Data-driven culture is a hot topic. As I was writing my previous post, I came across another article on the topic entitled, "Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock calls for 'data culture' across government." The article describes how UK Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock has called for a “data culture” across government to help make better decisions on where best to spend money on an austerity budget.
Using data to make better decisions on where best to spend money on an austerity budget...sound familiar? It does to us, as it's a popular theme with CIOs who have adopted TBM. During the great recession, most IT budgets were cut, leading many CIOs to use TBM as a way to cut with a scalpel instead of a chain saw.
Even though the economy has improved, IT budgets remain austere. But there is a strong emphasis on improving value and investing wisely to create growth, improve customer retention or cut operational costs. The UK article hints at ways that IT leaders also can do this:
Hancock said the government is adopting an “invest to save” approach, where money is spent only if it delivers savings. He said using big data and data science is critical to making sure the money is spent effectively.
“To have an effective invest-to-save proposition, it’s critical the data demonstrates you’re going to get the savings. This is one of the really exciting opportunities for the use of big data that unlocks these sorts of propositions. You can be much more scientific using data science on the likelihood of how you get success,” he said.
While TBM might not qualify as "big data," it certainly exploits data to make similar types of decisions. TBM integrates costs with the consumption of resources, applications, and services, and often marries those facts with quality metrics. This unique combination helps businesses decide where to save and where to invest.
For an example of this data-driven decision making, Carl Stumpf and his team at CME Group partnered with his tech leaders to use these metrics (e.g., cost, utilization, consumption, satisfaction) to change the way they manage peak demand. Watch him tell the story in this 2014 TBM Award video:
We'd love to hear how others have used TBM to create a data-driven culture. What's the best way to do that? Submit for a TBM Award! If you're a finalist, we'll help you tell your story to the rest of the TBM Council community.