A roadmap for developing Data Analytic Capability for Digital Transformation

Digital transformation has been recognized for its potential to contribute to sustainability goals. It
requires companies to develop their Data Analytic Capability (DAC), defined as their ability to
manage and analyze data effectively. Despite the governmental efforts to promote digitalization,
there seems to be a knowledge gap on how to proceed, with 37% of Dutch SMEs reporting a lack
of knowledge, and 33% reporting a lack of support in developing DAC. While extensive attention
has been given to the technological aspects of DAC, the people, process, and organizational
culture aspects are as important, requiring a comprehensive approach and thus a bundling of
knowledge from different expertise. This KIEM project developed such a holistic approach to
digitalization. Interviews and/or case studies were conducted with over 20 organizations and used
to identify the organizational enablers and inhibitors of DAC. This was subsequently used to
formulate a preliminary roadmap to DAC, entitled the Data Analytic Capability Wheel.
The Data Analytic Capability Wheel consists of six aspects that need to be addressed
simultaneously in order to contribute to the successful deployment of an organization’s
digitalization efforts. These six aspects include management, employee knowledge and skills,
data analytics, data, IT infrastructure, and structure and processes. These aspects furthermore
need to be explicitly aligned to the organization’s strategy. In cooperation with one of the
participating SMEs, an action research approach was used to iteratively enact changes in the
organization based on the Data Analytic Capability wheel. The action research approach was key
in linking theory to practice and validating the Data Analytic Capability as a practical tool. The
project findings were disseminated through presentations and publications at academic
presentations and practitioner-oriented events. The project also led to the preparation and
submission of two more KIEM and a RAAK-PRO subsidy proposals.

Digital transformation has been recognized for its potential to contribute to sustainability goals. It requires companies to develop their Data Analytic Capability (DAC), defined as their ability to collect, manage and analyze data effectively. Despite the governmental efforts to promote digitalization, there seems to be a knowledge gap on how to proceed, with 37% of Dutch SMEs reporting a lack of knowledge, and 33% reporting a lack of support in developing DAC. Participants in the interviews that we organized preparing this proposal indicated a need for guidance on how to develop DAC within their organization given their unique context (e.g. age and experience of the workforce, presence of legacy systems, high daily workload, lack of knowledge of digitalization).
While a lot of attention has been given to the technological aspects of DAC, the people, process, and organizational culture aspects are as important, requiring a comprehensive approach and thus a bundling of knowledge from different expertise. Therefore, the objective of this KIEM proposal is to identify organizational enablers and inhibitors of DAC through a series of interviews and case studies, and use these to formulate a preliminary roadmap to DAC. From a structure perspective, the objective of the KIEM proposal will be to explore and solidify the partnership between Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas), Avans University of Applied Sciences (Avans), Logistics Community Brabant (LCB), van Berkel Logistics BV, Smink Group BV, and iValueImprovement BV. This partnership will be used to develop the preliminary roadmap and pre-test it using action methodology. The action research protocol and preliminary roadmap thereby developed in this KIEM project will form the basis for a subsequent RAAK proposal.