It’s an era of data where every industry is dominated by data analytics. But actionable insights appear to be the missing link for companies that want to drive business outcomes from their data. As per one of the reports by Forrester, 74% of firms want to be “data-driven” but only 29% are actually successful at connecting analytics to action. Clearly the need here is to convert the data into insights that can be applied to increase business value – moving from data to insight to action. Deriving and maximizing the actionable insights from data analytics is utmost important for data-driven success for any organization.

In order to come up with actionable insights, it is very important to have meaningful data which is very relevant to the business and the key business goals. Data without context isn’t that meaningful and can lead to bad business decisions because of interpreting it in the wrong way. The more specific and complete insight has better chance that it will be acted upon. Sometimes insights based on KPIs can highlight interesting anomalies but lack enough detail to drive immediate action. Insight derived based on data should have clear definition of its importance and how it can help achieve business objectives. Novelty is the key for insights to get more attention and better chance of getting picked up for action. A clearly thought through and communicated insight prepares a pathway for action to occur.

Data to actionable insights in healthcare is gaining even more importance, given its focus on value-based care and the more and more need to monitor key metrics that can make patient access and patient care better. The average cost of healthcare is rising every year and industry is determined to make quality care accessible to patients at affordable cost. This is extremely crucial considering the current situation of COVID-19 outburst. Undoubtedly data can play a key role and thus analysing healthcare data systematically is gaining more and more importance.