Accelerating Analytics Maturity: Rethinking Strategy and Operating Models

In today’s fast-paced business environment, data and analytics leaders face a pivotal question: Is your operating model deliberately designed or the product of years of organic sprawl? The answer to this question is critical in determining how effectively your team can deliver value to your organization and adapt to evolving business needs.

An operating model, at its core, is not merely about the structure of your team — whether centralized, federated, or hybrid. Instead, it is about how your D&A team functions, how it delivers value, and how it supports the broader business strategy. A well-designed operating model ensures alignment with organizational goals and creates a framework for continuous improvement and adaptation.

This blog is the first in a three-part series about fast-tracking data and analytics maturity to accelerate value from advanced analytics and the content was featured in a webinar hosted by the International Institute for Analytics. Part One highlights four steps that refocus D&A leaders seeking to accelerate their maturity journey and closes with a call to action.

Step 1: Back to the Beginning — a Strong Foundation

Building a robust operating model begins with a fundamental yet often overlooked step: clearly defining your team’s purpose and priorities. This foundational effort ensures alignment with broader organizational goals and sets the stage for meaningful impact. Central to this process are two key elements: understanding value propositions and identifying your internal customers.

To start, view your D&A team as a business within the business. Like any successful enterprise, it is essential to know your customers and the value you deliver to them. Begin by mapping out your internal stakeholders. These could range from marketing teams relying on campaign insights to supply chain leaders using predictive models to optimize logistics. Take time to pinpoint who these stakeholders are and, more importantly, what they truly need. This exercise is not a one-time effort but an ongoing practice.

Next, identify and articulate your team’s value proposition to each stakeholder group. What unique insights or capabilities do you bring to the table? For example, are you providing real-time analytics that drive quick decision-making, or are you building predictive models that shape long-term strategies? Clarifying these contributions enables you to prioritize efforts and allocate resources effectively.

Equally important is assessing whether your team is focusing on the right stakeholders. Not all requests or projects carry the same strategic weight. Prioritize those aligned with high-impact business objectives tied to enterprise strategy, ensuring your team’s efforts amplify the organization’s success. This strategic alignment transforms your D&A team from a supportive function into a pivotal driver of enterprise growth.

By approaching your operating model with this clarity and discipline, you create a framework that supports agility, relevance, and sustained alignment with organizational priorities.

Step 2: Key Activities and Resources

Examine the key activities that drive value creation and the resources you need to execute them. This includes the tools, technologies, and processes that form the backbone of your operations, as well as the talent that powers your team. Identifying gaps in these areas can help prioritize investments and improvements that enhance your team’s effectiveness.

Beyond these foundational elements, consider the supporting functions that enable your operating model to thrive. This includes partnerships with internal teams like IT and finance, as well as a clear understanding of your cost structure and funding mechanisms. These relationships are essential for securing resources and sustaining momentum.

Step 3: Aligning with Business Vision

A successful operating model is deeply rooted in the organization’s strategic vision. Begin by revisiting the business’s long-term goals — whether a three-year plan, a five-year roadmap, or a specific set of performance targets. Aligning your D&A efforts with these goals serves two purposes:

• Strategic Alignment: Ensures that your analytics initiatives contribute directly to organizational priorities.
• Enhanced Advocacy: Demonstrates the value of analytics investments, strengthening your case for budget and resources.

Step 4: Cultivating a Customer-Centric Approach

Adopting a customer-centric mindset can transform how your team interacts with internal stakeholders. If you think of your D&A organization as a business, you will quickly appreciate that your user base (your customers) is your lifeblood. Treat your end users as customers by:

• Mapping out the specific needs of internal teams and individuals.
• Building intentional relationships through clear communication and collaboration.
• Leveraging tools CRM-style functionality to track interactions and outcomes, ensuring accountability and consistency.

This approach not only improves service delivery but also helps build trust and credibility within the organization.

Unpacking the Current Operating Model

To refine your operating model, consider these four fundamental questions:

1. How do you build solutions? Evaluate the processes and methodologies used to develop analytics capabilities.
2. How do you educate employees? Ensure stakeholders understand and can effectively use the tools and insights provided.
3. How do you manage the program? Establish governance structures that prioritize use cases, allocate resources, and measure impact.
4. How do you support the ecosystem? Focus on maintaining and evolving analytics solutions to sustain their value over time.

Exploring these areas helps identify strengths and weaknesses, allowing for targeted improvements. For instance, you may excel at building new solutions but struggle with maintaining them, or you might lack a formal enhancement intake process. A candid assessment of these gaps is essential for progress.

The Importance of Iteration

The best organizations view their operating model as a living framework. Transformation is never truly complete, as the business environment constantly evolves. Regularly revisit and refine your strategy to ensure alignment with changing objectives. Consider your operating model a dynamic system that must adapt to support the evolving needs of the organization.

A Call to Action

To accelerate your analytics maturity, commit to three guiding principles:

1. Deliberate Design: Treat your D&A organization like a business, with clear goals and a relentless focus on customer value.
2. Honest Assessment: Conduct a candid evaluation of your team’s strengths and weaknesses to identify opportunities for improvement.
3. Continuous Improvement: Build a flexible plan that evolves alongside the organization, ensuring sustained relevance and impact.

By rethinking your strategy and operating model, you can unlock the full potential of your analytics team, transforming it into a critical driver of business success.