When digitisation is not the future anymore but the present reality, the real concern of enterprises is not the lack of data or ways to amass it. In response to the emerging trends of data-driven technology, what today’s enterprises struggle with is the lack of enterprises’ ability to harness and utilise their data capabilities. Diverse data flows in from an array of touchpoints. Managing and converting the raw data into strategic insights is crucial for most enterprises. But, often, failure or delay in that area due to poor data capabilities makes enterprises fall behind their competitors. To solve this issue, data maturity comes in the frame. It is a robust framework that helps in managing enterprise data capabilities by assessing, understanding, interpreting, and improving them.

The data maturity model in the UAE becomes a critical differentiator to maximise the value of data. From basic data usage to strategic management and improvement of data, the journey is initiated within enterprises with the help of data maturity. Their position on the data maturity scale is a significant parameter for organisations to assess the gaps that hinder their business growth and success.

So, to take your business to the next level of digitisation and align it with the modern business landscape, understanding and enforcing a data maturity framework is essential. This blog is here to guide you on how the data maturity matrix can be leveraged as a comprehensive roadmap for enterprises that decide to embrace digitisation.

Understanding Data Maturity: An Improved Way to Manage Data Capabilities

Researches show that 87% of companies view data as their most underutilised asset, which is likely to stop them from achieving full analytical maturity. Enterprises need to emphasise leveraging the power of data. Data maturity is a significant matter to discuss in this context. It is an effective strategy to understand the current data capabilities of an enterprise and to gain qualitative and quantitative insights by bringing together various data points. Data-mature organisations can make informed decisions and plan business sales and marketing strategies based on data-driven insights into their customers’ journeys. In this way, they can ensure a positive impact on their business reputation, increased revenue, and adaptability to new trends.

Why Mastering Data Maturity is Important?

Data maturity is more about recognising data’s value, integrating it into the enterprise culture, and deriving data-driven insights than mere accumulation of data. With the involvement of processes like ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) and ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), data maturity models enable businesses to structure and manage data more effectively than ever. The advantages that companies empowered with a data maturity model in the UAE can enjoy are as follows:

Helps to plan more attractive and personalised offerings for the customers
Identifies the operational inefficiencies and provides guidance to improve the scenarios
Helps to gain insights into competitor trends and markets
Assists in setting strategic business goals for enterprises
Measures the employee performance and the requirement for training
Makes the enterprise future-ready with enhanced data capabilities

Diverse types of enterprise data are generally accumulated for data maturity analysis. The resource points for data include CRM, business transactions, website analytics, company application analytics, in-store metrics like foot traffic, sales patterns, surveys, email campaign insights, social media forums, etc.

The Key Levels of Data Maturity Matrix

The data maturity matrix, divided into different stages, works as a comprehensive roadmap for enterprises that intend to step into the journey of digital transformation. The levels of the matrix comprise:

Level 1: Foundational stage of awareness

It is an initial stage in which the value of data is discovered by the organisations and first-party customer data is collected. But due to the lack of proper data support infrastructure, data silos may occur and the real power of data remains unutilised.

Level 2: Procedural stage

At this level, organisations implement basic data management practices. The centralised systems of storing and organising data while making it accessible are established. The enterprise leadership focuses on investing in tools to accumulate and manage large amounts of data.

Level 3: The Stage of Improvement

After the enterprise data maturity model in the UAE is implemented, in the next stage, companies need to ensure constant improvement of the framework. It is the stage in which emphasis is given to the aspects of data quality and data governance. An efficient data governance maturity model is set up at this level.

Level 4: The Proactive Stage

With the experience gained from previous stages, enterprises use advanced data analytics at this stage. The performance level of the data maturity tools is measured, and future trends are predicted. Thus, enterprises can make informed decisions about how to improve their progress or reach their business goals.

Level 5: The Innovation Stage

At this final stage, enterprises achieve full data maturity, which drives growth and innovation in the company. Data-driven procedures are embedded in the diverse operational functions within the organisation, and teams are trained to utilise the full potential of data.

Following these five stages, organisations can assess where they are in their data journey and how they can progress from that position. For instance, notable brands like Meta and Google extensively leverage data from their search engine insights, advertising results, and so on. Depending on the data-driven understandings, they prepare search algorithms, optimize their advertisements, and develop products and services.

Major Metrics of Assessing Data Maturity Models

Some key metrics are required to assess your organisation’s progress in the data maturity model in the UAE. Here are several clear and measurable metrics to assess your data maturity:

Data quality

This is a metric to assess how accurate and relevant the accumulated data is. Additionally, the completeness and reliability of the information should be measured. Only with high-quality data can you get dependable insights to drive success for your organisational strategies.

Data governance

The data governance maturity model in the UAE is a powerful metric to check how enterprises govern their data capabilities and take measures to improve data quality and management efficiencies while ensuring compliance with relevant policies.

Data accessibility

How well the data can be accessed by relevant authorities and individuals is another important metric to assess an enterprise’s data maturity framework. The teams in your organisation must be able to access the relevant data on time and in its complete form.

