A Digital Intelligence Model

We all agree on the need to improve our handling with data: with big data, online data, consumer data etc. There are loads of different sources to enrich your data volume and profit from it. Or get lost. Content has never been king, it has always been data. But now is the time to convert these data sources into pure knowledge. And even go one step further: it is not enough to know about data. It has to be used to improve current and future activities around your digital channels. Your competition will do it. So should you.

Hiring experts for that job can be difficult, but important. Finding the fitting CV is a hard task to achieve. Having a data expert on board is the key to digital happiness, I guarantee you. I talk to a lot of companies that have hired a CDO or CAO: Chief Digital Officer, Chief Data Officer, Chief Analytics Officer. Right so! As soon as Data and Analytics have reached C-Level importance the whole company will profit and maneuver through ice blocks. Ice blocks such as digital incompetence, passive attention to new channels and missing combinations of online and offline actions.

To know which status your company is currently in, I created the Digital Intelligence Model. This will help check the development of Analytics as well as the evolution of features and interactions. Adding the Gartner Hype Cycle explains the different steps even better.

But start with the first part of the model: the model is divided into three different sectors which include different topics and milestones of the Analytics path.

It all started with data collection in the last century. The output of that collection was rather small compared to the insights that followed. But also the input a company had to give was rather minimal regarding time and effort. The transition from Statistics to Web Analytics and from Analytics to Digital Intelligence is not a hard cut, but smoothly overlaps.

Second stage is to include the different development milestones in that model to check which actions can be allocated to each sector and also for you to see which of those milestones your company has already implemented.

For example: tagging your website has to be a given to develop seriously in the digital world. Including Customer Journey or Online-Offline Knowledge in real time can be a step that still needs to be prioritized (or understood) by your company. Can you see your own stand point? Do you know what to prioritize next in order to keep up with the competition or – ideally – stay ahead?

If you want to know how the different features and sectors influence the development and the growth, we need to add the Gartner Hype Cycle:

This fully completed Digital Intelligence Model shows different points of view and check points to orientate as a company, acting in digital channels.

The status that needs to be reached is the organic and reasonable growth of importance and usage of Analytics data. Moving from Statistical data storing to Analytical knowledge is a huge step to achieve. Entering in the Digital Intelligence sector where data becomes an essential asset and instrument to work with is the goal you must achieve. Optimizing your business instead of collecting data: this model is a useful orientation and tool to judge current status and learn how to improve the digital business. Following this knowledge path will increase the company’s output: it will increase ROI, it will increase the company value and it will increase the marketing knowledge.