6 Tips for Working Effectively with Data in Your Company and Not Being Afraid of It

You may have heard the term “data-driven company”. In short, it is a company that is run by data and gives it the proper role in its decision-making processes. That does not mean you have to be a fanatic about numbers and decide only by tables and charts. The best way is to be aware of what the data is telling you, but to add common sense and experience to it.

You may have had the experience of wanting to work better with data in your company. And perhaps it did not go all that well. Do you ask yourself why?

From time to time we hold consultations with clients who would like to base their business on information from data. We develop various solutions for them, which we then try to integrate into their everyday work. Usually it is a situation where an enthusiastic boss looks forward to the change, but on the other side stand employees who often do not understand what is actually beneficial about this change.

Working effectively with data in a company does not have to be as complicated as it seems at first glance. In this article we look at how to overcome initial fears, how to find real value in data and how to change company culture so that data serves your business and not the other way round.

Summary for Those Who Don’t Have Time to Read the Whole Article

• The biggest obstacle to working with data is not technology, but people and their fears of new tools and changes to established procedures.
• Data solutions bring measurable results – clients report saving dozens of hours a month and increased marketing efficiency.
• The fastest route to success is a combination of enthusiastic leadership and practical demonstrations of the benefits for ordinary employees.
• It is advisable to implement data solutions gradually, with an emphasis on quick results that convince even the sceptics.
• According to our case studies, data-driven decision-making brings the most significant benefits in marketing, user experience and cost optimisation.

Why Are Many Companies Afraid of Working with Data?

Have you ever asked yourself why the introduction of data projects in companies often meets resistance, even though the benefits are clearly visible?

It is no mystery – it is a natural human resistance to change. When we meet this fact with clients, we always recall one old piece of wisdom: “People don’t have a problem with change, people have a problem with being changed.”

We often hear questions like this from our clients’ employees:

• “Why should I use a dashboard when I can see the same data in different accounts?” (e.g. in Facebook, the CRM or Google Ads).
• “The data you are showing me doesn’t match what I see in the platforms, so why should I trust it?”
• “Why should I suddenly do things differently when the way I have been doing them so far works?”

Behind these questions lie deeper fears and uncertainties. First of all, it is the fear of losing control. A marketer who has worked directly with advertising platforms for years may feel that with a new data solution they lose direct contact with the data they trust.

Another factor is distrust of new tools. Employees often do not believe that new systems will be as reliable as the ones they are used to. When they see, for example, differences in the numbers between their original sources and the new dashboard, they automatically assume the error is in the new tool.

Last but not least, there is the fear of failing yourself. Nobody wants to look incompetent when they have to learn a new system or a new way of working. As Lucie Konečná from nanoSPACE told us: “We needed to break away from the view of ordinary web analytics and, instead of the classic ‘how many’, also address why some things happen.” This shift to deeper analysis can be difficult for many people.

The answer to all these fears is actually simple, but it requires patience during implementation. People have limited ability to perceive and interpret data, and working with scattered information also costs a lot of time. We think best about data when we see it all together. Putting it “on one pile” without automation is time-consuming. And a person can make a mistake doing it. Moreover, human reasoning and Excel formulas have their limits.

We face a paradoxical situation: working without data is inefficient, but introducing data solutions requires a change of mindset, which the human mind naturally resists. Before you start moving the numerical indicators, you must first change people’s thinking.

Are you really worried about the changes? Don’t be afraid, you are not alone. We have dealt with dozens of similar situations with Czech companies and we know your concerns are entirely legitimate. That is why we have tuned our approach to be as pleasant for you as possible. We don’t force a solution on you. First we talk it over calmly, understand your needs and together find a path that will work. We are here to make your data journey easier, not more complicated.

Areas Where Data Will Help You Make Decisions

Data analytics is not just a modern buzzword, but an essential tool that can improve almost every part of your business. Our experience with clients shows that there are five areas where data brings the fastest and most visible results.

Making Marketing More Efficient and Increasing Its ROI

Marketing without data is like shooting blindfolded. With quality data you can aim your efforts precisely where they bring the greatest value.

