Any company investing in data gathering programs will tell you that, ultimately, Actionability = ROI.   For example, in the context of a data driven customer segmentation program, Loyalty New Zealand's Managing Director recently pointed to the importance of identified segments 'seeming very real' and thus making segment based programs more actionable.

This kind of example points to a very important bar that companies need to meet to make the results of their data driven efforts more actionable and in turn ensuring ROI on those investments.

A level of realistic analysis needs to define the bars that have to be met including:

Overcoming the naysayers: ignoring them never works, because in the end their negativity is insidious in the world of over-taxed, cynical team members.  It just takes one naysayer with a moderate degree of insight and a high degree of negative motivation to knock your actionability right out the door.

Solidifying analysis conclusions: whether it's the customer segments your company is defining or the conclusions of a recent CSat survey — the conclusions need to be solid enough to withstand the perspective of everyone who can derail the action which must follow..

The toughest critics need to be in the mix at both ends of the process (start and end).

1) At the start, their angles of skepticism need to to be captured and treated as bars to be met when designing a VOC or feedback program for example

2) When the interpretation is done, those same skeptics needs to be in the room to air out their viewpoints and take the final data past their concerns to a state of true actionability

What we’re talking about here is commitment to the value and importance of your data driven efforts — by ensuring that every stone is turned to drive towards actionability.