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The Importance of Data-Driven Decision Making

“The most valuable thing you can have as a leader is clear data.” – Ruth Porat, CEO at Google and Alphabet Inc.

The graphic below is pulled from research done into the importance of information for decision making.

According to the study, roughly one-third of organisations currently use information to identify new business opportunities and predict future trends and behaviour.  The other two-thirds plan to do so in the future.

What prevents organisations from making data-driven decisions?

  1. Availability of information – The study notes that the most common reason for an organisation not using information in their decision-making process is that the available information was not readily available.
  2. Data Quality – The second biggest detractor from data-driven decision making is the quality of data.

This calls for better processes for data capture, collection and data governance to ensure good quality data.

62% of companies said they want to treat information as an asset in the future.  Reinforcing the importance organisations should place on investing in protecting the quality and value of that asset.

How to improve data-driven decision making?

According to the study 50% of business decisions are made from data, but only half of an organisations data is actually used for the decision making.  In order to make more informed decisions a few things need to be done:

  • Improve the data quality
  • Lower the cost of access to information
  • Improve the way in which information is presented
  • Make the information easier to find
  • Keep the information up-to-date
  • Make senior management aware of business intelligence

Where does data for decision-making come from?

The average number of internal sources of information used for decision-making is 5.  Around half of the respondents also said this number is increasing over time.  Most companies are dealing with multiple sources of data, which increases the:

  • TIME taken to collect data
  • Likelihood of data QUALITY ISSUES
  • DIFFICULTY of data analysis

As data volume, structure and complexity increases so does the need for data management.  For management to fully use data to inform their decisions – the data needs to be collated and organised into a central database that stores, analyses and visually represents this data in a way that is understandable and beneficial to them.

GCX Digital and our Eco-Analytics Dashboard assist companies in making sense of their data through the collection, analysis, visualisation and reporting of data. If there is anything else you would like to know about our Eco-Analytics Dashboard, please don’t hesitate to ask us a question at info@gcx.co.za or give us a call on +27 (0)21 702 4058

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Bernard Jacobs

DIGITAL DIRECTOR

After 14 years in the marine water sector Bernard joined GCX in 2013 and initially focused on water sustainability at corporate level. It was this process that highlighted that “most” corporates, with all good intentions, do not have the know-how, ability or understanding of how to go about gathering, managing and reporting responsible data.

During his tenure at GCX, Bernard combined his formal accounting training, his IT skills and worked together with the highly skilled technical team at GCX and its associates to develop the GCX GCX Data Analytics and Sustainability Hub (DASH-).

Ohad Shachar

SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTOR

Ohad joined GCX in 2008 and has over 15 years of sustainability management consultancy experience, specialising in the development and delivery of climate change response programmes. This has included carbon footprint analysis, life cycle assessments, GHG verification services, CDP reporting and GHG mitigation and adaptation strategies – all of which he has implemented with a portfolio of JSE-listed companies across various sectors such as Property, Insurance, Finance, Mining and Fisheries.

Ohad has co-authored various climate adaptation studies in agricultural and insurance sectors, and has assisted companies and cities in developing innovative climate risk and vulnerability assessment tools. He has a BSC Hons in Biochemistry, and an MPhil in Environmental Management.

Sandra Ririe

FINANCE & OPERATIONS MANAGER

Sandra is responsible for the financial and operational management of GCX. She brings rigour and discipline to the organisation’s finances and executes our strategy through efficient and sustainable operations management. Prior to joining GCX in 2012, she worked with a variety of companies to optimise their administrative processes and to build capacity internally, with a specialised focus on customer relationship management. Sandra holds a BComm Financial Accounting Degree from Stellenbosch University and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Enterprise Management from the University of Cape Town.

Kevin James

CEO & FOUNDER

Kevin leads a dedicated team of strategic environmental sustainability and project management experts. He and his team actively support the transformation of large, complex organisations into more responsible and valuable entities by unlocking fast-emerging green economy opportunities.

As a professional with deep experience in strategic corporate sustainability as well as in the development of green, low carbon projects, Kevin and his team have developed sector-leading technology within the design and implementation of business intelligence analytics. Kevin also holds non-executive Directorship in The Green Building Council South Africa.