Effective decision-making is crucial to a business's growth. Conversely, years of poor decisions can leave an undesirable lasting snowball effect and potentially end any thriving company. The decisions you make based on available data can determine the course of your business — influencing growth, stagnation, or shutdown. With a continual increase in availability of data, what you choose to do with it is more important than ever. Make the right data-informed decisions, and you will increase your chances for growth and success.

How to Make Data Driven Decisions

Making data driven decisions requires knowing what data is necessary, even if it differs from what you want. Although numbers don't lie, they can be manipulated, so it's essential to examine both good and bad data. For example, if analyzing your profit margin on a new product, it's important to compare reports in the same way each time, regardless of the outcomes. Also, don't underestimate the power of negative figures. They can be just as useful, if not more, than positive outcomes in guiding your decision making process. 

When it comes to product development, data can help make the difference in success and failure. To make decisions on product development, analyze the data related to it, such as profit margins and how well it's received by customers. You can file in the learnings from past decisions into present data models to make your decisions more effective. 

Becoming a Data Driven Decision Maker

Making data driven decisions can be tough, especially when emotions cloud our judgment. But when the success of a product is on the line, it's time to turn to the numbers. Take, for example, that product you were so sure would boost revenue and make your customers happy. Three months later, the sales just aren't there, margins have plummeted, and demand is lackluster. What to do? Time to look at the data.

Pulling a product from production can feel like admitting defeat, but in reality, it's a smart decision when backed by data analytics. So swallow your pride, learn from the shortcomings, and let the numbers guide you toward better decisions in the future. It's all part of making the tough calls as a data-driven decision maker.

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