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Getting Started With Data Strategy: The Accelerated Approach

Data Management
Strategy & Assessments
20 Mar 2024
4 min read

Andrew Simmons

Retail & CPG Practice Lead

When starting a new data strategy initiative, it is important to select the approach that best fits your organization’s needs and goals. The accelerated approach to data strategy is marked by the ability to efficiently realize value by creating a proof of concept (POC) that includes elements of a redesigned data architecture and enables a critical use case for the company. It encompasses all the necessary steps to develop a data strategy tailored to pre-identified critical use cases, with a hands-on focus on POC implementation.

Compared to the traditional approach, the accelerated approach is more appropriate for organizations that have a specific use case in mind with some technical means to deploy, validate, and use that win to build momentum for further improvements. This can allow them to demonstrate the value of modernized architecture in setting the business up for success with cutting-edge analytics and AI applications. However, while well-suited for companies aiming to demonstrate value or make rapid progress, it often represents only the initial steps for particularly large and complex organizations.

What to expect from an accelerated approach

An accelerated data strategy project incorporates both strategy and acceleration, delivering the foundational elements for a future-ready data architecture and a usable POC.

Typically, an accelerated data strategy starts much like a traditional data strategy project, with in-depth business and technical interviews that are used to decipher both technical and business needs and drivers. This paves the way for building and prioritizing value-led use cases, shaping the future state of the organization’s data ecosystem including people, processes, and technology.

In addition, an accelerated data strategy requires identifying critical data assets, swiftly acquiring necessary data, and carefully selecting use cases for validation. Ensuring data aligns seamlessly with identified use case and building portions of the identified future state data architecture enables a tangible POC output, which can serve to deliver results faster and prove the value of a modernized data and analytics ecosystem for the business.

This integrated approach, which comes with visible results that can be used to measure and project the impact of a full future state transformation, provides an effective journey toward successful data strategy implementations. Throughout this accelerated process, an organization receives not just the POC but also the results of their current state assessment, prioritized use cases, a detailed future state architecture, and a comprehensive roadmap for achieving the complete data ecosystem the company needs.

When the accelerated approach is the right approach

This type of accelerated approach to data strategy proves highly effective for organizations where a shorter, concentrated effort can yield significant impact. These types of organizations typically already have a compact or contemporary tech stack, minimizing the requirement for a major overhaul, and know the types of analytics and advanced analytics capabilities they most want to start using.

In larger organizations, this approach can be an excellent entry point to a larger data strategy, showcasing tangible deliverables that can illuminate the necessity for a more extensive strategy initiative. Having an operational POC is often a compelling starting point for organizations considering full-scale data and analytics transformations that require substantial investment and leadership buy-in. The focus here lies in addressing specific goals or use cases on an accelerated timeline, leveraging the organization’s existing knowledge to make targeted improvements.

Starting your data strategy on the right foot

Adopting an accelerated data strategy project not only propels companies swiftly up the data and analytics maturity curve but also unlocks new capabilities with remarkable speed and efficiency. When the goal is to rapidly enhance analytical capabilities and catalyze business growth, an accelerated data strategy project is an ideal choice that can deliver advanced capabilities and use cases rapidly to start realizing measurable results.

Dig deeper into the data strategy process by downloading Wavicle’s guide, Mastering Your Data: The Ultimate Guide to Data Strategy today, or get in touch with our team to learn more.