Event recap: The culture of data-driven decision making
Data, when used correctly, can be invaluable to your organisation and can transform your company
On the morning of Thursday 29th November we partnered with Qualtrics to host the latest in our breakfast event series: ‚"The culture of data driven decision making". Data, when used correctly, can be invaluable to your organisation and can transform your company‚ culture, product, or service offering, translating directly into value for your customers. When done well, a thriving data-driven organisation can reap huge rewards.
We heard from two industry professionals discussing the key building blocks needed to create a data-driven culture and how data can drive the most impact.
The personality behind data
We first heard from Andrew Reid, General Manager at TEG Analytics, one of Australia's leading data analytics and data science businesses. At just over 2 years old, TEG holds one of the largest customer databases in Australia with more than 14 million customers and capturing 72% of all Australian adults as customers.
Andrew spoke about personality data and how to build a model around personality points. While big data can reveal a lot about a customers discretionary spend and behaviours, it is the small data and personality points that can really bring data to life. Looking at data through a personality lens can help understand a person's passions, lifestyle, what they do on the weekend, and reveal how they interact with their friends and family.
Using data to do what's right for the customer
We also heard from Scott Downing, Chief Customer Experience Officer at Rockend; one of the leading providers of software in the real estate industry.
Scott spoke about using data to make sure you are concentrating on the right thing for the customer.
He referenced a previous example where data revealed that only 35% of the features offered in a product were actually being used - 65% were not! He discussed the importance of investing time and thinking early on into your customers, and always coming back to the insights and data to validate your decisions (and to avoid wasting 65% of your engineers time).
"Why would you do bad things better when you can just do better things?""
When asked about the biggest myth exploded in your organisation by data, Scott answered with, "People in an organisation often don't know what the customer wants - any product design should be informed by your customer data and feedback.
Ask your customer "What matters to you? What do you want from us and our product?"
Both speakers were asked about what traps young players in the industry should avoid. Scott responded with the advice ‚"Don't drown in data - choose a couple of data points and be really clear on what you‚ are going to do with them.""
Andrew answered: Don't oversell and overpromise. The trap is enthusiasm and raising expectations at a board level in a very short amount of time. Don't change your vision or objectives, just change the timescale, don't overestimate where you are at right now
Don't drown in data. Instead choose a couple of data points and be really clear on what you're going to do with them.
A big thank you to both of our speakers Andrew and Scott, and to the team at Qualtrics for a fantastic morning.