It’s not the Data that’s broken
- Dayta Darta
- Nov 18, 2025
- 2 min read
Whenever we ask a new client what’s wrong with their data, the answers are nearly always the same.
“Our data’s vast.”
”Our data’s messy.”
”Our data’s hidden.”
“Our dashboards aren’t readable.”
“Our dashboards aren’t meaningful.”
And they’re not wrong. But they’re also not talking about the problem. They’re describing the symptoms.
When you zoom out
Most organisations know something’s not working - but they’re not sure what to fix first. So they zero in on what’s most visible: a broken dashboard, a disconnected system or a messy dataset. But that’s often just one part of a much bigger picture.
The real issue usually sits further upstream - in how the organisation defines what good looks like. What’s the purpose of the data? Who’s using it? What decisions should it actually support?
Without those answers, every dashboard, report or model ends up trying to solve the wrong problem - beautifully.
What ‘Good’ actually looks like
If you strip it back, every organisation is chasing the same thing:
Data that’s accessible - people can find what they need without heroics.
Data that’s connected - systems talk to each other, not past each other.
Data that’s trusted - people believe it before they use it.
Analytics that are meaningful - insights that drive action, not just conversation.
That’s what mature data capability looks like - and it’s less about technology and more about alignment. When people, purpose and platforms line up, data starts to do what it was meant to: power decisions.
Why the step back matters
It’s easy to start by asking, “What’s wrong with our data?” But a better question is: “What are we actually trying to achieve?”
That shift changes everything. Because once you know what ‘better’ looks like, the technology becomes an enabler - not the answer.
It’s also where emerging approaches like agentic workflows start to matter. They let systems retrieve data, spot patterns and even make or suggest decisions autonomously - bridging the gap between insight and action. But those tools only work when the foundations are right - when the data, context and governance are solid.
The big miss
Too often, organisations don’t realise what’s possible. They’re busy cleaning data, not reimagining what they could do with it. And that’s where the opportunity lies - to help teams step back, reset and reconnect data with purpose.
Our job as consultants isn’t to fix the noise. It’s to help organisations find clarity - to see the forest again, not just the trees.
Because the problem was never the data. It’s how we’ve been looking at it. If your data had a therapist, what would it complain about first?
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