The challenge facing organizations with low data literacy

With the amount of data collected, one would assume that every organization treats the data they collect as an incredibly prized resource. However, that’s far from true. Many organizations are struggling to understand the meaning behind key business metrics and how those metrics should serve as indicators for driving timely business decisions.

Many organizations lack the skills required to properly show the value behind their data. Other companies take the approach of having only a select few that specialize in understanding and utilizing their data. While this strategy is better than complete data ignorance, it’s still as if every organization has amassed a collection of the world’s most important books for gaining knowledge but only a small percentage of employees actually know how to read.

More forward-thinking companies realize that data in the hands of just a few experts creates a bottleneck, and the optimal strategy is to democratize data to the masses. As organizations grow, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with these problems, but if companies don’t put an emphasis on treating data as an asset, they will quickly fall behind competitors who put a priority on data literacy.