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Editor's Notes

1. We stand for “actionable intelligence” That means that data has to be relevant and visible Which is why we developed our digital dashboard.
2. All of the following has been developed in conjunction with senior clients, who have asked us to address an issue: Clients tell us that they need to put data at the heart of the business They tell us at there is no solution on the market that allows them to do this without going down the BIS route – very expensive As a digital company, we are used to working with data However, decision-making data is not restricted to online data
3. Typically, plenty of data exists. It sits with either junior people who are operating the systems or with specialist analytics teams. For data to be used in decision making, it needs to be available to everyone. Therefore, it must be: T ransparent vertically: senior managers need ‘real time’ data as well as operational staff Transparent horizontally: having data about your business unit tells you about activity – seeing that in the context of others and the overall business tells you about performance Data should be available to all those that need it It should be the same data (e.g. “Gross sales” could be: Total sales received; total net of credit card fees; total net of fees and returns…) = one truth
4. In order to make information available to everyone, you need to think less of the most complicated scenario but more of the most simple scenario. Most analytics platforms cater for the most extreme case (goods sold in London, on Tuesday, to women between 25 and 35 …). This requires lots of gadgets, controls and widgets. Senior managers, when faced with these complex interfaces feel embarrassed that they should be interrogating their data more than they ever will (time and skill required) so they pretend they’ve lost their password and call the analyst. Therefore – keep the interface simple! You can satisfy the majority of requirements with very little functionality – this is what we’re providing We have had this confirmed by analytics vendors who see that their complex interfaces will only ever find their way so far up the organisation.
5. There are solutions out there that show specific data from one or two systems (e.g. web analytics platforms) Apart from this necessitating lots of interfaces, the real world is not separated into disparate controls. Therefore: it is seeing that data in the context of other data that helps give an understanding of the real business e.g. marketing spend next to marketing effectiveness – possibly two separate systems e.g. mktg spend + mktg effectiveness + online activity e.g. mktg spend + mktg effectiveness + online activity + successful orders processed This is particularly important for specific audiences who have responsibility for an area (retail) across a number of systems
6. However, just knowing what’s going on is not really the end - businesses really need to turn this understanding into actions. Currently, a lot of conversations take place “offline” – via the telephone or via email. These get copied to various people and the conversation develops – away from the original data that triggered the conversation We were told by senior managers that they want to have conversations alongside the data
7. This gave us the three pillars on which to build a solution Above all, we needed to make it easy for clients.
8. Per brand / per products / per region
9. Per brand / per products / per region
10. Per brand / per products / per region
11. We generate our own data to include in the dashboard. This tends to be by industry vertical but it can be tailored by client.
12. We track the home (or other) pages of a named competitor set and periodically capture images of those home pages. This can also be used to track pages within a client’s own site (e.g. department or product hub pages) Differences in those pages can then be monitored and flagged.
13. The differences can be plotted by competitor over time and marked as ‘events’ The frequency of capture can be varied depending on what makes sense. Some markets change frequently, others don ’ t. In our experience, every 4 hours gives a good base of data
14. Clicking on any event allows you to see an expanded view of the specific change. You can zoom and pan further and flick between them to see the extent of the changes
15. We sign up to all the DM and check those little boxes that you automatically deselect when registering for anything. We collect all inbound emails and make them available in ‘real time’ An invaluable resource for keeping track of competitor’s marketing activity
16. To start a conversation, click on the link in the primary navigation
17. As you type, the first line automatically becomes emboldened and represents the title Type as much text as you like Click on “Add reference »”
18. When adding references, cells become ‘hot’, highlighting as you mouse over them
19. When you select a cell to add, it adds a thumbnail of the cell to the conversation. Mousing over this thumbnail enlarges it to 100% so you can read the data
20. At any time, you can open the conversation panel on the RHS (little arrow) to read related threads. Conversations visible are related to cells on that dashboard. The conversation panel behaves much like a forum or IM: You can expand any conversation to see recent posts The thread with the most recent additions appears at the top Threads with unread posts appear in bold You can see who has contributed to a thread (important to see if it is your boss!) USE OF SCROLL BAR!  You can join a conversation at any time and respond directly into the application.
21. The dashboard is about getting the data across – not about being stylish. Clarity of information is key. We have avoided: swingometers thermometers speedometers … Uncluttered interface shows the data only – not a load of controls to intimidate the audience The application is built in Flash ubiquitous straightforward to manipulate keeps up to date without refreshing
22. [to be used to make the points before but without the text in the way]
23. By using combinations of tabs and drop-downs, different dashboards can be set up for different users These can be restricted according to access privileges The same information can obviously appear on different people’s dashboards Clustering of information should be tailored to the user and grouped logically Data need not be restricted to “online data” Could include offline sources Data need not be limited to ‘systems’ Because of spreadsheet integration, can take from finance department etc. Data need not be restricted to client data Could include data from external parties (e.g. market survey data from agencies) Commentary can be added in-line and attention can be drawn to it through expandable bubbles
24. To summarise: Three pillars were CLARITY, CONTEXT and CONVERSATION. We pull information together from different sources , present it simply and together in a way that makes sense for the specific user and allow that data to become the focal point for conversations .