive or play it safe; in healthcare, as doctors weigh diagnostic data against years of experience with patients; and in finance, where investors juggle market patterns and trends with gut feelings.
In business, this balancing act is just as challenging. While most companies say that they are data-driven, few are willing to trust their data when it really matters.
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A KPMG survey found that 67% of business leaders prefer to make decisions based on their own intuition and experience over insights generated through data analytics.
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With this reality in mind, CIOs have a unique opportunity. Traditionally, CIOs were primarily focused on managing IT infrastructure and ensuring the smooth operations of technology systems. However, with the rise of digital transformation, the role of the CIO has evolved to encompass strategic planning, innovation, and driving business value through technology. Today, CIOs have a comprehensive view of their company’s daily use of technology and data and are ideally positioned to shift the corporate mindset toward more data-driven decision-making.
To do so effectively though, they need the right tools in place to overcome the roadblocks that still hinder strategic use of data. Here are some common obstacles that prevent CIOs from accessing and using data effectively to drive strategy.
Why Accessing Actionable Data is Still a Challenge
Siloed Data Sources
Data often resides in disconnected systems, creating “silos” that prevent CIOs and their teams from seeing the full picture. Without the ability to consolidate and interpret data from multiple sources, critical insights slip through the cracks, leading to decisions that might be based on only a fraction of available information.
Time-Consuming Data Retrieval Processes
Valuable data is frequently buried in complex systems, requiring extensive preparation before it can be analyzed effectively. This not only delays decision-making but limits the organization’s ability to respond quickly to real-time business needs. For CIOs tasked with providing fast insights, this bottleneck can make data-driven decision-making seem impractical.
Lack of Historical Data Analysis
Historical data is essential for identifying long-term trends, understanding seasonality, and forecasting future outcomes. Yet, without tools that can efficiently track and analyze historical data, CIOs are left guessing about future opportunities and risks. Decisions based on short-term data alone can lead to missed opportunities or even misinformed strategy.
Take Salesforce, for example, a company that Own is now a part of that’s also in the tech stack of thousands of CIOs. Salesforce's native functionality offers some insight into how your data changes over time, but as that data grows, it may no longer be a sustainable solution. CIOs need to easily access historical insights, especially as your organization grows to better understand trends and make strategic predictions.
If organizations are serious about transforming and preparing their business for the future, CIOs and their teams cannot continue to rely on delayed or fragmented data. The importance of data will only continue to grow. Without access to these kinds of insights, you are left to rely on fragmented or limited data, making it difficult to provide the business with the full picture needed for strategic decision-making.
How Own Empowers CIOs to Make Data-Driven Decisions
This is where partners like Own can help. With solutions like Own Discover, CIOs can overcome these data challenges by consolidating, visualizing, and providing real-time access to both current and historical data. Discover enables you to cut through the noise and make well-informed decisions based on clear, comprehensive insights:
- Real-Time and Historical Insights: View your data as it changes over time and see a comprehensive perspective on business trends. This allows you to make proactive, informed choices, whether it’s planning budgets, strategizing growth, or identifying emerging risks.
- Data Preparation: Your team can get data to you faster because Discover cuts out all the manual effort to bring it to you. Discover automatically transforms your backups into time-series data so it’s ready to be used in any data visualization or predictive models– even Agentforce.
- Data Accessibility for Decision-Making: Regular data snapshots in Discover capture ALL data, so you can easily include new fields or time periods as needed, without restarting data collection, allowing for quicker decision-making.
If you’re ready to transform your approach to data and make strategic, data-informed decisions, consider exploring how Discover can elevate your data capabilities. Request a demo and see the difference that true data clarity can bring to your organization.
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