Is Kevin De Bruyne the most data-smart footballer around?

Is Kevin De Bruyne the most data-smart footballer around?

We've all read the articles about the use of data in football. The analytics to determine transfers. The analysis of play to determine tactics.

This is equivalent of us, in our organisations, using data to do the day job.

Retailers analysing data to sell more; insurers to price better; factories to produce more efficiently - you get the idea.

In 2021, Kevin De Bruyne used it to negotiate his contract with Manchester City FC. For context, he was soon to turn 30, and in anticipation of his contribution beginning to decline, was offered a deal less valuable than his previous one.

By engaging a number of third-party companies, he provided evidence that

• His on-field performance metrics for attacking contribution ranked him as the best in Europe.

• His substantial following of more than 30 million on social media generated value for the club.

• Not only would his departure reduce the team's chances of winning the Champions' League; but his joining a rival team would impact those chances further.

It was a compelling story. De Bruyne received a more valuable, and longer-term contract; and he remains one of their most influential players.

This is the lesson that we need to take if we want to be data-driven organisations instead of just pretending.

We’ve got to take data and use it to make a tangible difference to our decision making; and then take action.

It's not enough to make a dashboard and then carry on as before.

It's not enough to look at the data and then decide to do the same thing anyway.

It's not enough for data people to stay siloed and complain that the business isn't paying them enough attention.

KDB didn't collect the data or analyse it. The experts he engaged made sure that the data was robust before they analysed it, making inferences that enabled De Bruyne to negotiate to what he wanted.

That's why dataZED takes a similar approach.

1. Getting your data to sufficient quality that you can trust it.

2. Engaging with the business so that the right questions are being asked; and the right content is being provided.

3. Enabling data teams to work with and for the rest of the business, avoiding the silo mentality.

Download my guide to Kicking Off Data Governance here or book a free discovery call with me at https://www.datazed.co.uk/get-in-touch 

Have a wonderful week,
Charles

P.S. One lucky person has already won a bottle of wine (chosen from all my email subscribers as of 31 December) but I’ve got another one for January.

This month, I'd like to focus on the dataZED of data events calendar.

We've all seen posts on LinkedIn from events that we would love to have attended, if only we'd know about them earlier, so I've been putting details of events on the dataZED website.

It's not just for the major events like Big Data London - I also want to see the get togethers and networking groups that are taking place every week of the year.

So, everyone who tells me about an event by 31 January will be entered into a draw for another bottle of wine. Alternatives can be given for those outside the UK or who don't want wine!

Don’t forget!

1. The next dataZED Get Together is coming up! Click here to sign up

2. dataZED of Data Events calendar. Share an event and View the calendar

3. Event and other sponsorships. I’ve created a sponsor pack about the ways that dataZED can work with you to advertise your business or collaborate on an event. Message me for a copy.

You’ll find a tagged, searchable website of these newsletters at datazed.beehiiv.com, where you can also subscribe to get them sent straight to your inbox.