For as long as I can remember, the word Insights has been a rockstar in solving real world business problems across industries. All that’s data driven today needs Insights – People, processes, products and platforms. Well to be fair, everything! There’s no messing around with this guy, everyone knows his name – but not all understand.
But the demand for Insights is so high across teams that it’s real significance has been diluted.
It’s like crypto, everyone wants to own it because it’s cool but not everyone understands. It’s no one’s fault to be honest. What’s missing is the adoption of a data driven culture, awareness and translation. Finding/observing is easy, Insights require a holistic approach to problem solving. (I know, holistic is another over-used buzz word!). But the approach is real, requires a confluence of minds, and then you can actually have an actionable Insight!
So what’s what? How do we really differentiate? Which team is responsible for it? What skillsets do you need?
I’m sure the struggles and self-doubts are unsurmountable until you actually just give it a thought (instead of taking one from somebody). Insights is not a discipline that only a data & analytics practitioner or a researcher can apply. Actually if you think conversely, a D&A team cannot produce a great Insight if you do not add the 2 cents of your business context and the non-numerical angle to it. Life (or all that happens in it) is not calculated, it is unchained, it is liberated. What you do have is stories (you live, hear, narrate) that just enriches the journey and makes you take decisions in a certain way.
The more you add as a consumer to the findings, the more you get out as Insights!
Insights as the name suggests gives you in-depth deductions on ‘WHY’ a certain behavior or interaction of entities happen. While the findings tell you the ‘WHAT’ of that behavior.
I’m not going to illustrate an example like most of the other articles do, I am going to focus on basics and let you read up, realize and compare the rest.
The above informs the decision making on whether you have an Insight or not. But what informs the journey you ask?
In an ideal world, it should follow the below in my opinion. But then again, we have realities, we have deadlines, we have decisions to make! So the course of action is subjective (but the subconscious processes are not).
Does that mean the findings often named as Insights in pressure of the required speed and scale are wrong? Nope! Absolutely not! It is the foundation to Insights – unless you observe, you cannot think.
I am a strict advocator of both. So off the not so identical twins – one can lead to a transformation across your business/life but it needs the support of the other to become a hero! They also come in different shapes and sizes which yet again sparks questions and debates but is probably a question for some other time.
