I am sitting here looking at my tons of postings, and many of them are talking about big data, data-driven decisions, customer service based on data, and so on.

Nice and relevant!

However, one of the most significant gaps around business today is the lack of skills to analyze data when it is correctly captured. During my career, I have used 5 principles that helped me when working with data:

1- Collect what is necessary: many of us like to capture all data, regardless of how we are going to cross them up later on. You probably have already heard someone saying: “Just give me all the data that you have.” One tool that can help is the Stratification Matrix (image).

2- Make sure that you know what the client or business issue is: when capturing data, we tend to go for what we are used to knowing. Go for the problems that are being faced by clients, shareholders, business, etc. Understand their requirements and use the voice of process breakdown to leverage the existing baseline. Make sure you interact with them whenever possible (image).

3- Put the C Level Suit: Always look for the big picture when understanding data, and its effects in the organization. Make assumptions using scenarios, and always ask yourself: “What If.”

4- Look for the process that generated that data: you probably heard about “walk the talk.” That’s right, and sometimes things can be, sound and look odd. Go to the shop floor, the branch, office, and talk to people. Make sure you understand their execution from a process perspective. It will sure make analysis easier.

5- So What: I love this one. You probably know this (!!), but you will need to recommend some action at a given point, especially after analyzing data. Deeply understand the actual scenarios and think about what are the possibilities that business can go for. Use benchmark when appropriate, and why not try to generate ideas (innovation!). Take the lead; otherwise, someone will, which in this case, your competitor…