(Middle East and Africa) Esther Munyi, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Sasfin, speaks with Robert Lutton, Vice President at Sandhill Consultants and Editorial Board Vice Chair at CDO Magazine, in a video interview about the benefits of having a technology and business background, the steps to creating an analytics strategy roadmap, and the metrics to measure the outcomes of a data management strategy.

Munyi says that her background in business consulting and technology helped her build a bridge between the two domains. She explains that data cannot be analyzed without context and having business domain expertise helps understand the data quickly.

She elaborates that an organization in the early stages of its data maturity journey can benefit from having somebody with a technology background, to put together the capabilities and build a stable foundation. However, understanding the business needs to come through to grow the maturity.

When asked about recommendations for organizations trying to create an analytics strategy roadmap, Munyi mentions the following:

• Understanding the corporate strategy – This is required to develop an effective data and analytics strategy aligned with the overall corporate strategy. It ensures that the data investments are focused on meeting the organization’s goals.
• Starting from where the organization is – Evaluate the organization’s current maturity level to identify the current strengths, weaknesses, and gaps, and develop a roadmap that builds on those strengths but also addresses the gaps.
• Determining the critical success criteria – Return on data investments are not easy to sustain because of the ever-changing market. It is important to consistently and constantly reevaluate the strategy as the client’s expectations change.
• Bringing in a chief data or analytics officer – An organization cannot pursue true success for its data and analytics ventures without having someone in charge of that function.

Further, Munyi sheds light on the metrics for a data management analytics strategy and says that they are connected to the strategic drivers of the organization. One of the key success measures, she says, is when decision-makers start using data to make decisions. Next is aligning data initiatives to particular business drivers like revenue creation, cost saving, and optimizing.

Elaborating on the topic, Munyi states that data and analytics are experimental in nature and do not always guarantee the expected results. So, it is important to also look at indirect and direct value attribution to the business. There can be measures like improving data quality scores which can have a significant impact on the business.

CDO Magazine appreciates Esther Munyi for sharing her insights and data success stories with our global community.