There appears to be a consensus that leveraging information, analytics, and AI to create a data-driven group requires a transparent strategic strategy. Nonetheless, there may be much less readability and settlement on precisely what this strategic strategy ought to appear to be in observe.
This text offers a brief overview of what technique work I consider is required to change into data-driven. It presents a abstract of a detailed deep-dive I just lately wrote and is the fourth installment in a collection demystifying information technique.
I’m Jens, a Enterprise-minded information knowledgeable with practically 20 years of expertise in implementing information and AI use instances. I assist leaders throughout industries design methods and foster cultures that unlock the complete potential of knowledge and algorithms.
Desk of Contents
1 The Problem of Changing into Information-Pushed
2 The Downside With Information Technique
3 Understanding Enterprise Technique
4 Widespread Information Technique Misconceptions
5 Technique for Designing Information-Pushed Organizations
6 Conclusions
References
1. The Problem of Changing into Information-Pushed
The enterprise world is at present abuzz with developments in Synthetic Intelligence (AI) — from the race amongst main know-how corporations to construct ever extra superior fashions, to the alternatives for on a regular basis companies to leverage AI to chop prices, generate new income streams, or mitigate dangers.
Whereas time will reveal the complete extent of AI’s advantages and dangers, let’s look past the hype and deal with how organizations can harness information in the present day to optimize or prolong their current enterprise fashions.
Information may be leveraged in numerous methods, together with:
- Management: Creating static studies for monitoring and oversight
- Automation: Automating duties and choices to deal with sophisticated enterprise challenges
- Choice making: Producing insights that assist choice making of complicated enterprise issues
- Innovation: Create insights to ask and reply the fitting questions on prospects, rivals, know-how and business
The potential of knowledge spans just about each business, together with healthcare, finance, retail, manufacturing, vitality & utilities, software program improvement, media, and the general public sector. Moreover, data-driven alternatives exist throughout all the worth chain of organizations in addition to inside most supporting features.
Regardless of this huge potential, many organizations wrestle to establish and unlock the worth of knowledge, analytics, and AI. There is no such thing as a easy recipe or common plan to changing into data-driven. It’s a complicated problem.
First, the use instances that present worth to an organization are extremely particular to its context. Second, not solely are the use instances distinctive, however so too are the folks, challenges, and exterior situations that form a corporation’s journey to change into data-driven.
Widespread challenges organizations face when attempting to leverage information embody Folks, Group and Expertise.
The complexity of changing into data-driven is broadly acknowledged, and plenty of organizations acknowledge the necessity for a strategic strategy to managing this complexity. Consequently, the time period ‘information technique’ has gained vital consideration.
However what precisely is an information technique? What issues does it remedy, and what does it not deal with?
2. The Downside With Information Technique
Iargue that there isn’t any common consensus on these questions, neither inside the information group nor amongst enterprise professionals. Furthermore, I assert that many current interpretations of information technique comprise basic misconceptions [1].
I’ve been working within the information discipline for roughly 20 years — first as an information scientist in business and consulting, and later as an information strategist serving to organizations sort out the numerous challenges they face in changing into data-driven. Recognizing the dearth of a shared understanding of knowledge technique, I felt that successfully guiding organizations requires a deeper grasp of Enterprise Technique.
By my exploration of enterprise technique design, I arrived on the following conclusions:
- Enterprise technique itself is broadly misunderstood — regardless of the existence of well-established definitions. Even with out the info facet, a scarcity of ‘technique literacy’ prevents many corporations from reaching higher success — together with leveraging information.
- Information Technique is commonly misdefined — its use and interpretation continuously contradict established definitions and well-known technique frameworks.
For my part, this lack of shared understanding creates a significant issue. It hampers centered discussions between information professionals — like myself — and executives, in the end performing as one more roadblock for organizations looking for to unlock the worth of knowledge.
Nonetheless, I consider this concern is solvable. My proposal is to undertake a well-established enterprise technique framework and apply it to designing data-driven organizations. By doing so, we are able to create a standard language and a shared understanding for each enterprise leaders and information professionals.
My ambition is to not dismiss approaches of esteemed colleagues who’ve efficiently utilized their very own methodologies. There is no such thing as a single resolution for complicated issues. My intention is relatively to contribute to readability and a joint language of enterprise and information professionals — in the end growing the effectiveness of designing data-driven organizations.
