How to Build an Effective Data Strategy: Key Questions and Practices

Wayne Eckerson’s recent report “Data Strategy Guide: What Every Executive Needs to Know” highlights the complexity of data strategy and presents a holistic view to help visualize its scope.

Data strategy enables data discovery, which in turn drives business discovery, creating a feedback loop where each fuels the other. Strategists must work at the intersection of these processes, considering both business and management contexts.

Business Pressure

External forces—political, economic, social, technological, competitive, legal, ethical, and environmental—create pressure for businesses to act and adapt. Responses include predicting pressure, proactively adapting, reacting quickly, and handling unexpected events, with data analytics playing a crucial role at every stage.

What external dynamics drive your organization? How can data help address these forces?

Business Value

Adaptability is essential for maintaining and growing business value; data and analytics provide insights into performance and enable process, product, and model innovation. Leaders should ask:

What are the primary data‑driven value opportunities for our business? How can we use analytics to drive innovation?

Business Management

Effective change requires coordinated action across strategy, tactics, and operations. Data analytics supply feedback loops to monitor alignment and guide decision‑making. Leaders should consider:

What do managers need from data and analytics? How does it influence decisions and actions? Which metrics are needed to measure strategic‑tactical‑operational consistency?

Data Management

Relevant, trustworthy, well‑managed data is vital for successful business management. High‑quality data supports descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. Key questions include:

How will we continuously and rapidly adjust data content, services, and practices? How can we provide comprehensive analytical capabilities?

Business Discovery and Data Discovery

The business and data discovery cycles are interdependent, each fueling the other in an endless learning loop. Strategists should explore:

How can we use data to uncover new patterns and relationships? How do we communicate data discoveries through visualization and storytelling? How can data discovery drive dialogue and collaboration? How do we encourage analysts and scientists to explore data regularly? How do we motivate business analysts and managers to explore data regularly? How can business discovery promote communication, collaboration, and action?

Making Data Strategy Work

Once developed, a data strategy must be actively applied, evolving with changes in both the business and data landscapes. It should guide data architecture, foster a collaborative data culture, identify required data‑management and analytical capabilities, and inform technology selection and implementation.