The Rise of The Great Data Synthesizer
I’m in the middle of some interesting research about how data is used in business. One common complaint I’m receiving early in the study is from the VP’s and Directors who say they get bombarded with data and need help synthesizing it all.
The average senior level leader is getting targeted with mountains of information and they’re openly admitting that something needs to be done.
I was talking to an IT Director the other day and he mentioned that his job is pretty straightforward - “we make sure that the web properties stay up so visitors can keep visiting our webstie” - but even so, he is still choked with more information than he can handle.
“I don’t have a product so I have no idea how product managers handle the information they get or need to digest - it must be a lot more than me. Still, I can’t get to grips with all the data I receive and I worry about what I’m missing or not considering.”
Talking to these senior leaders, I’m starting to get the sense that tomorrow’s corporate communications or information team will be sharply focused (like a hawk) on digesting and synthesizing information to help these senior leaders make sense of their business area.
They’ll need to focused on synthesizing as the amount of data and the options for collecting data - social, research, web, CRM’s and more - grows into gargantuan size. Business leaders will want to do more and more with this intelligence but they’ll need help understanding it all.
To sum it up, I saw an awesome tweet the other day that I think explains everything in 140 characters -
“it would be sweet if “the information age” was followed by the “understanding-the-information age”
Well said, sir!
