What Happens when you Use a Creative Tool for Data-driven Work?
Unlocking the Power of Data-First Collaboration: What You Need to Know
In today's fast-paced digital world, innovation is a critical driver for success. The solidified shift to a distributed workforce has demolished the way we use to work, communicate, and conduct business. Companies are confronted with finding efficiencies that accommodate the new way of working.
Creativity can play a vital role in both innovation and decision-making – but by its very nature, creativity can be hard to quantify.
In this blog, we will explore the concept of data-first collaboration and how it can transform your work. We'll look at why traditional tools like physical whiteboards and free tools like the many video conferencing collaboration add-ons aren't adequate for complex data-driven work, and why investing in the right tools is crucial for digital transformation and innovation.
The problem with traditional tools
In a highly competitive and quickly evolving business environment, making the right decisions at the right time is essential for success. However, the sheer amount of data required to inform decisions can be overwhelming while creativity and innovation are dismissed as tertiary data, not contributing anything meaningful in a data-first world.
The risk is compounded when organizations fail to have the right tools in place. Free collaboration tools are often seen as ‘good enough’ - requiring virtually no investment but fulfilling the need to have something in place that promotes virtual collaboration among the distributed workforce.
The downfall distills into what purposes these tools were designed for and the subsequent functionality provided. A whiteboard attached to your team’s video conferencing platform might feel like it fills the requirements of a distributed team, but it’s often nothing more than a place to doodle.
It is certainly not a serious designated workspace corralling the all-important data that is needed for informed decision-making.
These types of tools can be frustrating to use, require manual data entry, and limit customization options. In the end, these ‘free’ tools are often tossed aside for pen and paper. Free is not always better; investing in a purpose-built tool, like Stormboard, can replace your collaborative coloring book with a data-first platform that drives desired outcomes and produces positive ROI.
By understanding the needs of your team, you can find data-first alternatives which will make their work easier and more efficient. The right tools can reduce stress and frustration, making it easier to collaborate and achieve your goals.
Advantages of data-first collaboration
Data-first collaboration involves using creative tools to work collaboratively. This isa where the disparity of ‘good enough’ and ‘the right tool’ shows.
Most free options for collaboration are nothing more than a static image that serves as a blank canvas for your teams to input ideas.
With Stormboard, content become data on a living, evolving workspace. Every idea, sticky note, concept, connection, and theme is plotted onto a more intelligent canvas that enables contextual relationships between the content and where it lives on the canvas or within the template.
This method offers several advantages over traditional whiteboards and add-on alternatives, including improved accuracy and efficiency in data analysis. Collaborative features and a smart interface allow for real-time communication and feedback, and the contextual format of the data enables meaningful exports and reports that can be actioned on, as opposed to a PNG screenshot that provides no value outside of the meeting.
By selecting the right creative tools, you can achieve a data-first collaboration that is secure, scalable, and compliant. These tools can integrate with your existing workflows, allowing you to leverage your current investments while providing greater functionality and flexibility.
Examples of successful data-first collaboration
Data-first collaboration is a new concept for many organizations accustomed to the old-school whiteboard at the front of the boardroom. For businesses that have shifted to a data-first approach, the results are remarkable.
Take one of Stormboard’s earliest adopters of the data-first concept. A global healthcare & pharmaceutical company was able to reduce the time spent in their PI Planning sessions from 3 days to just 3 hours, saving tens of thousands of dollars in person-hours and meeting expenses, while still meeting their high-quality standards. By using a secure, compliant, and scalable platform, they were able to collaborate more effectively and achieve improved results.
Similarly, in the finance industry, a North American bank used Stormboard in place of the free tool they had been using with the intent of improving customer service and providing real-time data to customer service representatives. The team generated 10x more ideas than they had in their previous sessions, and by creating an actionable outcome report based on data from various sources, they were able to provide personalized service that increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Choosing the right tools for data-first collaboration
Market uncertainty and pressures to reduce costs (both internal and external) will always be a factor in choosing optimal investments. In some cases, the free alternatives attached to your internal communication platform are sufficient and require no real additional investment.
However, when selecting a creative tool for data-driven work, it is essential to consider what success looks like for your business – and how you plan to get there. Data-driven decision-making requires data (obviously), and for the most part, the free collaboration platforms on the market today simply do not deliver.
Once your organization decides to start treating creativity, innovation, and ideas as data input / output, the only option left is to invest in a data-first collaboration platform.
At this stage, it is common to consider factors like user experience and ease of integration with existing third-party tools and workflows. The right tool should be easy to use and integrate seamlessly into your current workflow without requiring a steep learning curve. It should also be secure, scalable, and compliant, meeting the standards required by your industry.
Conclusion
Valuable business intelligence starts and stops with your tech stack. For organizations aiming to connect employees and provide quick and easy notetaking or doodle board activities, there is absolutely no reason to invest in an innovative data-centric tool. It is like using a sledgehammer for a finishing nail or grabbing a butter knife when you need a scalpel.
But for organizations looking to reap an ROI from the unique contributions of their workforce, investing in an intelligent collaboration platform is necessary. A purpose-built collaboration platform like Stormboard is the cornerstone of a well-thought-out strategy to realize the benefits of a data-centric approach.
Using the right tool for the right purpose at the right time is not just an investment in another piece of software, it is an investment in the future and success of your distributed organization.
Stormboard is the data-first alternative to creative tools tailored for designers. While we boast many free-form creative options as well, our goal is to help organizations make more data-informed decisions while simultaneously finding efficiencies and quantifying their creativity.
If your business is just starting to experiment with Digital Transformation, get in touch with one of our experts today to learn more about how we can connect your tools and workforce under one easy-to-use platform to kickstart a new wave of efficiency.
