Tuesday 12 January 2016

Are you making use of your data?

 

Is your company one of many sitting on Mega size excel spreadsheets, creaking with data, but no time or expertise to sort, report and analyse the mass to make it usable and worthwhile? Data is like gold, while it is in the ground it is worthless. It is when it has been extracted and polished that it becomes very valuable.

With a surge in rapid software development frameworks and improved data manipulation methodologies, comes the ability for companies to unlock the potential within their data and information about markets, trends, customers, potential customers, productivity and competitors far and wide. However, in order to use this data to tell a meaningful story and for it to affect actions and decisions in line with strategic planning, it needs to be moulded into nuggets of information relevant to the business goals and objectives.

Synetec had a client that ran most of their operations on a combination of a Back Office System, CRM system and very functional Excel spreadsheets. Across these three technologies they had terabytes of data that they were not realizing any value out of. Through consolidation and interpretation of these data sources,  the resulting data set, very accurately pinpointed ‘sweetspots’ and indicated where there processes and teams were achieving the greatest results. Just as valuable was the ability to identify where things could be improved on and what was the differentiator. This in turn brought about some minor adjustments to their processes, some training in very specific areas for individual team members and over a very modest time period an increase in performance across the board. It was all in the data.

As well as key business drivers, it appears that employees are better motivated when individual efforts and actions can be traced, rewarded and acknowledged, even when functioning as part of a team. Employees can also benefit from USEFUL data. If a certain team member is outperforming his peers, a dynamic report that highlights to management and leads to recognition and reward, would be beneficial to business goals. Or in greater detail, data may show that certain salespeople are stronger or weaker at selling a particular product or in a certain stage of the pipeline. You know software is really unlocking the value of your data when you are being informed on how to enhance processes for improvements and when its based upon YOUR data, then it’s worth listening.
What good would any of this data be if it's all stuck in a swamp of excel or dispersed amongst various database non-coherently? 

With a surge in technology that supports the financial industry and decline in the cost of gathering and storing data, the likelihood and reality of sitting on heaps of raw data is growing. The need for high level, almost instant reporting requires new and updated technologies that are not only bullet proof, secure and resilient, but also accessible to the non-technical user.


Synetec offers bespoke solutions with expertise in designing and managing the transition from legacy systems to updated technologies which can assist you in unlocking the value of your data.  While this process can often be problematic and expensive, Synetec can ensure that your business mines the gold instead of just spending it. 

George Toursoulopoulos is a technology specialist and CEO of Synetec, one of the UK’s leading providers of bespoke software solutions.

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