Srinidhi Shama Rao, CSO, Aegon Life, discussing the digital driven data transformation in a panel discussion organized by Forbes India

Until recently, decision-making by the leaders of enterprises has been primarily based on their inherent human resources - knowledge, experience, and insights guided by assumptions, personal experiences, individual perspectives, risk profiles, and intuition. Data has merely played a supportive role in molding such decisions.

In the present digital age, critical and analytical thinking take precedence with the most successful enterprises relying on data to make business decisions. Data-driven decisions can be relied on to hedge against human biases and personal agendas with objectivity and an inherent commitment to company-level priorities to deliver more universally beneficial outcomes.

To explore how organizations can fast-track their growth by making more data-driven decisions and overcome challenges on their digital transformation journeys, Forbes India and Quantiphi hosted a virtual panel discussion themed, ‘Leading A Data-Driven Transformation’.

Representing the BFSI space, Srinidhi Shama Rao, Aegon Life Insurance offered a view on how companies on the other side of the table measure the value of data or the return on investing in data and analytics. “The most obvious measure is to look at the ROI of investing in tech stacks, data sciences, and analytics. While that is relevant, it is a rather myopic approach.” He observed that when a company adopts data analytics and seeks to reinvent customer journeys, there are numerous metrics that are more important than ROI. “A broader approach will determine the revenue lift you get in the longer term due to deeper customer engagement,” he said.