CDO Matters Ep. 05 | The Business Value of Data with Doug Laney

CDO Matters Podcast

Your critical enterprise data should serve as a foundation for your business providing significant business value. So why not leverage this data for EVERYTHING it is worth?

In this episode of CDO Matters, Malcolm sits down with West Monroe’s Data & Analytics Strategy Innovation Fellow, former Gartner analyst and best-selling author Doug Laney to discuss the business value that can come from data. Doug’s book, Infonomics: How to Monetize, Manage, and Measure Information for Competitive Advantage, was selected by CIO Magazine as the “Must-Read Book of the Year,” a “Top 5 Books for Business Leaders and Tech Innovators,” and by the Wall Street Journal as one of its “5 Summer Reads for CIOs.”  His latest book, Data Juice: 101 Real-World Stories of How Organizations Are Squeezing Value From Available Data Assets has received accolades from business, data, analytics and IT executives and practitioners around the world. 

During their discussion, they touch on key data value topics including how to measure data as an asset within your organization, the overall state of data management, evaluating data context and reporting on the actual value that critical data brings. They go on to talk about alternative forms of data value (e.g., tokenized data, cryptocurrencies) and how the principles of his latest book apply to real-world business use cases.

The conversation closes with the two weighing in on what they believe the future will be like for enterprise data strategies before concluding on the importance of sharing data governance within your business.

**Stick around to the end of the podcast as Doug makes you a valuable offer you don’t want to miss**

Key Moments

[4:53] The Importance of Info-nomics

[9:00] Measuring Data as an Asset

[12:23] The State of Data Management

[15:03] Evaluating Data Context

[19:33] Reporting on the Value of Data

[23:53] Alternative Data Values – Tokenizing Data & Crypto

[25:43] Applying ‘Data Juice’ to Real-World Use Cases

[31:03] The Future of Enterprise Data Strategy

[35:23] Sharing Data Governance

Key Takeaways

The 3 Ms of Info-nomics: Measure, Manage and Monetize [6:51 – 8:55]

“With [CDOs], the role is still kind of being defined…it’s really about how to manage and leverage data as an actual asset. That’s really what’s at the core of what [CDOs] need to be doing to drive and prove value from data.” – Doug Laney

How to Measure the Monetary Impact of Your Data [8:57 – 9:55]

“The state of data management...I would give it about a five or maybe a solid six [out of 10] ...Getting back to the notion of measuring, what I would hear all the time from all the CDOs and CIOs…is that the impacts here from a data perspective are indirect.” – Malcolm Hawker

Improving the Data Process for Better Performance [10:24 – 11:20]

“We developed an entire metrics framework…that can be used to empirically track how improvements in various quality metrics and data governance indicators drive improvements in business process performance leading to revenue improvements, profit improvements, market share, risk reduction, etc.” – Doug Laney

Why Value Your Data? [17:06 – 19:10]

“Depending on why you want to value the data, whether you are trying to get investments or whether you are trying to justify the benefits of an analytic use case …there are a variety of reasons that you would want to value your data...the standards methods of evaluating any asset are the cost approach, the market approach and the income approach.” – Doug Laney

Reporting on Data Value [20:00 – 22:07]

“If data was a balance sheet asset, I think it would help some organizations and hurt others...there are certain things that you want to keep proprietary and out of the prying eyes of investors and competitors...If you could report on the value of your data, it might augment the evaluation of your company…Data is not a balance sheet asset according to accounting standards.” – Doug Laney

About Doug Laney

Doug Laney is a best-selling author and recognized authority on data and analytics strategy. He advises senior IT, business and data leaders on data monetization and valuation, data management and governance, external data strategies, analytics best practices and establishing data and analytics organizations.

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Doug’s Published Works:

• Infonomics: How to Monetize, Manage, and Measure Information for Competitive Advantage
• Data Juice: 101 Real-World Stories of How Organizations Are Squeezing Value From Available Data Assets