Data, data, data. We hear about it all the time, and its scale is growing exponentially. Dealing with your data can be complicated but can also provide immense value.

Have you ever asked yourself questions like: How do I use all my data well? How do I collect or transform it to the format I need? How do I turn it into something meaningful and insightful? How do I incorporate it into a digital product? Can it help drive decision making? Those are all great questions to ask and shows you’re on your way to being more data-driven.

Here’s 5 tips for using your data:

• Tie your project / product to a specific business problem – Any kind of data project / product must solve a specific business problem. Start with the business problem you’re hoping to solve first; then you can find the appropriate data that will help you create the solution. Leading with the business case instead of the data will drive more revenue because you’ll be more focused on what the market actually needs. Don’t put the cart before the horse.
• Consistently get feedback from your customers and stakeholders – As Steve Blank says, you need to get out of the building and talk with customers. Otherwise, you’ll end up with flying toasters. A flying toaster may be cool… but who needs a flying toaster? No one. (flying toaster analogy credit to Jon Busby)
• Have great marketing with a solid go-to-market strategy – All things data (I use this broadly to cover big data, analytics, machine learning, etc.) is evolving quickly, which makes your go-to-market strategy crucial. What differentiates your product from others? What channels will you use to reach your customers? How do you hope to get/keep/grow customers? Having a great product is not enough – you need marketing to grow and scale.
• Take time to think about your system architecture – This is the AWS Certified Solutions Architect part of me speaking now. Decisions such as whether to design your infrastructure on premise or in the cloud, the size and number of servers you hope to use, your latency requirements, and so forth, all have the opportunity to create huge cost savings or unnecessary expenses. Be smart from the beginning.
• Start with an MVP – Creating a minimum viable product allows you to get to product/market fit faster and with less expense. This is just the standard today but it is still worth mentioning as an important tip.

What other tips do you have for finding value in your data?