This text is a abstract of a detailed playbook I just lately revealed [1], offering a concise and centered overview.
3. Understanding Enterprise Technique
Enterprise technique is about making deliberate selections — selections about an organization’s ambition, about which prospects it serves, which services or products it presents, and the way it delivers superior worth relative to rivals. It additionally contains selections on which actions to prioritize and which methods are wanted to measure success and progress. Each firm makes these selections — both consciously and explicitly by way of a technique design course of or unconsciously and implicitly.
Technique is outlined as a set of built-in and mutually reinforcing selections that collectively kind a compelling logic for the way an organization wins out there. Profitable means creating sustainable aggressive benefit and delivering superior worth relative to the competitors.
This definition of technique aligns with the Enjoying to Win framework [2], developed by Roger Martin [3], a globally acknowledged enterprise thinker, CEO advisor, former Monitor advisor, and Professor Emeritus on the Rotman Faculty of Administration.
I personally think about Enjoying to Win one of the highly effective technique frameworks out there. I selected Enjoying to Win as a result of it’s well known as a typical for efficient technique design. Furthermore, it comes with a complete ecosystem of assets, together with literature [2, 4], structured processes [4a], templates, and coaching packages [5] — all of which assist the design and activation of any form of technique.
An important facet of the technique definition above is integration — the alternatives forming a profitable technique should match collectively right into a cohesive complete. They need to logically align and reinforce one another, resulting in a believable, difficult-to-replicate principle of find out how to outperform rivals.
For example this idea, I like to make use of the analogy of LEGO bricks — simply as LEGO items interlock to kind a robust construction, strategic selections have to be well-connected to create a strong aggressive logic.
The Enjoying to Win framework organizes strategic selections into 5 key constructing blocks, visualized within the so-called Technique Alternative Cascade:
The cascade illustrates that a corporation must make selections for:
- Profitable Aspiration: What profitable means for the group.
- The place to Play: Which prospects to serve and which services or products to supply.
- Tips on how to Win: The strategy to profitable within the chosen market.
- Capabilities: The crucial actions and assets wanted.
- Administration Programs: The methods, processes, norms, tradition, and metrics required to construct and keep these capabilities.
These selections should not a loosely related listing however have to be fastidiously built-in to kind a coherent and compelling complete — that is your technique.
One other essential attribute of technique is that it’s singular [4b]. Because of this an organization promoting one product in a single geography requires one enterprise technique. Nonetheless, a corporation may additionally have further purposeful methods. If a perform has its personal finances, it requires a technique to information its funding selections [6]. This results in the event of HR, IT, or Advertising and marketing methods, amongst others.
4. Widespread Information Technique Misconceptions
Apersistent false impression is {that a} separate information/analytics/BI/AI technique is required to outline how these components create worth and aggressive benefit. Nonetheless, we now have simply established that an efficient enterprise technique is singular: there may be one coherent set of strategic selections that determines how a corporation creates aggressive benefit and delivers superior worth relative to the competitors.
Introducing a separate technique that defines how a corporation wins with information, analytics, and AI — alongside a enterprise technique that defines the way it wins in any other case — is neither obligatory nor advisable. To place it within the phrases of the 1986 fantasy action-adventure Highlander: “There can solely be one.” [7]
Proposing an information technique on this dysfunctional kind is prone to irritate enterprise professionals and executives — particularly these with a robust understanding of technique. The identical precept applies to digital technique — treating it as a separate entity relatively than embedding it inside the enterprise technique results in related misalignment.
For one more typical misunderstanding of knowledge technique, you simply have to ask ChatGPT (right here I used model o3-mini-high), which properly averages what the web offers: “An information technique is a complete plan that outlines how a corporation collects, manages, analyzes, and leverages information as a strategic asset to drive decision-making and obtain its enterprise targets.”
Complicated plans with technique is a widely known misunderstanding — even past the info context. Roger Martin, the originator of the Enjoying to Win framework, has devoted vital effort and time to explaining the distinction between a plan and a technique [8, 4c-f].
