Partnering for insightful knowledge-driven management
Innolink CEO Pekka Vuorela’s theses, presented at the Knowledge-driven Leader 2022 Gala on 27 October 2022.
We live today in a business world where almost all activities generate data which we can utilise to make more profitable business decisions. Defining and selecting the relevant data is at the core of knowledge-driven management. The scale of the information and data available for business management use is greater than we can even comprehend.
At Innolink, we collect, process and, most importantly, analyse huge quantities of our business customers’ data, and over the years we have gained an understanding of what kinds of data and knowledge can help organisations to make knowledge-based decisions that further business growth. In addition to our own experience, we also track the work of international research-focused companies. From these sources, we gain insights into industry trends, which we can apply to support the knowledge-driven management of our business customers. Below are a few key insights for achieving better knowledge-driven management.
1. Pay attention to what data you collect and what data you use
Not all data leads to the right analyses and conclusions. The type and form of the data and the collection method used all impact its usefulness and the interpretations made from it. When an organisation’s management are aware of the objectives that require concrete monitoring, a partnering expert can use this information to shape the direction and goals regarding what data is needed and how it should be collected in order to support decision-making. They can also discern how best to track whether the objectives have been achieved.
A good knowledge-driven management partner brings the right sources and methods to the table and helps to shape knowledge-driven management into a process that supports business growth. In addition, extra perspectives and insights can be obtained by enriching the data with sources such as comparative data on companies within the same industry. On its own, data is just data – it needs to be placed into context or used to draw conclusions that can support business operations.
2. Make interpretations and conclusions with your knowledge-driven management partner
The knowledge-driven management of today involves combining business understanding with experience-based and operative data. Based on my own experience, all of these perspectives are needed in order to implement the measures needed to support business objectives. Drawing on their experience, an insightful partner can help leaders to draw key conclusions for their business, coach them in weighing up different options, and highlight the next key areas for exploration. At Innolink, we come alongside our customers, sparring and challenging management teams to attain a comprehensive overview of their organisation’s business operations. As we are present and carefully listening in hundreds of similar knowledge-driven management situations each year, this accumulated experience is something which we bring with us to the closing meetings with our customers – and it is something which is expected from knowledge-driven management experts such as Innolink.
3. Knowledge-driven leaders focus strongly on customer experience
The customer orientation of businesses and efforts to develop this remain on the agenda for management teams. Ensuring a good customer experience is not just a lofty goal – it really boosts the bottom line. According to Innolink’s customer sector comparison database, commercial success correlates highly with a company’s NPS (Net Promoter Score). At Innolink, we have gathered data on organisations which have implemented an NPS recommendation probability survey in their customer research and combined this with available financial statement data for the period 2018–2021.
According to our research, companies which received an NPS score of over 50 were significantly more successful financially than those which obtained lower scores.
Many companies have already made note of this, and NPS and other metrics are being effectively utilised. Alongside NPS, it is also important to track other key metrics of customer experience, such as commitment, re-selection, and quality of products and services. Companies seeking to develop customer experience do pay attention these days to measuring this in a broad manner, and harnessing the results for taking action throughout the life-cycle of customer relationships. Measurement of customer experience must be carried out comprehensively and systematically, and the knowledge obtained from the data must be visualised as a clear, holistic overview – a dashboard where goals can be tracked and the data can be easily analysed and applied to strategic decision-making. I’ll be sharing more on these topics in my next blog post.
Pekka Vuorela
CEO, Innolink
pekka.vuorela@innolink.fi
Read about how our customer Metsä Forest utilises its research partner systematically to support the company’s growth, and how the company is researching customer experience. Read the interviews with the Knowledge-driven Leaders of 2022 on our gala webpage and find out what they have achieved through knowledge-driven management.
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