Every decision a company makes will positively or negatively impact a business outcome, but knowing how to identify and utilize valuable data can dramatically improve the outcomes of decision-making, writes Joe DosSantos, the Chief Data Officer at King of Prussia-based Qlik, for DataIQ.

DataIQ is a membership business focused on the needs of data and analytics professionals from all over the world.

According to new Qlik research conducted in partnership with the International Data Corporation, “organizations with data pipelines that support the best decision-making capabilities are experiencing the greatest improvements in business value, achieving over two times more than those with the worst decision-making capabilities.”

The biggest issue companies are facing is finding more valuable data to introduce into their data pipeline. This would then allow analytics to provide better guidance in decision-making.

In order to facilitate better data discovery in a business, DosSantos proposes using a data catalogue.

“Data cataloguing establishes a single repository of all the data a business has available for analytics so that anyone – from data engineers to business users – can identify and access it,” he writes.

Having the right data will make it easier for analytics to spot trends, identify new opportunities, and help business leaders make the right decisions.

Read more about the importance of using data when making decisions at DataIQ here.