I'm at a company that hasn't done any data-driven decision-making before and wants to start using its data. I am on the verge of graduating with my MS in Data Science but I have zero experience doing any data analytics work. Therefore, I am volunteering to get some real-world experience.

So this is not like an internship where I am given structure, instructions, a mentor to train me, etc.

My manager wants me to figure out what we should do. I don't think he knows exactly what he wants from analytics and just wants me to figure out how to start adding value with data. He gave me a dataset of customer orders and customer tests. I suggested that we should probably do Sales/Product Analysis since I am pretty sure almost all businesses can derive value from that.

I know there are some people who started out in non-data roles and eventually transitioned to the field by performing Data Analysis for their employer. What are some of the first things you did that provided value?

I don't want to start doing random analysis and visualization with the data since that will probably be a waste of my time and theirs. I want to get a better understanding of what the business actually needs and how I can help them.

As an experienced Data/Business Analyst do you have any tips or advice for me?