The Most Expensive Data Is the Data That Changes Nothing

Never before have we had so much information, data and so many tools that can help us make decisions. Artificial intelligence analyses possibilities, systems predict user behaviour, and dashboards show us in a matter of seconds what once took days to uncover.

Awareness of the importance of data, data mining, predictive analytics. None of this is new. What is new is that today we are expected to collect data and actually use it.

I have always been interested in data and an analytical approach. Add to that my desire to understand customers and guests, and it quickly becomes clear where this leads. To loyalty programmes, although, as I have mentioned several times before, the term has been so overused that I do not particularly like it.

I remember how, twenty years ago, data management and data mining seemed like pure science fiction. They were not exactly accessible to ordinary people. I enjoyed speaking with business analysts who opened my eyes and explained why data matters and how it should be managed.

Tools Are No Longer an Excuse

Unfortunately, one thing has not changed very much: the way the business environment is perceived. Large companies and corporations are, of course, an exception. They have many employees and can invest significant resources in analytics without too much difficulty. But today the situation is different. Business intelligence and artificial intelligence tools have advanced considerably, and there is enough competition in the market to make them more accessible and affordable. We therefore can no longer, and should no longer, look for excuses.

There are also other excuses that may not really be excuses at all, but rather something that surprises me. Almost amazes me. It is the answer: “We do not even know what we would do with all this data.” That response always surprises me, and I often think it is best to step away quickly if a company does not even have the willingness to consider what it could do with its data.

To make this easier to understand, let me give a real example from the field of conference organisation. We also provide an event management platform together with a tool for tracking attendance. The system allows us to monitor when an individual participant arrived and which presentation they attended. This means we know exactly who attended which presentation, which is especially important when sessions run in parallel. We can also determine whether participants were actually present or whether they preferred drinking coffee, or something else, on the terrace. And then I hear the question: what are we supposed to do with this data?

We can send the participant a personalised message. We can prepare follow-up communication directly related to the presentation they attended and find out whether they are interested in learning more about the topic. We can provide the speaker with information about who attended their presentation. We can also charge for this service. The same data can be offered to the presentation sponsor. These are only a few very basic possibilities, and I have not even really started listing them.

Data Without a Goal Is Just a Cost

Today, we can collect even more data very quickly, but this clearly makes the fundamental problem even greater: what are we supposed to do with it? Why do we ask ourselves this question? Because we do not ask ourselves in advance what our goal is. What do we want to achieve with the data? What will we do differently because of it? Why is it important to us in the first place?

And that is exactly the point. We should not invest money in software tools or consultants if we do not have a clear goal and do not know what we want to achieve with the data. First, we need to ask ourselves what the data is supposed to help us with.

There are different types of data. In certain processes, it is genuinely more difficult to use because the entire process needs to be connected. But the most difficult decision is usually not a technological one. Departments need to be connected, an inefficient process needs to be eliminated, budgets need to be reallocated, or someone needs to be made responsible for the result. Once we start talking about the process, the use of data becomes much more important. But the process must first be defined.

This is precisely where small and medium-sized enterprises, which represent the vast majority of companies, often struggle the most. Why? Because almost every employee performs several different functions. This is particularly true for directors, who wear several different hats every day. I am convinced that most directors know it would be useful and necessary to organise their processes properly. But it simply never becomes a priority because they constantly have to put out fires and deal with whatever is most urgent at that particular moment.

Let us look at it differently. If you are a manager or director, how many times have you seen employees shift responsibility onto one another? If the process is clearly documented, or if responsibilities for individual tasks are at least clearly defined, the number of mistakes decreases and employees take greater responsibility.

Data becomes valuable only when someone takes responsibility for the decision that results from it.

From Data to a Different Decision

Let me mention another example. Janez, the name is of course fictional, works in the hospitality and tourism sector. He does not understand why he does not have more guests or why they do not return. After all, they are making an effort. What he does not see is that the company does not even have its basic processes defined. He also does not see that they collect almost no data. They only know who stayed with them and when, along with the information they are required to collect when registering guests with the police.

They do not know whether their guests were satisfied. Perhaps, at a certain moment, Janez knows that Franz was satisfied. Franz praised him, and that praise blinded Janez. He was proud and perhaps even rested on his laurels a little. But a week later, after many other guests have stayed with them, he no longer knows exactly who Franz was, what habits he has, what interests him, what he visited or why he enjoyed his stay.

That is why we need a CRM system and proper data recording. That is why communication with the guest is necessary. Today, even basic marketing automation can provide us with a great deal of useful information: which emails were sent, which were opened, which links users clicked on, and how they responded to surveys. Based on this data, we can quickly create segments and then address different segments with personalised offers. We probably would not send a retired couple an offer for an adrenaline-filled experience for the whole family. Likewise, we probably would not make a spa and wellness package the main offer for a family with small children.

These are the goals we need to define. What do we want to achieve? What is the goal? Which paths lead to it? Who is responsible for the individual steps in the process? Only once we understand this should we start looking for software tools that can help us achieve that goal. Digitalisation does not help us if we do not decide what we will actually do with it, with the data we collect, or with the reports we generate.

When was the last time a piece of data genuinely made you change a process, an offer or your communication?