Case Studies Applying Data Management Principles to an eCommerce Acquisition

There's all this talk about data being a strategic asset or linking data to business value. Still, there needs to be more guidance on applying these thoughts. As a consultant, one can only advise on best practices. Sometimes as a data leader, it's unclear how you can add business value to an organization without formal budget oversight beyond your team and the technologies your team employs. Before becoming a data professional, I worked in corporate finance, focusing on combining strategy, finance, & mergers, and acquisitions. So I figured I'd put my money where my mouth was, buy an e-commerce business to apply our data management principles and walk through a real example where we could leverage data as an "asset," analytics, and even artificial intelligence! As a data professional, the last thing you need is another person telling you what you should do. Instead, here's what you can do tactically. This is how I applied data management with my own money. For this article, I'll speak exclusively about how data creates business value in acquiring a business for $100,000. Note: buying a business could be a whole article in its own right, but the best advice I ever received was finding an industry you're passionate about. Investors will see that passion is similar to those building their business from their garage.