Data may be one of 2018’s top-trending buzzwords, but the power it yields is certainly nothing new—that is, when you know what you’re looking for. Never before have we had access to a greater wealth of information, which also means we have never been more empowered to make informed decisions. The only downside? Having to sort through that wealth of information to find and extract the data you need—and then figuring out how to use it effectively.

With the sheer volume of data that exists, how can you be sure you’re getting what you need for what you’re trying to accomplish? Here are a few steps you can take to arm yourself with the information most relevant to your goals.

‍Take a Look at Your Business Plan…

‍Or financial plan. Or marketing plan. Or whatever strategic planning document applies to your business unit. Assessing where you are in the big picture—how you’re allocating your resources and where you’re seeing the biggest return—will help inform the most effective path forward and narrow down the types of data sets needed to get you there.

An example of this we often see at SiteREADY is in workspace utilization. A company may be looking to upgrade its space for various reasons, whether an upcoming strategic expansion, relocation, or simply to boost productivity. Whatever the motivation may be, it’s important to understand exactly how your space is being utilized before you make a purchasing decision. Before deciding how to allocate your budget, you need to make sure you have the data to support the investment by asking the right questions; those questions might include:

• How is the space being utilized?
• Do different departments utilize the space differently?
• Which department(s) or business units will the investment impact the most? Is it a worthy investment?
• Do employees meet as large groups or small teams?
• How often are meeting spaces being booked versus occupied?

Analyze Your Spending

‍Cost savings are always a top concern for companies, regardless of size or industry. This is another area where data can start to get overwhelming. To even begin to answer the age-old question of how to save money, we need to understand everything we’ve outlined above before diving into analytics. Until we know how your corporate objectives, target demographics and resource utilization align with your spending habits, we cannot determine what data would be most useful in terms of cost savings.

With a thorough understanding of your business and corporate objectives, we can furnish data that will inform where you are overspending or underspending, which will then enable you to reallocate accordingly. We can also understand how processes can be improved, and resources better utilized, for savings through gained productivity.

Engage a Trusted Partner

‍SiteREADY’s Business Systems Analysts help companies make informed decisions using high-quality data. We extract the information that is most valuable to what you are trying to achieve, utilizing the most advanced data visualization tools available to make it as informative and digestible as possible. The goal is to keep it high level—and keep you out of the weeds.Looking to improve your workplace but not sure where to start? Contact us today for a data consultation.

‍Contributor: Cassandra Spurgeon, Project Coordinator, PMP at SiteREADY

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