The ROI of a data initiative
Measuring how many fruits you pick is one thing. Measuring whether picking them drains the energy you get from eating them is another.
What is the ROI of a data initiative? Are you just building an over-engineered spreadsheet for a couple dozen dashboards?
Learning about itself is as valuable to an organization as learning about externalities. Better operational analytics produce insights on improving operational systems, behaviors and processes. Improved operations produce higher-quality data, which in turn benefits strategic analytics.
Early-stage data initiatives need to focus on “extrinsic value” first. But as the data platform matures, more effort has to go into operational analytics and “intrinsic value”.
Measuring how many fruits you can pick from a tree is one thing. Measuring whether the effort of picking them isn’t draining the energy you get from eating them is another.
Data, Dev, Sec and Fin Ops are the bedrock of performance and sustainability in the long run.