In today’s information-flooded business world, access to sufficient data isn’t a problem. But we often struggle with a different challenge—inefficient data.

Data and analytics are increasingly important tools that help us decide where to invest and develop. They are a critical means of measuring the success of current strategies, justifying decisions, and building confidence in plans for growth. Engagement with customers is what matters, and that engagement is often measured in clicks. We track where site visitors are coming from, how many pages they visit, whether they click on ads and banners, and how long they ultimately choose to interact with our site or service. Without this information, we’d be making decisions in the dark.

While we rely upon big data to provide actionable business intelligence on everything from delivery logistics and crop yields1 to innovative marketing techniques2, the information we gather is only as valuable as the context it is measured against. It’s relatively easy to collect information and manipulate it to come up with business insights, but if the data you’re looking at isn’t the right data, those insights won’t be worth much.