For the e-shop Ochutnej Ořech we introduced a bidding system based on margin instead of plain turnover. As Petr Voves Jr. told us: “I am glad to have experts like Archetix on my team. For me as an owner, analytics topics are often complicated, and from Marek Čech I always get answers that help me make the right managerial decision.”

Thanks to this approach, a company can work with marketing budgets more efficiently and make sure that every crown invested really brings a profit. This approach is invaluable especially during big sales or for products with different margins.

Read also: How AI Works: What Is Artificial Intelligence and What Can It Do?

Understanding Customer Behaviour and Improving User Experience

Do you really know how customers move around your website? Do you understand why they abandon the basket or where they run into obstacles? Data can give you answers that you would otherwise find hard to get.

For the company nanoSPACE we introduced Smartlook, which made it possible to watch real user interactions with the website. “At the same time we wanted to see the website through our customers’ eyes and understand what they are looking for and what they need,” says Lucie Konečná. The results were immediate – better basket completion rates, fewer support queries and increased sales of key products.

Optimising Internal Company Processes and Saving Time

How much time do your employees spend on manual work with data that could be automated? In our experience it is often much more than management admits.

At Saint Gobain we unified web analytics across dozens of websites. Tomáš Čech, their Director of Online Marketing, told us: “I can already see that we have saved dozens of hours a month previously spent on reporting for inconsistently measured websites, which we did to calculate marketing KPIs.”

Strategic Planning and Predicting Trends

In today’s fast-changing economy, the ability to predict trends and adapt to them is key to survival. Data can give you timely signals about where the market is heading.

For the real estate platform Flat Zone we created a comprehensive data layer and analytical tools that help to understand how users search for new flats. Vít Soural from Flat Zone appreciates: “What we value most about working with Archetix is that they always manage to understand our business need and then turn it into a technical brief.”

Building Company Culture

The last, but perhaps most important area where data changes the rules of the game is company culture itself. When decisions are based on data instead of feelings or politics, a company becomes more transparent and efficient.

At the company Zaslat.cz we worked on creating a cloud data warehouse and data visualisation for management. In this way we supported the company’s data culture, in which managers gained access to clean, prepared data, which allowed them to make more informed decisions.

The main advantage of a data analyst is the ability to use advanced statistical methods and find patterns in the data that an ordinary user does not see. These data concepts use statistics and mathematics and are nothing you have to understand. What is good to understand, though, is how to use these concepts in practice.

In marketing you commonly track basic indicators such as costs and revenues. You easily spot and fix obvious problems – for example, you switch off loss-making campaigns.

In time, however, you reach a point where basic optimisation is no longer enough. All your campaigns work fairly well, but you don’t know how to take them to the next level.

At this stage a data analyst can help you:

• Identify specific customer groups and tailor marketing messages to them,
• uncover hidden connections between data,
• propose advanced strategies for further performance improvement.

A data analyst will create the segmentation for you in a few hours and you can move your marketing forward. For a marketer it would take dozens of hours and the result might not be as reliable.

How to Introduce a Data Solution That Works and That Employees Actually Use

Introducing a data solution requires time and patience. The best results usually do not appear immediately, but only after a certain period. At the start you see the goal, during implementation you run into various obstacles, and as time goes on you gain a better overview and results.

So how do you make sure your data projects are successful and employees really use them?

1. Assess Your Current State

Before you set off, you need to know where you stand. Start with an honest assessment of the current state of working with data in your company:

• What data do you already collect?
• How often and how effectively do you use it?
• What systems and tools do you currently use?
• What is the level of data literacy in your team?

This assessment will help you identify not only the gaps, but also the existing strengths you can build on.

2. Start with Clear and Achievable Goals

Data for the sake of data makes no sense. Many companies make the mistake of trying to introduce too many changes at once. Instead, start with one specific problem your company is solving and show how data can help solve it.

It might be improving the efficiency of marketing campaigns, reducing the basket abandonment rate, speeding up deliveries or identifying new business opportunities. At the same time, however, keep the long-term vision in mind.

For example, when we worked with nanoSPACE, we started with a simple goal – to understand why customers abandon the shopping basket. Thanks to that we were able to quickly show the value of data analysis, which opened the door to further projects.

