There’s no doubt about the importance of data. It’s a transformative resource that’s already driving innovation and is set to power the future.
But it’s not enough to merely have data. Whatever form it takes, data can’t be wielded until it’s been properly integrated, interpreted, and analysed – whether that be by a human or software.
For instance, the fanfare that has surrounded AI and its ability to process data at speed has often come with an understanding that a human touch will be necessary for the technology to be successfully applied.
Therefore, the biggest challenge to modern businesses isn’t gathering data, but it’s being able to read and understand it first. This requires data literacy – a skill that’s both slow to learn and tough to master.
Reading data
Caught amid a global pandemic with the threat of a looming recession, we’re living through unprecedented times. The economic landscape is shifting constantly, leaving businesses unsure about their next move.
If there was ever a time that businesses needed the clarity that data can bring, it’s now.
But who is responsible for overcoming the barriers to understanding data? Many businesses don’t have the expertise or resource available to interpret and maximise the value of data – especially in the current environment.
Third-party data providers play a key role. Companies such as Dun & Bradstreet provide not just data itself, but the expertise to help businesses extract relevant and contextual insights to deliver maximum business value and accelerate growth. And to unlock even greater value from data, partnerships are essential.
A partnership approach delivers a powerful coalescence of data and business knowledge. Combining depth, breadth and analysis of data with the technology and platforms that enable businesses to join the dots and integrate data into the heart of their operations offers huge potential opportunities.
This kind of fusion unlocks the full value of data, giving context to raw information and delivering it in the most effective way to fuel profitable business decisions.
A proposition built on partnerships
Partnerships are central to Dun & Bradstreet’s mission to enable data-driven decisions. The market context and visualisation tools our partners provide help our clients understand data in a way that’s intuitive, intelligible, and aligned with their own in-depth industry knowledge.
This not only makes our data useful, but also timely. Businesses can understand market shifts as they occur, without worrying about missing ‘the next big thing’. This means they, alongside our partners, have the information necessary to monitor the constantly shifting market and make decisions based on data-driven insights – not gut feelings.
Collaboration is going to be a major theme going forward – both for Dun & Bradstreet, the data and analytics industry and for the wider business landscape. We’re proud to be working with innovative companies who offer such a high level of expertise, and we look forward to deepening our partnerships and enabling businesses to get as much value from our data as possible.
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