Benefits of the Data Analytics Journey

1.      Why is there a need to invest in having a good data structure in place?

Good data management is the fundamental building block for any form of analysis. A proper system will help reduce the time it takes to acquire the right data from the organisation, meaning that less time is taken up looking for that data, and more time is used in analysing it. In the long term, more costs are saved.

2.      What is data warehousing, and how can it help my organisation?

Simply put, data warehousing (if required) is the virtual space where your data will be stored. In order to achieve this, lots of data is collected from multiple sources around the organisation and is subsequently cleaned (ie checked for errors and missing information). Once that is done, the data is sorted into the warehouse to be included with the information that is already there.

Since companies continuously collect data, over time this vast amount can be hard to handle. Thus, this process of data warehousing helps consolidate all the data easily, which in turn allows for quicker extraction of clean, useable data to be used in reporting and analysis.

1.      What are Interactive Visualisations, and how can it help in management reports?

One key issue found in most organisations is that data is needed to be collected from multiple sources. This causes issues such as delayed responses, which in turn affect the speed of decision making and analysis. Following centralising of data, be it through your company’s already centralised system or through the help of KPMG, the right business intelligence tools can be used. Through just a few clicks, business leaders can access important information in near real-time, whereby each data point is gathered into a dashboard.

2.      Why should I use business intelligence to extract and view KPIs?

Although the tracking and calculating of KPIs can be done through simple excel sheets, business intelligence tools are able to incorporate vast amounts of historical data to analyse the trends associated with those KPIs. Additionally, when using advanced analytics, forecasting methods can be created to attempt to forecast the more important KPIs based on the available internal and external data. Therefore, business intelligence can aid in areas such as scenario analysis so that decision makers can avoid making some costly, and more importantly time-consuming mistakes in their decision making.

1.      What are the consequences of not being up to standard?

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) can enforce a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of annual revenue, which ever is the higher. Therefore, it is imperative that data governance is properly set up and monitored on a regular basis.

2.      Why should I invest in good data governance?

A good data governance will benefit an organisation in more ways than just avoiding large fines. It is essential in saving costs at an operational level. Proper governance structures will ensure that the minimum amount of time is spent in locating personal data of customers. If duplicate information is created, personnel in marketing, sales, finance and operations departments will be required to spend time tracking down the correct information of these duplicate results and resolving them.

3.      How does good data governance tie in with Business Intelligence?

The main goal is increasing the overall confidence in any analysis carried out using the company’s data. A good data governance will assure that the calculations and analysis of KPIs are correct and business leaders will have more confidence in forecasted results of important business metrics.