Data strategy to deliver the budget
Data strategy is growing in importance in commercial businesses and within the public sector. An increasing number of organisations recognise that data is a core asset that has the potential to unlock significant amounts of value. A data strategy determines how this will be achieved. It involves creating a limited […]
The public sector needs digital skills now
I attended the Public Sector Executive PSE365 Festival for Learning and Development to learn more about the need for digital skills in the public sector and how the shortfall is to be addressed. What I heard was worrying. — I can summarise both statements and associated discussion as follows: We […]
Dashboard tunnel vision
The return to work post lockdown presents us with a great opportunity to rethink how we want to work with information. This is because we are being released from many of the conformities that have guided our working lives so far. For example, our organisations are going to feel different […]
Data visualisation for digital transformation
Successful digital transformations depend on several factors e.g. alignment of the transformation objectives with strategic goals, leadership, and the quality of the work performed. This article focuses upon perhaps the most important – people in the business owning the transformation process. This means that the people responsible for the services […]
The value an energised team can bring
Across business and public service there are people developing information to help their organisation to move forward. Many however struggle to make any difference. For one particular Finance Team this was a source of great frustration. They wanted to be the ‘go to’ team for great information about the business […]
Data essentials for on-line business success
Over the last few days several leading companies with e-commerce sites have said that e-commerce is here to stay. The uptick in on-line sales that happened during lockdown is expected to remain. For on-line retailers this is both a blessing and a curse. It’s great to have operating costs that […]
It’s time to become data confident
The CBI Tech Tracker 2020 report (published Dec 2020) suggests that a divide is growing between businesses that are confident using data and those that are not. Those that are confident frequently use data to shape decisions, give feedback on products and services, and optimise operations. Unsurprisingly this gives them […]
Visualising data is more important than ever
There is little doubt that companies that have and know how to use data cope with adversity better than those that do not. A food outlet in Tamworth in the West Midlands discovered that, by using passenger counts for local buses and train services, traffic flow data, WiFi/Bluetooth detector counts […]
Tackling repetitive tasks – the copy & paste
How much time do you spend copying & pasting information? It’s worth measuring as activities such as these sit so centrally within the working day that we rarely think about the time they take. They can be made to disappear, especially those involving spreadsheets such as MSExcel and Google Sheets. […]
What is data?
To celebrate the launch of the figuringoutdata blog, we are starting by defining what we mean by data. Taken in the context of business efficiency (as distinct from, say, mobile phone usage) data can be formed from any set of numbers, any items of text, any image. It becomes ‘data’ […]