Collecting data is very common these days. Everyone does it. The question is, what are you actually doing with it?
Because according to the UK Government’s own research, 86% of UK businesses handle digitised data. Only a quarter of them analyse it to generate any kind of insight. So what are the rest doing with it other than pickling it?
Here’s what makes that number absurd. Businesses that actively use their data achieve 19% higher turnover per worker than those that don’t. And yet, 49% of businesses that don’t use their data claim it never made their processes more efficient. I am positive they either didn’t have the full picture or didn’t know how to read it.
Why collect it in the first place then?
Data is your SWOT analysis, already written. It is your gut feeling, confirmed or challenged before you act on it. An experienced manager carries great instinct, imagine sitting alongside that instinct with accurate, current insight that either backs it up or quietly saves you from a very expensive mistake. Building strategy on guessing has a cost. Then they send the bill to their accountant and move on.
Your data is the X-ray of your business body. Read it. Diagnose the fracture. Fix it.
What stops most businesses from doing that? Usually one of four things: a) they don’t know how to read what they have, b) they don’t know which numbers actually matter, c) the data they’re collecting is incomplete, or d) nobody ever showed them how. Those are the most common reasons and none of them are permanent. But let’s not put everyone in the pickle jar. Some businesses genuinely want to understand their numbers and just need the right person in the room.
That is a learnable skill. Console Digital can read complex data, identify the problems, find the opportunities, and translate all of it into decisions worth making. More than that, over time a business starts building its own understanding and eventually stops needing anyone else to read the numbers for them.
If you haven’t found value in your data yet, think again. It’s not the data. It’s you. And if your data is incomplete — also you. Book a chat with me. Bring your numbers. I’ll tell you more.
References
- GOV.UK, UK Business Data Survey 2026, DSIT, June 2026
- GOV.UK, Business Data Use and Productivity Study (Wave 2), DSIT, January 2026