Creating a clearly articulated data strategy—a roadmap of technology-driven capability investments prioritized to deliver value—helps ensure from the get-go that you are focusing on the right things, so that your work with data has a business impact. In this presentation, the experts at Silicon Valley Data Science share their approach for crafting an actionable and flexible data strategy to maximize business value.

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8 STEPS TO CREATING A
DATA STRATEGY
from Silicon Valley Data Science

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WHY HAVE A DATA STRATEGY?
Data has become critical to achieving competitive
advantage in business. With so much data to look at and
so many tools to consider, however, it is easy to invest in
the wrong platforms and capabilities.
Creating a clearly articulated data strategy—a roadmap of
technology-driven capability investments prioritized to
deliver value—helps ensure from the get-go that you are
focusing on the right things, so that your work with data
has a business impact.

3. 3 © 2015 SILICON VALLEY DATA SCIENCE LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
STEP 1.
Identify your business objectives.

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Identify your
business
objectives.
These should
become the goals
of your strategy;
your data will be
the means to
executing your
objectives.

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STEP 2.
Go from objectives to tactics.

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Go from
objectives to
tactics.
Answer the
question: How are
you going to
achieve your
goals?

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STEP 3.
Include all parts of the organization and
all stakeholders in the conversation.

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Include all
parts of the
organization
and all
stakeholders
in the
conversation.
This means people
from both the
business and
technical sides of
your organization,
at a minimum.

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STEP 4.
Look at how technology supports the use cases.

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Look at how
technology
supports the
use cases.
Answer the
question: What
data technology
makes this
possible?

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STEP 5.
Exploit patterns and reuse.

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Exploit
patterns and
reuse.
Look at common
relationships and
services, and
figure out where
efficiencies are
possible.

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STEP 6.
Prioritize all the things you could do
to figure out where to start.

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Prioritize all
the things you
could do to
figure out
where to
start.
Not all projects are
created equal.
What matters
most to your
business?

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STEP 7.
Define your roadmap with an end-point in mind.

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Define your
roadmap with
an end-point
in mind.
Identify a pipeline
of projects that
take you toward
your goal.

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STEP 8.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

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Lather, rinse,
repeat.
Revisit and reuse
this checklist to
refresh your data
strategy as
conditions change
over time.

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DATA
STRATEGY
CHECKLIST
1. Identify your business objectives.
2. Go from objectives to tactics.
3. Include all parts of the organization and
all stakeholders in the conversation.
4. Look at how technology can support
the use cases.
5. Exploit patterns and reuse.
6. Prioritize all the things you could do
to figure out where to start.
7. Define your roadmap with an end-point
in mind.
8. Lather, rinse, repeat.

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