From Data to Action: Next-Generation Growth Strategy Aimed for with "DI×Growth Consulting" (Part 1)

Today, data analysis and utilization have become essential in every aspect of business. How should companies use data to achieve greater and sustainable growth? GIX Corporation, with its purpose of "Making every decision Data-Informed," provides consulting and solutions to enable data-driven decision-making in business. In April 2022, GIX and Dentsu Consulting Inc.entered into a business partnership agreement. By combining Dentsu Consulting Inc.'s expertise in growth strategies with GIX's specialized data analysis methods that "support human thinking," the partnership aims to deliver rapid, high-precision solutions and support clients' sustainable growth.

The background and significance of this partnership are introduced through a dialogue between Mr. Katsumasa Yagi, President and Representative Director of Dentsu Consulting Inc., and Mr. Tomohiro Amino, Representative Director and CEO of GIX.

Upgrading human thinking and ideas through data is "Data-Informed"

Yagi: First, could you explain GIX's "Data-Informed (DI)" concept again?

Amino: To understand "Data-Informed," let's first explain the commonly used term "Data-Driven." "Data-Driven" means making judgments and decisions based on data, but this term carries the nuance that "analyzing data leads to a single optimal solution."

Data analysis is ultimately done to lead to some kind of action, right? And as analysis accumulates and action patterns solidify to a certain extent, it gradually becomes possible to automatically determine "this action is optimal under these conditions" based on certain rules. This is the world of "Data-Driven." I don't deny this approach itself; I believe such automation and efficiency improvements should be pursued aggressively.

However, in day-to-day business, only a portion of decisions can be made automatically based on rules. For some matters, rather than forcing machines to decide, relying on human judgment informed by industry knowledge, experience, intuition, and data often yields faster and more accurate answers. Therefore, in these areas, the concept of "data-informed" involves providing data that aids human decision-making, thereby upgrading judgments to be more precise, swift, and accurate. In other words, rather than delegating decisions to machines, we aim to enhance human judgment by combining data with the knowledge and insights humans possess. Our goal is to upgrade human thinking and creativity.

Yagi: So the idea is to combine logical "left-brain thinking" through data analysis with intuitive "right-brain thinking" based on human experience to achieve more accurate decisions.

Amino: Exactly. This approach of making judgments from both left-brain and right-brain perspectives is also a theme we're championing together with Dentsu Consulting Inc. in this business partnership.

Yagi: Our company specializes in the field of growing societies and businesses. We call this "Growth Consulting," where we provide "Right Brain × Left Brain × Unique Abilities" to support clients end-to-end—from exploring opportunities and challenges, through conceptualization (strategy formulation)/planning, all the way to execution—in collaboration with the Dentsu Group. In our day-to-day Growth Consulting work, we observe that the leaders of the companies and businesses we support make critical decisions using both left-brain and right-brain thinking. However, many general consulting firms tend to focus their support on either left-brain or right-brain thinking. We felt this was a particular challenge within the Growth Consulting domain.

As a consulting firm, we value both left-brain thinking—logically defining plausible solutions—and right-brain thinking—seeking unique solutions through creativity and ideas unique to the Dentsu Group. In that sense, we strongly resonate with the "data-informed" approach you advocate, Mr. Amino. Conversely, how do you perceive our company and the Dentsu Group?

Amano: Well, I believe a major role of an organization like the Dentsu Group is to create new demand in society through marketing. To create new demand, it's not just about thinking logically based on past data; sometimes, right-brain thinking is necessary to formulate hypotheses from entirely new angles. In that sense, I think Dentsu Consulting Inc. is a company that tends to be strong in right-brain thinking and conceptual abilities. That point was also a major reason we wanted to collaborate with Mr. Yagi and his team.

Yagi: Thank you. Our company specializes in the field of "Growth Consulting," helping businesses and services grow. We provide "unique and credible solutions" and "utilize visualization to embed them within the organization," supporting many companies in this way. Within this framework, I see three major points for collaboration with GIX.

First, companies are constantly thinking about how to provide new value to customers and society. However, no matter how much they analyze their vast customer data, the answers don't directly emerge from it. The crucial thing is what insights they gain from this accumulated data and how they discover new possibilities. Yet, this is extremely difficult and feels like the biggest challenge in data utilization.

I believe many executives and business leaders today are seeking a kind of "core principle" to guide their decision-making and judgments based on historical data. By collaborating with GIX to support this aspect and establish "unique and credible solutions," we can help companies achieve discontinuous growth.