Data literacy

It denotes the ability of your company employees to understand the value of data and use it efficiently to accelerate your company’s growth. The data literacy metric involves the number and quality of training sessions provided to the company employees to enhance their knowledge about data-driven technology.

Data analytics capabilities

The better you are capable of understanding and evaluating data analytics, the higher your data maturity level is. Ask – Are relevant data analytics tools adopted by your teams to accumulate and nurture data and use them to make crucial decisions?

Data infrastructure

This metric reflects how different data points are connected to each other and which tools, technologies, and strategies are used to ensure high data maturity. If every element of the infrastructure is aligned with the business goals and vision, the enterprise proves to be an efficient, data-mature organisation.

Around 60% of corporate leaders have spoken in favour of data governance as a significant element of corporate organisation management. So, it is evident that the industry leaders are emphasising understanding the importance of leveraging data-driven insights. It is high time for companies to adopt data maturity frameworks and integrate them into their business processes.

How to Implement Data Maturity to Accelerate Strategic Digital Transformation

The importance of establishing a steady and comprehensive data maturity model in the UAE is acknowledged by most enterprise leaders. It supports the organisations’ journey of being fully data-driven and adaptable to the tech-advanced future business landscape. However, the steps to implement data maturity include:

Assess Present Data Capabilities

As the first step of implementing the data maturity framework, you should assess your current data capabilities. For example, OTT platforms like Netflix use viewing data to recommend movies, shows, and other content to their audiences. Recognise the gaps and room for improvement in your present data capabilities.

Set Realistic Data Goals

Data is a critical enterprise asset that can set you apart in the industry if leveraged well. So, decide the purpose and strategy of using data and set goals accordingly. Make sure that the goals align well with your organisation’s budget, workforce strength, and infrastructure capabilities.

Invest in the Data Maturity Framework

Considering your data goals, budget, and capabilities, determine the right data maturity framework in the UAE. By integrating suitable ELT or ETL processes, you can address the data management or governance gaps efficiently. Discuss with a reliable software development partner and opt for the right data quality maturity model, data management maturity model, or other data maturity model in the UAE, according to your enterprise needs.

Adopt Data Governance Strategies

To comply with the latest data regulations and standards is a crucial part of your journey of becoming data mature. It is important to implement the best practices of data governance to ensure compliance. The strategies you can adopt may include implementing policies to manage diverse roles and responsibilities that help to maintain integrity within the data framework and make it compliant with relevant standards.

Encourage Data Awareness

When you adopt the latest enterprise data maturity model in the UAE, your employees should be trained to oversee the dynamic aspects of the framework. Guide them optimally to accumulate data, derive insights from it, and leverage the potential of the vast pool of data in the best interest of the organisation. A complete data-literate workforce is the building block of a digitised organisation.

Leverage Advanced Analytics

Draw upon modern tools that generate actionable insights on your data maturity model’s performance. Leverage predictive analytics to identify the progress and shortcomings of the implemented data strategies. Depending on that, you can modify the strategies and enhance your organisation’s data capabilities, making it aligned to the ongoing trend of digital evolution.

Implementing a data maturity model in the UAE enhances enterprises’ ability to accumulate, manage, analyse, and leverage data and interpret insights from it, making the organisation more agile and proactive. However, as the data volumes grow, overseeing the data maturity framework may be overwhelming for the workforce, and the risks of errors may occur. In such cases, smart actions empowered with improved data literacy are recommended to avoid operational errors and maintain consistent efficiency. Here are the points that enterprises must remember while managing data maturity models:

Opt for a data maturity model that aligns with your organisational goals.
Make sure that the data maturity model you choose is adaptable to the changing technological landscape.
Document your data management policies and communicate the policy details with your team.
Be ready to continuously improve the models based on performance metrics and detailed market research.
Real-time compliance monitoring for the framework is essential.
Emphasis on data security as the risk of cybercrime can increase with the development of data maturity models.

About SquareOne

With 16 years of expertise, SquareOne drives digital innovation for companies across various industries and helps with data-driven storytelling in business operations. Partnered with Qlick, SquareOne provides a comprehensive array of data consulting and implementation services. Our team consists of experienced and certified consultants in both QlikView and Qlik Sense, known for their successful track record. We specialise in meeting the requirements of enterprise data discovery, self-service BI, reporting, and ad-hoc analytics. Besides these, our solutions in automation, AI, low-code app modernisation, content management, and fraud & risk protection enhance business growth through strategic innovation and diverse partnerships.

Final Thoughts

Imagine how relying upon your instincts is different from trusting solid data-driven insights while making an important decision about your enterprise. By following the stages of implementing the data maturity model, from data awareness development to the establishment of a data-driven culture within the company, enterprises can unlock new business opportunities. With a high data maturity level, handling complex data architecture and maintaining compliance with data regulations becomes convenient for enterprises. Nonetheless, while opting for a data maturity model in the UAE, considering a discussion with trusted digital nomads who help to access the leading data maturity models is necessary. Thus, your enterprise becomes data-driven, gaining a competitive edge in the global economic landscape.