Many organisations fall into the trap of only using data to validate their biases rather than using it as an exploratory tool to learn more about their business, their competition, and the market forces at play.

It is often the factors that blindside us that have the potential to cause the most disruption.

There is now a plethora of data that is available to organisations, both internally and externally (open source), that will enhance the potential for businesses to successfully navigate through these uncertain times.

Data discovery and exploration involve taking a step back and looking at raw data to identify patterns and insights that may not currently be known to a business.

To effectively harness the potential of data, it is advised that businesses:

Set up and regularly maintain development environments with up-to-date data.

Encourage people to experiment within sandbox environments.

Make exploration a part of BAU by encouraging the business to ask questions and collectively rank them in order of importance.

Utilise data preparation tools in the data discovery process to quickly test new data transformation ideas and relationships.

Utilise data visualisation tools such as Tableau to create experimental data models, introduce external datasets, and create calculations that enable the discovery of new insights. The advantage of utilising data visualisation tools to conduct data discovery is that the output can be quickly presented back to the business in a visual manner.

Once a data model, trend, or insight becomes clear, document the process and outcome to create a scope for data engineers to build to in the data warehouse.