You might also be interested in: Real-Time Margin Calculation and Value-Based Bidding in Google Ads

3. Involve Employees from the Very Beginning

Quality data analysis requires both the right tools and people who know how to work with them. Consider whether to build an in-house team or work with external specialists.

A change perceived as an “order from above” often meets resistance. Instead, involve those who will work with the data already in the planning phase. Ask them what problems they are solving, what data would help them and what matters most to them in their daily work.

Tomáš Čech from Saint Gobain says he sees Archetix not just as a supplier but as a partner: “I also very much appreciate Archetix’s working approach, where I feel that on the other side there is not just a paid agency, but a partner who is genuinely trying to move our project and the whole business forward.”

4. Educate and Build Data Literacy

Don’t assume that everyone in your organisation understands data equally. Invest in training and educational materials that will help everyone understand how to read data, what questions to ask and how to use the available tools.

In practice we have found it works well to combine formal training with informal workshops, where users can come with specific questions and we show them how to find the answers using data.

5. Be Transparent About Methodology and Data Sources

One of the main reasons for distrust of data solutions is a lack of transparency. If people do not understand where the data comes from and how it is processed, they tend to distrust it.

Document and communicate how your data solution works, which sources it uses and how it deals with any discrepancies between different systems. At Zaslat.cz, for example, we spent some time explaining why the data from Facebook and Google Analytics differ and how to work with these differences.

6. Celebrate Successes and Learn from Failures

When a data solution delivers results, let people know. Share success stories and concrete numbers, and thank those who contributed to the success. At the same time, be open about things that don’t work and actively seek feedback on how to improve them.

Case Studies: How Czech Entrepreneurs Succeeded Thanks to Working with Data

You might think that data solutions are more for large corporations with extensive budgets. The opposite is true – our experience shows that it is small and medium-sized Czech companies that can benefit most from the smart use of data. Let’s look at a few inspiring stories.

Ochutnej Ořech: From Redesign to a Data Revolution

The family company Ochutnej Ořech specialises in selling nuts, dried fruit and healthy food. When they decided on a complete redesign of their e-shop, they wisely involved the data perspective in the process.

We introduced a comprehensive data layer containing more than 30 events, unified objects for products, users and the basket. We also set up a server-side installed Google Tag Manager and many other tools.

The results? More efficient marketing, more accurate targeting and an unexpected bonus – the ability to bid on margin instead of turnover. That gave much better control over campaign budgets and their efficiency. Petr Voves Jr. adds: “I am glad to have experts like Archetix on my team.”

The whole case study is here.

nanoSPACE: When Sudden Growth Arrives

The Czech company nanoSPACE produces anti-spinning coatings and nanofibre products. During the coronavirus epidemic it started producing nanofibre face masks and respirators and almost overnight became a medium-sized e-shop with hundreds of orders a day.

In this tense period they needed to quickly understand user behaviour on their website. We introduced the Smartlook tool and uncovered around twenty errors and problems in the user interface that made it harder for customers to buy.

“Thanks to implementing Smartlook and the subsequent analysis, we were able to quickly look at the most beneficial adjustments at the crucial time. After the adjustments, the flow through the basket and the whole purchase funnel improved, the number of support queries fell thanks to a clearer website, and sales of key products increased,” sums up Lukáš Konečný.

The whole case study is here.

Saint Gobain: Unifying Data from Dozens of Websites

Saint Gobain, a global leader in the building materials market, needed to unify web analytics and measurement across dozens of websites. This included building material calculators, e-shops and content and educational websites of individual brands and divisions.

We created a working solution and a methodology that allows consistent measurement to be maintained across the individual projects. Tomáš Čech, their Director of Online Marketing, confirms measurable results: “I can already see that we have saved dozens of hours a month previously spent on reporting for inconsistently measured websites and tens of thousands in the management and optimisation of campaigns.”

The whole case study is here.

What connects these stories? In all cases, data was not an end in itself, but a means of solving specific business problems. The companies did not start with large data projects – they started with clearly defined needs and gradually expanded their data solutions. So what do you say? Will you give it a try? Book a consultation with us and we can look at what we can do for you.

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