Whether you’re checking your weather app or finding this forecast quite fitting for the amount of information and tasks glaring at you from your computer screen, you’ve been using data to figure things out.

Data is all around us

And unknowingly or not, we all interact with data every single day. Come to think of it, there’s really no limit to how data can be used.

It can be as simple and personal as checking your weather app to plan your outfit for the day, or as complex and corporate as predicting commodity prices and timing using data libraries and business systems, incorporating much more than a local weather app.

Data is a relevant and valuable source of information. Leveraging data effectively can place your business in a prosilient position to be more proactive and anticipate change lurking around the corner.

Data has become one of the more essential ’umbrellas’ to weather inevitable tempests the business world brings. This article discusses the “why” and “how” of it by highlighting how a business can use data to gain hindsight, insight and foresight.

The practical approach to the perfect storm

For many of us, the perfect storm has been brewing for quite some time - let’s not kid ourselves - we’re smack bam in the middle of it as we speak. As much as rain is welcomed, incessant downpours (hello, load-shedding) can dampen even the most sunny-side-up-spirits out there. The same applies to business. Navigating constant change is an inescapable consequence of doing business in today’s world.

We need practical insights into everyday current struggles. This is where data can make a difference.

The issue isn’t whether we have data or not, it’s what we do with it that enables us to make better decisions for present challenges and future growth. Data helps pave the way to not only withstand the storm, but to better read the storm clouds gathering and be better prepared for when the lightning strikes.

Combinations and collections of data help people from many walks of life make decisions, gain insight and predict future activities on a constant basis no matter how big or small the impact. In the same way, delving into the simplest forms of data on a spreadsheet or other system, may just yield some helpful insights into a business’s canvas.

Understanding data and using it optimally in a company can enhance its prowess, its ability to make decisions, its ability to retain customers and ultimately, its ability to grow. Data can therefore build a prosilient business. That is if you know how to leverage it effectively.

A prosilient business uses data to anticipate disruption and adapt before it occurs at the same time while preparing for opportunities waiting around the next corner.

Driving ‘probrilliant’ results through data insights

We all use data differently and require different data types to make the best decisions for the specific scenarios we find ourselves in.

Need to drive customer retention? Want to know who’s really your customer? Or, in the retail environment, which type of customers are swiping those promotions from the shelves? Or, on a more prevalent and pressing issue - how can your company utilise internal resources more effectively when faced with something like load-shedding, without draining all those hard-earned Rands?

Data insights refer to the deep understanding an individual or business gains from analyzing information on a particular issue. This in-depth insight helps organisations make better decisions than when they’re simply relying on gut instinct.

Data insights allow us to identify internal issues as well as contextual trends that we might otherwise have missed, to anticipate and prepare for both risks and opportunities that may arise.

Great. So how do you go about obtaining these insights?

Not to oversimplify the sophisticated nature of things, but - keeping it simple, is the smartest way to go:

Consider these three aspects:

Hindsight: what did we do, what worked or not and why?

Insight: an in-depth accurate understanding of a specific situation, process or person.

Foresight: What can we expect to happen, what can potentially work or not and why?

Hindsight: Although there’s a reason the rear-view mirror is so small, it can be beneficial to analyse data that’s been collected over time to make informed decisions on how to pivot in the present. A good example of how data gives you a hindsight view would be analysing historical transactions to identify whether business decisions like marketing campaigns, pricing and promotions, lead to improved sales and more customers in your store. During the time when a retail store had a promotion on margarine, did they have more customers in their store? Did they sell more bread, milk, toilet paper, etc.?

Insight: Data provides the opportunity to view current events and situations differently and set ourselves up for future actions to prevent, or at least mitigate risk, and exploit the opportunities in the ‘now’. When it comes to insight, a good example would be how we analyse data to identify fraud. A typical scenario would be when an employee and a supplier have the same bank account. (This sounds trivial, but you won't believe how often it happens and the opportunity for loss is massive). 

Foresight: Knowledge of what’s to come ought to change how you manage your current operations. This is where prosilience is very relevant, as data analytics allows business owners to peek around the corner and more accurately predict what may lie ahead. It takes the guessing, estimations and assumptions out of your strategy; leaving you with clear, specific, measurable objectives.

Get ahead by getting started

Data doesn’t have to be seen as a “schlep” or some looming “thing” to decipher. It’s there, ready and able to help bring the insights we’re looking for. On the contrary, when those cumulonimbus clouds start to gather on the horizon, data can be your greatest ally to procuring a prosilient position in the storm.

Where do I start, you may ask. Start where you are. Just start.

Start by understanding what data you already have and understanding your business challenges and opportunities. Then articulate how the data can help you eliminate these challenges and capitalise on opportunities.

The moment you start using data to enable your business is the moment you start becoming more prosilient. A prosilient mind-set enables you to take on a more active role in monitoring the flow of data through your business and taking steps accordingly to respond more effectively to whatever comes your way.

The perfect storm is nearly always brewing… Rumbling with data can provide more concrete footing in the eye of the storm.

For more information or to share your thoughts, feel free to contact Head of Advisory, Myrna Viviers, at myrnav@rain.org.za

Elsabe Richard-May spoke to Myrna Viviers, head of IT Business Advisory at RAiN Chartered Accountants, to find out how to embrace data and become more prosilient: