How Much Does Data Strategy Cost?

In this blog, we will address how to manage data strategy for businesses that aim to improve their online presence. A long-term plan to help you create a digital footprint for your business is also a part of data strategy.

Managing your data is the key to ensuring the smooth working of your organization. If you are looking for services to help create a data strategy, you’re at the right place. We’ll help you understand what it is and how much data strategy costs in 2023.

Data strategy is more than just data collection and can help companies to solve these challenges by making data accessible and shared securely. You can unlock the true value of data to meet business requirements.

Better alignment around data and access to the correct data at the right time enables organizations to prepare for the future and make the right decisions for the organization. This applies to all organizations dealing l with data to make business decisions. We will cover all aspects of data strategy.

What is Data Strategy?

Most businesses collect basic user information, such as Name, Email, Phone number, and more. Keeping track of all this data can be challenging if you do not create a strategy. The way you could utilize this information in your sales funnel to increase revenue, store it efficiently, and ensure proper security guidelines all come under the umbrella of data strategy.

Some examples include extracting most of your data, which includes both structured and unstructured data. This ensures people have proper and limited access to avoid oversharing. Your data could already be present in a processed format which would help the Data Analyst spend less time cleaning and preparing the data.

What Should My Data Strategy Look Like?

Identifying everything about data strategy can take a lot of time. However, it is not your responsibility to know everything. If you grasp the concept’s basics, delegating tasks to your team members becomes easy. A successful data strategy includes the following key areas.

What Technology Should I Use?

The plan will include the necessary information on the technologies you will utilize. It adds information about the tools needed to build your services or applications.

For example – What technologies will I need while building my solution? Should I go for a license purchase, monthly subscription, or pay-as-you-use model? Before selecting one, what tools should I do a POC on, and which tool best aligns with the organization’s current and future targets?

Who will Manage What Part of the Data?

Applications require human input to make sure smooth functioning. You have to define job roles for the people in your business to keep your application running.

These people have to be experts in their roles, and you must choose whether to have an in-house team or outsource your work to an external agency. You need to consider both scenarios and conditions of your organization to decide best what decision you should take.

How to Properly Utilize My Data?

Efficient Pipelines are the backbone for smooth data processing and swift business decisions. You should highlight and keep track of the key points of your data and which area is the most controlling factor for your organization. You could have all the data in the world, but without knowing how to use it properly, it’s as good as no data.

Why is Data Strategy Important?

You require a data strategy service in the first place, as staying relevant in 2023 is possible only through mastering your data. Big tech companies are doing this to understand their users better and stay ahead of their competitors. Here’s how a data strategy service will help your business grow.

Better Conversion Ratio

Constantly collecting user information will help your business improve. Understand the pain points and create a business strategy that helps reduce the time to convert your regular users to premium customers and increase your revenue

Take Better Decision-based Data

It is essential to have backing for your decisions. Put a plan in place which helps you make decisions better. Data analysis of existing users can help you plan better for gaining future customers. It also supports you in improving repeat customer rates. According to the data collected, you could also align your products and send them better promotional offers.

Increase Your Areas of Revenue

As human beings, we have our blind spots, and there are areas we can only take advantage of if we are careful. However, the data can only lie in some situations. You can use knowledge from your data to research areas such as launching a new product, categorizing current customers, and identifying user complaints. Upon doing this, you can improve your existing services and launch new products for your customers.

These are some critical areas of data strategy in your day-to-day operations. Successfully implementing a data strategy is vital to ensuring positive results and growth.

How Much Does a Data Strategy Cost?

A successful strategy requires a personalized approach to your business. There is no one size fits all approach to data strategy cost. Your business is unique and requires special attention. An online business involves the use of cloud computing and storage platforms.

That’s where most of your budget goes when implementing your data strategy. On average, your data strategy implementation costs between $15,000 and $150,000 annually for your data strategy implementation.

Let's Take a More Granular Approach and Help You Identify Where the Costs Lie.

There are multiple factors governing the costs of your data strategy implementations. In this section, we cover all of them in detail. This will better help you understand the details of your implementation costs.

Cloud Storage Platforms

There are multiple cloud storage platforms available for your business. It is better to use reliable and renowned brands which will ensure close to 100% uptime for your apps. You can choose from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, GCP, Oracle Cloud, etcetera.

You can select a suitable cloud plan depending on your budget and requirements. It doesn’t stop there, and you will find multiple server options and further customization depending on your use case. A cloud platform can range from $400 to $20,000 a year. The cost depends on the computing power requirements for your use case. Businesses spend up to $10,000 a year on their cloud platforms.

A CRM Tool for User Data Management

Maintaining databases on cloud platforms for everyday use is challenging. A CRM platform can help your other business functions, such as sales and marketing. You can easily link the cloud platform with your CRM tool to sync data. In such a case, your tech and sales teams can function independently. Popular CRM tools which support cloud services include Salesforce, HubSpot, and more.

These help your business to automate a lot of the process with the help of triggers. Increase efficiency and productivity across your teams. Like cloud platforms, CRM tools are also specific to your use case.

You can expect to spend at least $3000 monthly on a premium service such as Salesforce or Hubspot. The more users or contacts you add to your account, the higher the costs will increase.

