Most executives won’t get too excited about building something as grandiose-sounding as a “data academy” to bring large-scale data literacy to your organization. It’s notoriously difficult to develop a concrete ROI for training, so here are some potential indicators to track in measuring the effectiveness of a data academy.
ROI: Revenue side
From more compelling offerings to more reliable networks to more powerful predictions, data’s got lots of potential to boost the top line. These are the “wins” of data that usually make headlines, and they are very real. To learn about them, check out the works of Bernard Marr or Tom Davenport.
ROI: Cost side
To explain the ROI of a data academy, I would like to focus on saved costs that can lead to a larger ROI. These may not be as glamorous, but they are more tangible and often more immediate — another win for ROI on this side because it’s often more tangible and more immediate.
Time savings
I’ve personally been seen and been involved in automating processes that took many cumbersome hours into one that took minutes. This in indisputably a return on investment: you no longer need analysts spending hours on mind-numbing repetitive tasks.
But remember — that doesn’t mean you no longer need analysts! Ideally, this frees them up to do the analysis, strategy & innovation needed to propel your organization. This is probably the stuff they thought they’d be doing when they got into data — so actually letting them do it is another ROI win.
Retention
When LinkedIn looked for the industries with the highest turnover rates, technology came on top: for such a dynamic industry, that may come as no surprise. But the profession with the second-highest turnover in that industry: data analysts!
Morale
That statistic may surprise you, but a cursory review of the data analyst lanscape will hammer it home: many data analysts are unhappy, and often because their organizations aren’t in a place for them to do advanced analytics. They spend their days doing tasks that should be automated or not done at all.
A robust data education and up-skilling strategy can transform the data culture as a whole, improving morale & ultimately retention — and that should get an executive’s ear to perk up, if not the cumbersome proposal of a “data academy.”
Lower barriers to entry for data analytics
Your greatest ROIs with data will not come from hiring a fancy team of PhDs. It will come by helping the people who really knowing the ins and outs of your business. It’s less expensive and less risky to up-skill who you work with now, rather than going to hire the team you’re not ready for, which will lead to low morale and turnover.
What next?
Ultimately, you’ll see that education is the most effective strategy for the necessary improvement of your organizaton’s data capacities.
To learn more, check out my series of posts on the topic. You can also contact me directly or set up a free inital call on Microsoft Bookings.
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