Catalyst S+F: Approach to Data Intelligence: Unearthing the 'Gem' of Insight - Nirali Bhagdev - MediaBizBloggers

It may sound bizarre but my latest aha moment about 'what is the data intelligence practice' came when I recently met a diamond merchant at a barbeque. During our introduction I didn't think we had much in common but that changed quickly when I realized we both work towards a common goal of unearthing the best quality gem, a diamond or an actionable insight. Better the quality of the diamond, the higher the price it will fetch. Similarly the better the quality of insight i.e. actionable, rare, and timely, the better will be the competitive advantage and monetary benefits.

He introduced his business by explaining that an average of 250 tons of ore must be mined to produce a one-carat diamond. Phew! But since the turn of the century, there has been a data deluge especially in the digital space and insights are generated through analyses of a multitude of data. But most importantly, it's a rewarding process that provides exponential benefits.

He shared that a diamond in its unpolished form looks like a regular stone and it takes a discerning eye to see its value. Most insights tend to be confusing and unwieldy at the start but need to be identified early-on to make them actionable in a timely manner. And it takes certain qualities in an analyst to 'discern' the value of insights while weeding out non-actionable data. This person must have a combination of curiosity, business acumen, and perseverance to evaluate the potential and work diligently to uncover the insight.

He also noted that approximately 80% of natural diamonds are not of gem-quality.This is shocking since it takes the same amount of work but the pay-off is lesser. But this aligns with data analysis function whereby most insights don't have overarching strategic implication but influence the tactics and executions, which creates benefit that quickly add up to a substantial value.

Also he said that polishing of diamonds begins one facet at a time with most diamonds having 58 facets.This drives home the need for data visualization of the smallest data point to make the insight attractive and consumable because an insight is as actionable and relevant as the people who adopt it.

Finally, according to him, diamond cutting and polishing takes several hours to several months and during the process, a diamond will lose half its original weight. Similarly, data analytics projects have a longer than usual timeline to allow for distilling the data to the purest insight that is pivotal, actionable, and robust. And the 'insight' is crisper than all the data that went into arriving at it but is most precious due to all the analysis.

In a nutshell, data intelligence is a time consuming and effort-intensive practice with high pay-off in this competitive and data-driven environment. And organizations that want to succeed have to understand and internalize this approach for the data intelligence practice to thrive!

Nirali Bhagdev recently joined Catalyst S+F as Director of Intelligence to initiate the analytics and data intelligence practice. She can be reached at nirali@catalyst.com.

Read all Nirali's MediaBizBloggers commentaries at The Marketing Capital Report - MediaBizBloggers.

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