Data is the ultimate, leverageable asset that powers well-established companies around the world and their infrastructure. As new applications, software, and smart solutions are implemented, the need for data services and data applications increases as well. But where is this leading to?

It leads to the further expansion of the data economy, which is made of an intertwined network of marketplaces, software, exchanges, and cloud platforms that simply allow the sharing and access of data. What emerges from a thriving data economy? New products and services, supercharged customer experiences, and optimized and automated operations. The sooner businesses embrace the benefits of the data economy, the stronger they cement themselves for further success.

Research from Snowflake reveals that the number of companies embracing data solutions to win for the long term is pretty low. But how does this translate into long-term development? Should you jump on the wagon?

The Current State of Data Economy

According to the latest survey conducted by Snowflake, 1,000 senior business and tech executives were asked about their ability to work with data. Only 6% of them said that leveraging data at full was possible. The other 94% had restricted themselves from these benefits which include:

• Seamlessly accessing data regardless of its location 
• Relying most of the decisions on data and its impact
• Sharing data securely among partners 
• Building a growth strategy, increasing revenue, and accessing new opportunities by leveraging data 

Furthermore, this survey found that these companies were able to attain revenue growth (77%) more than those with low implementations of data solutions (36%). This directly impacted their relationship with customers, as 67% of the Data Economy leaders (companies with high integrations of data solutions) experienced more enhancements compared to low-adopters (50%). 

The holistic implementation of data technologies spans the entire organization, helping bring to life a vision that wasn’t possible years ago. Educating your team members and immersing in data economy processes from the executives to the last employee through manageable solutions is the key. 

What Stops Your Organization from Becoming a Data Leader?

The journey to ascending into the data economy is based on three major pillars, as the report from Snowflake has indicated. These three pillars can determine what you’re lacking and what needs improvement if you want to join the data leaders club. 

• People. Data leaders start implementing solutions that circle the data economy from the high-level executives, rather than from the bottom up. 
• Process. Data sharing is the heart of the data economy. Leading companies have specialized IT teams that make sure sharing with internal and external partners is done successfully. 
• Technology. Those who want to save and adopt a mix of on-premises and cloud technologies get stuck behind, while Data Leaders usually adopt a stellar system of cloud technologies capable of deriving and analyzing real-time insights. 

Can we say that the development of a strong data economy is more focused on a particular industry? Snowflake teams found out that the Data Leaders, even though they comprised 6%, were spread across multiple industries including life sciences, healthcare, tech industries, and more. Even though these first three make up the majority, other industries like retail, CPG, advertising, and financial services providers show immense participation too. 

Four Ways to Become a Data Economy Leader

If you have a vision for the lasting future of your organization, developing the foundations of a data economy should be part of it. Years from now, data will only have multiplied and late adoption might penalize you. Snowflake has derived four key points organizations should focus on to become Data Leaders:

Build a Clear Data Strategy

A data strategy should be built with a clear end goal. The clearer your strategy is, the faster, you’ll attain these goals. Every single insight you derive through this strategy should directly or indirectly contribute to delivering business value.

Build a Data-Driven Culture Starting from the Top

The success of an organization shifts differently when data is the focus of its members from the top executives, down to other employees. When data remains the focus of high executives, a culture of data leadership, data literacy, and collaboration is created which includes training on elevating this literacy further.

Build a Cooperative and Strategy-Based Approach

Data Leaders emphasize the importance of a data center of excellence that regulates the data policies. 62% of them confirmed having these data centers while 54% revealed that users could access the accumulated data using a single system.

Build a Collaborative and Scalable Infrastructure

The implementation success of an effective data strategy relies on the capability to support the latest cloud architecture features with elasticity, scalability, and seamless sharing of data. Think what would happen if things went right. Is the infrastructure capable of scaling up further to handle growth?

Final Thoughts

When building your data strategy, you’ll notice the importance of using cloud technologies like Snowflake. As partners with Snowflake, here at Digital Blue Orange, we’ve helped other companies migrate to the cloud and build a stable foundation for their data economy. Book a short 15-minute call with our team to learn how we can help you.