Question: In the topic material, "Data-Driven Companies Outperform Competitors Financially," Thor Olavsrud discusses the path to becoming a data-driven company. As an IT professional, discuss strategies you can employ to encourage corporate leaders to utilize available data to drive decision making. Provide examples of ways IT professionals can facilitate the sharing of data-related information with employees, collect data efficiently across departments, and present data in ways that allow company executives to make decisions based on data. Cite specific industry examples from your own research and include links to related articles in your posts.

Student answer: As an IT professional, I think the first thing I would do is create a dashboard in Excel with existing data to illustrate opportunities for growth. A dashboard is not as intimidating as a report might be. Also, by using Excel or Google sheets, you can show that starting towards becoming a data driven company does not have to be expensive. The IT department could automate queries that compile specific data and then train management on how to turn that data into a useful tool towards increasing return on investment and becoming a better competitor in their industry. Once you start this process, you will be able to use this same data to prove how analytics is improving decision making and the bottom line.

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