3-minute executive read of WABI-SABI YOUR DATA: FROM DATA HOARDING TO DATA CENTRIC THINKING
The Problem
Your data budget is hemorrhaging value. A recent case study reveals the stark reality: one company spending €180,000 annually on data infrastructure discovered that 73% of their collected data was never used in any decision process. Teams took 3.2 weeks to get actionable insights, yet they continued expanding their data collection.
Sound familiar? While 68% of enterprise data goes unused, companies waste $3 trillion annually on poor data quality. Most organizations claiming to be "data-driven" are actually data hoarders—impressive infrastructure, zero business impact.
The Solution: The Data Investment Portfolio Approach
Stop treating data like a pack rat. Start managing it like a portfolio manager.
The breakthrough insight from this deep-dive analysis: successful data transformation requires viewing every data source as an investment that must justify its ROI or face elimination.
The Data Centricity Framework applies the 5 W's to every data point:
Why: What specific decision will this data improve?
What: What action triggers when data shows X pattern?
Where: Which teams/processes benefit?
When: What's the optimal collection frequency?
Who: Who owns accuracy and resulting actions?
Real transformation example: An e-commerce startup eliminated 56 of 79 tracked metrics using this approach. Result: 60% infrastructure cost reduction, decision-making accelerated from 3.2 weeks to 4.5 days, and a data-driven product expansion that contributed 28% of quarterly revenue.
Your Next Action
The Decision-First Data Audit reverses typical approaches—start with decisions, not data:
List your 10 most important decisions in the next quarter
Map required data against current collection efforts
Calculate cost-to-value ratio: (Decision improvement value - Data costs) / Data costs
Eliminate data that doesn't serve clear decision needs
Organizations implementing this approach report 315% ROI within three years, with payback periods under six months.
This Week's Implementation
Complete the "Data Centricity Assessment":
Choose your three most expensive data initiatives
Apply the 5 W's test to each (20 minutes total)
Calculate basic ROI for each initiative
Identify one "data sunset" candidate and one underserved decision
Read the full analysis for the complete framework, detailed case studies, and the Data ROI Calculator that's helping organizations recover up to 35% of current data spend while improving decision quality.
May your data serve a clear purpose and drive confident action!
Lior