Data science is enjoying a significant upswing as companies discover the strategic advantages it offers. And as data volumes have increased, the need for Chief Data Officers (CDOs) and Chief Analytics Officers (CAOs) has become more apparent. Companies now need CDOs and CAOs, along with their teams, to make sense of data in actionable ways.
The impact of knowledgeable CDOs and CAOs is clearly seen in learning and development. Companies committed to a data-driven approach to corporate learning rely on a ton of data to determine where their training programs are, how those programs are faring, and where they are headed in the future.
What must be understood is that CDOs and CAOs have nothing to do without data. So if companies want them involved in the corporate training arena, they need data to work with. That is where a data-driven adaptive learning platform comes into play.
Adaptive Learning and Data
A modern approach to adaptive learning relies heavily on data. Data is used alongside technologies like deep learning and artificial intelligence to design learning programs that achieve measurable training results – as opposed to merely spitting out information in hopes that learners will absorb it. Data and insights returned by the platform are useful to instructors and administrators alike.
The data is also valuable to C-suite executives, explains Salt Lake City-based Fulcrum Labs. Fulcrum’s adaptive learning program presents a litany of actionable data both above and below the fold. It is that below the fold data that CDOs and CAOs are finding additional value in, often correlating this data with their external performance data to achieve powerful feedback loop.
Data and Training ROI
Executives and their data science teams rely on solid data and its implications for training ROI to understand if programs and platforms are serving any useful purpose. They analyze data for answers to questions like:
- What is the actual ROI of our training investment?
- Is that ROI quantifiable in a meaningful way?
- How can we increase the ROI on every training dollar spent?
- Can our learning and development dollars be better spent elsewhere?
Some companies view learning and development return as a key performance indicator (KPI). In such cases, it is not enough to know how much is being spent on corporate training. It is not enough to know that team members are earning their certifications and managers are hitting benchmarks. Executives need to know that training is actually improving the bottom line.
Making Sense of It All
The data science team’s job is to make meaningful discoveries with all the data. Their job is made easier when a company’s learning platform returns the right kind of data in a user-friendly manner. Data that is relevant and actionable is data that leads to equally relevant and actionable analytics. Through such data, strategic advantages are revealed.
When you get right down to it, strategic advantage is the whole point. There is very little benefit to investing large sums of money and tremendous resources in corporate training if said training does not create strategic advantages for the company. A training program that offers no strategic value offers no value proposition either. Then it becomes nothing more than busywork.
CDOs and CAOs rely on their science teams to guide their decisions. Data science teams need actionable data to do what they do. Yet without a data-driven learning platform, there may not be enough there for the team to work with. That leaves CDOs and CAOs without the raw materials and tools they need to make decisions.
In the era of big data, more companies are relying on data science to understand the present and plot the future. This includes how corporate training is utilized to create strategic advantage.
