Data is Overwhelming. Let’s Help You Prioritize.

Last week, we sat down with our CMO to discuss the role of software platforms in the oil and gas industry. As a continuation of this theme, we asked our Senior Product Manager, Deanna Glinka to talk to us about how data is powering the modern energy workplace.

I should also use this moment to shamelessly plug our previous conversation, Adios Data Dumps, Hello Helpful Insights… I don’t want my super-secret marketing card revoked for not promoting something.

Data is talked about frequently, and if we stop and categorize the majority of these conversations, there are two main themes: security and business intelligence. Frequently overlooked are access to data and the quality of data, which are equally important to the business users who aspire to use data to derive or create value for the company.

Why You Can’t Overlook Quality In Your Reporting Efforts

Not being able to access the information you need to make decisions on or build reports with seems like an obvious issue. And we know data quality is important, but just how important is it? Well, let’s consider an article from the Harvard Business Review (HBR).

Last year, HBR revealed that “Only 3% of Companies’ Data Meets Basic Quality Standards.” Three percent is surprisingly low, and the cost of flawed data is staggering. HBR found that it costs ten times as much to complete a unit of work when the data are flawed in any way (compared to work that’s executed with perfect data).

For example, the article explains that if you apply the “rule of ten,” to a list of 100 things to do at $1 per task with accurate data, the cost would come out to $100. If 11 of those 100 tasks have bad data, the cost would be $89 for tasks with good data, and $110 for tasks with faulty data for a total expense of $199.     

Note: Those charges don’t account for indirect costs to the company from loss of customer revenue, degradation of customer satisfaction, or poor decisions.

Data has costs and benefits, and I don’t just mean the costs of storing or reporting on it. We can’t fix everything all at once, so where do we begin and what should market participants think about regarding data? We explore some of this in our discussion.

The below questions kept us on topic, which if you have ever been in a discussion with us, you know we need the guide rails. 

1. What aren’t we thinking about correctly: Obviously, data is important to oil and gas companies, but if you had to pick the one data-related thing they aren’t thinking about properly, what would that be?
2. What would you prioritize: If you could only put money into a single initiative this year to improve your business, where would you apply that money?
3. How do today’s decisions not become tomorrow’s mistakes: How do we think about data today that doesn’t hinder our future use of it as our mixture of applications and data evolves?

Thanks for tuning in. If you are interested in how data is a part of an evolutionary software platform, grab our paper on digitally enabling the modern energy workplace and do some light reading over lunch.