In essence, plans deal with certainty — they define tasks with timelines, deliverables, budgets, and tasks. Technique, alternatively, is about uncertainty — it consists of selections that symbolize a wager on how a corporation goals to win. Planning enhances technique however doesn’t exchange it. It ought to naturally comply with technique design as a method to activate the technique.
5. Technique for Designing Information-Pushed Organizations
What technique work is then required to design a data-driven group? The reply is simple: if information, analytics, and AI contribute to your organization’s skill to win, the related selections have to be embedded in your online business technique. As with all strategy that gives a aggressive benefit, data-related strategic selections mustn’t exist in isolation however as an integral a part of the singular enterprise technique.
In the course of the technique design course of [4a], organizations should establish the place information can create a aggressive edge. This defines the strategic information calls for of a corporation.
Nonetheless, not each group will differentiate itself by way of information, analytics, or AI [9]. For some, data-related efforts could stay purely operational, specializing in monetary reporting, course of efficiencies, or different commonplace practices that rivals additionally comply with. On this state of affairs, your group possesses ‘simply’ operational information calls for.
No matter whether or not information performs a strategic or operational function — or each — many organizations require a devoted perform for information, analytics, BI, insights and/or AI. To function successfully, this perform wants a technique [6]. Relying on its scope and focus, you may select to name this your ‘information technique’ [10].
Fascinated with extra particulars? I invite readers to deep dive into my information technique playbook [1], which incorporates detailed processes, greatest practices and business examples.
6. Conclusions
Technique is vital to enterprise success. Sadly, rigorous and efficient enterprise technique design seems to be a misplaced artwork. That is one cause why organizations try to use dysfunctional information technique variants, with the well-intended objective of serving to organizations change into data-driven.
Nonetheless, a well-designed enterprise technique is singular and defines how a corporation wins out there. If an organization wins with the assistance of knowledge and AI, these strategic selections are merely a part of the enterprise technique, forming an built-in set of selections that create a compelling logic for the way the group can sustainably outperform the competitors.
As a consequence, organizations should develop each technique and information literacy as foundational components for designing data-driven organizations. Furthermore, dysfunctional information technique approaches have to be discarded to create area for a shared language and mutual understanding.
By leveraging current and established technique frameworks, organizations can transfer past the widespread misconceptions surrounding information technique and make sure that information, analytics, and AI actually function enablers of enterprise success.
References
[1] Jens Linden, How Most Organizations Get Information & AI Technique Incorrect — and Tips on how to Repair It (2025), article revealed in In the direction of Information Science
[2] A. G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin, Enjoying to Win (2013), guide revealed by Harvard Enterprise Evaluate Press
[3] Roger Martin’s web site (2024)
[4] Roger Martin, Enjoying to Win/ Practitioner Insights (2024), web site with listing of articles
[4a] Roger Martin, The Strategic Alternative Structuring Course of (2024), Medium article of the ‘Enjoying to Win Practitioner Insights’ collection
[4b] Roger Martin, Technique is Singular (2023), Medium article of the ‘Enjoying to Win Practitioner Insights’ collection
[4c] Roger Martin, The 5 Deadliest Technique Myths, Medium article of the ‘Enjoying to Win Practitioner Insights’ collection
[4d] Roger Martin, Why Planning Over Technique? (2022), Medium article of the ‘Enjoying to Win Practitioner Insights’ collection
[4e] Roger Martin, Technique vs. Planning: Enhances not Substitutes (2024), Medium article of the ‘Enjoying to Win Practitioner Insights’ collection
[4f] Roger Martin, From Technique to Planning (2021), Medium article of the ‘Enjoying to Win Practitioner Insights’ collection
[5] Jennifer Riel, Tips on how to Make Your Technique Actual (2024), IDEOU Weblog entry
[6] Roger Martin, Jennifer Riel, The One Factor You Have to Know About Managing Features (2019), article revealed in Harvard Enterprise Evaluate
[7] Jens Linden, Information Technique with a twist — there may be just one! (2025), LinkedIn weblog entry
[8] Roger Martin, A Plan Is Not a Technique (2022), video
[9] Jens Linden, The Root Reason for Why Organizations Fail With Information & AI (2024), Medium article revealed in Towards Information Science
[10] Jens Linden, The Information Technique Alternative Cascade (2024), Medium article revealed in In the direction of Information Science