Time for a story?

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I regularly meet my customers to discuss how data and analytics is supporting their business needs. Among the general challenges that always come up, there is a constant theme running through the meetings: a lack of time. A lack of time to influence their customers effectively and consistently.

Companies are under huge pressure to get to relevant data quickly – and, more importantly, to extract meaningful insights and recommendations that will deliver effective results, internally and externally. While part of the challenge is around easy access to the right data, often the bigger challenge for businesses is how to give the insights purpose in a way that will resonate with key stakeholders.

My concern is that the art of storytelling that should surround the data is in danger of being lost, as a result of the pressure to go fast. Using data points in any argument goes only so far to compel or support business decisions. It’s the context and positioning of the ...