How do data strategies work and do companies even need them? This question is on the minds of many business leaders today. At the same time, they are under increasing pressure to remain competitive and innovative. A key factor in achieving this goal is the effective use of data: it allows companies to identify efficiency reserves in processes and to better understand customers to adapt products and services or even develop new offerings.

Once there is consensus on what you want to achieve with the data, a data strategy can be derived from it -- that is, a concrete framework for action to structure measures and pursue the overarching goal, the "North Star". A data strategy turns the many different individual decisions in different areas of the company into a coherent effort to achieve a common goal.

In the following example, we look at a company that aims to be the leading online optician: To successfully sell glasses online, the company needs to combine data from different sources, ranging from product data from lens and frame manufacturers to marketing data and medical data from customers, as well as information on warehouse and production capacity utilization.