Amino: Exactly. Even with the same data, what you interpret from it and the actions you take can significantly impact business and sales growth. For instance, implementing effective marketing strategies based on data requires deep marketing expertise and insights. Therefore, as we promote data-informed approaches, we believe it's crucial to leverage the strengths of companies skilled in these areas when providing services to clients.

In this business partnership, we expect Dentsu Consulting Inc. to support the part that connects data to actionable steps. By combining our "DI (Data-Informed)" approach with Dentsu Consulting Inc.'s "Growth Consulting," we aim to deliver greater value. This will undoubtedly enhance the value of data analysis itself.

Yagi: That's right. Next, when utilizing data for sales and marketing activities, it's not just about mechanically deciding "we should take this approach next" based on data. By visualizing the concept (strategy) while also considering psychological aspects—such as "they probably have these expectations" or "this kind of experience should increase satisfaction"—it becomes easier to connect to planning and execution, leading to greater effectiveness. In this regard too, I believe combining GIX's data analysis capabilities with our company's marketing strategy and implementation know-how can yield even greater results.

Leveraging data in daily field operations drives sustainable corporate growth

Yagi: One final point we resonate with at GIX is your commitment to making data accessible not just to a select few, but to the frontline staff handling day-to-day operations, enabling them to utilize it easily and anytime.

Amano: That's right. We focus on creating an environment where not just management, but frontline business professionals can quickly access useful data when making decisions in their daily work.

In reality, daily operations involve countless decisions and verification needs every day. For example, sales staff constantly make judgments like "Which key accounts should I visit today and what should I discuss?" to hit their sales targets. This is actually a highly sophisticated decision. They must consider various factors—the purpose of the meeting, the client's situation, their own budget targets—to arrive at the optimal solution. Only super salespeople can instantly piece this together using their intuition and experience. However, by organizing and providing the data needed for such decisions, every salesperson could potentially become a pseudo-super salesperson.

But if the data needed for that decision isn't available until three months later, it defeats the purpose. We wanted to break through that situation, which is why we've always been particularly focused on the speed of data delivery.

Yagi: Over our many years supporting marketing, we've utilized data—the accumulated actions of people—in various ways. Yet the reality is that formulating hypotheses based on data and deciding what actions to take still largely depends on the marketer's talent and personality.

We've always felt it's crucial to create an environment where anyone can easily, meaningfully, and effectively utilize data. But achieving this alone is difficult. By partnering with GIX, we hope marketers, consultants, creators, and designers will engage more actively with data. By "not just visualizing it, but using data to embed it within the organization," we expect advanced problem-solving to become sustainable, not just a one-off effort.

Amino: The right-brain thinking that excellent marketers and creators excel at often involves ideas that come instantly and vanish just as quickly. If someone says, "I've got a great idea, but I need two months to analyze the data to validate it," that's frustrating, right? Providing high-quality data that right-brain types can access freely and quickly whenever they need it is precisely where we excel.

Yagi: What's remarkable about Gix is how they systematize and provide the entire process—accumulating, processing, aggregating, analyzing, and displaying the data needed for daily operational decisions. Because the data used for these initiatives and decisions accumulates alongside them, others can later analyze the effectiveness of those initiatives and utilize the data in a reproducible way. We expect this to significantly strengthen the "Growth Consulting" we've been advancing.

Amino: We aim to make day-to-day operational decisions increasingly data-informed. Ultimately, the essence of a strong company lies in accumulating wins by improving the success rate of small decisions. Identifying which operations to apply this small-decision success rate improvement to is what creates significant business impact. GIX supports client growth from this perspective. By combining our "data-informed" insights and technology with Dentsu Consulting Inc.'s expertise and ideas in the growth domain, we can significantly contribute to sustainable corporate growth.

As AI-powered data-driven approaches become a major key to business growth, adding a "human-centric, right-brain orientation" enables the realization of discontinuous growth.

GIX's 'data-informed' approach emphasizes human judgment, not merely 'data-driven' decision-making that relies solely on data. By combining this with Dentsu Consulting Inc.'s expertise in right-brain thinking, the two companies aim to deliver unprecedented growth support. In the upcoming Part 2, we will delve deeper into the specific growth strategy vision both companies pursue and their future initiatives.

• From Data to Action: Next-Generation Growth Strategy Through "DI × Growth Consulting" (Part 2)