Hiring Experts to Manage Your Platforms

Another cost that often goes unnoticed when it comes to a data strategy is the cost of human resources. These costly platforms require highly skilled people for your business. These usually don’t come for cheap. A single data engineer or cloud consultant in the US can command a yearly salary of over $120,000.

Managing everything requires a lot more than just one person. You can expect to hire at least 4-5 people in this category to keep your business running like a well-oiled machine. Alternatively, you can hire freelancers or use an agency to do the job. These are affordable options in comparison to full-time hires. Agencies often charge on an hourly or project basis. These can be anywhere between $50-$100 an hour.

Processing Tools / Solutions

You have built your data storage platforms and could hire DE or use an external organization to complete the tasks. Now you need to select the correct tool for your requirements and what type of Processing you want to do on your data. The cost in this area could vary depending on license-based or pay-as-you-use models.

For example, Snowflake is one of the leading cloud solutions for storage and processing. It has different versions like Enterprise, VPC (Virtual Private Cloud), etcetera, and depending on the version, the prices differ. The way you are charged is based on how many Terabytes you use along with the computing power used.

You can find more details about pricing here.

How Will Data Strategy Boost My Business?

Are you still trying to decide if your business needs to use a data strategy? Let’s help you decide by looking at some of the advantages of data strategy in 2023.

Manage all Your Information in One Place

Keeping track of information is the crucial factor influencing the success of your business in 2023. It is essential to manage all the information in one place carefully. A cloud service helps you cover this aspect of the company. If your business is experiencing challenges such as data Duplication, inefficient data flow between departments, or lost information, it’s time to invest in a data strategy. You can solve your data challenges securely through data strategy investments.

Improvise Your Customer Experience Challenges

Data analytics will help your company to understand the customer better. It enables you to make decisions based on information readily available. Data strategy is your best bet if your organization puts the customer first.

Now there is a proactive way for businesses to provide more value to their customers. Move out of the conventional method of KPI tracking and start using data. Please track what the customer wants and develop unique solutions to their challenges.

Increase Your Data Maturity Standards Across the Board

There are three types of data analytics currently available for any business. Any new business starts with the use of descriptive analysis. As your data process grows, so does your data maturity. Once there is enough customer data, the company begins using predictive analytics.

Through this, you can sufficiently predict the outcome of your inputs. Eventually, your business will have enough information to move to the final stage, known as prescriptive analytics. Prescriptive analytics helps you achieve the targets that you set for your business.

These are some of the key areas through which your business can benefit from using data strategy.

Who is Responsible for Data Strategy?

There are a lot of professional terms for people who manage data in 2023. You can define the roles and responsibilities of your data strategy team in the following buckets.

Data Engineers

A data engineer is the starting point of data strategy, and they control how you ingest data. They are responsible for building a reliable and efficient architecture for your data: ensuring a smooth collection, storage, and information processing. They will help you create a structure on which all your processes rely. It is one of the critical roles in a business, starting with data strategy implementation.

Data Scientists

A data scientist is your business’s second piece of the puzzle. They take the information from data engineers and process it further. Their job is to better understand the data by analyzing it. You can expect a data scientist to create machine learning models or use artificial intelligence tools to help you with business decisions.

Data Analysts

These data specialists are responsible for analyzing all the available information. They help you get quantifiable outputs and inferences from the data.

For any successful data team, all three data wizards must work together. Maintaining synergy across these roles will help smooth working and better decision-making by business managers or owners.

What are the Steps to Build a Data Strategy?

So by now, you might think that data strategy looks excellent, but how do I build one? Or what steps should I take to build the perfect data strategy for my organization? The following table will be able to answer some of your questions.

Task	Explanation	Key Pointers
Create a strategy roadmap.	Plan the process of implementing a data strategy for your business. Identify how it will benefit you and create an outline. It can act as a proposal for change.	Identify the financial benefit of your business. Take notes from some of your competitors Identify the business objectives your data strategy can help achieve.
Create a team.	As mentioned above, a successful data strategy implementation requires highly skilled data rockstars. Start by building your data team to help you achieve the desired results.	Define the role of your data team members. Sufficiently delegate tasks. Provide the necessary resources for your business to grow.
Set the data policies.	Handling customer data requires a sensitive team. The data policies differ across regions, but the most common practices include the EU GDPR guidelines.	Identify the local privacy and data laws. Create a data policy that follows the rules.

Closing

Data strategy is essential now more than ever for your business. In 2023, it is crucial to leverage the power of data. In this information age, analyzing your business data will help you make the right decisions and anticipate user requirements. However, budgeting for a data strategy can take time and effort.

We hope this blog aims to reduce the burden and help you get a rough estimate of what to expect. We have the best minds in data and focus, feel free to contact us if you have more questions.

FAQs

How much does a data strategy cost?

Data strategy depends on the position of a customer’s data and analytics journey and their goals. Our data strategy engagements typically start at about $50k and go up to $150k, and you could contact us for a more detailed breakdown and areas we would cover

Why is big data so expensive?

The price of Big Data depends upon the tools you use to store and analyze your data. Then comes the cost of Data Engineers and other Data-centric people who would be required to maintain your data strategy architecture. You could explore several options and then decide on which tool to use. You could also outsource the data strategy specialists if you do not want to maintain an in-house team.