HIPO is an acronym for Highly Important Person’s Opinion.
In every organization, in every meeting, on every decision, HIPO’s will have an impact. Often HIPO’s are asked for their viewpoint and perspective on matters being discussed. They are listened to and their views taken into account and given more credence than other peoples about a particular issue or a decision to be made.
One of the problems with HIPO’s is that their opinion may actually not be that which is most useful at a particular time or in a particular situation. Sometimes the voice and impact of HIPO’s needs to be managed and reduced.
Certainly this should be the approach when organisations use ‘Big Data’. Big Data is all the information, useful data, which can be acquired from a myriad of sources to inform a situation and provide insights on current and future business strategy. To assist in making crucial decisions.
In many organisations one of the problems is that status takes precedent over data. Experts in Big Data recommend that Instead of asking for the highly important person’s opinion, what should be asked instead is “What does the data say”?
With the speed of change and the proliferation of useful data, it is increasingly important to understand and use data effectively. There are many issues that impact on data being utilized effectively in organizations. These include a dearth of the skills required to source, extrapolate, and obtain insights from data; a suspicion of other people’s motives – politics and self-interest; and the silos present in every organization that block the required data being sourced, identified and used.
A starting point to using ‘Big Data’ effectively in organizations is by deciding to use data, rather than asking HIPO’s when making decisions.
© Krista Powell Edwards 2021