Your data — the bliss of having all the key numbers in one place

If you are the gatekeeper of market data in an FMCG business, chances are you will be watchful of your workload over the next few months. The dreaded declaration that next year’s planning cycle is kicking off is looming large. You know that there are valuable insights within the data that you manage but you also know that you are the main keeper of this hidden wisdom, putting you under a great deal of … [Read More...]

Exposing the Myths – why FMCG Data is much simpler than you think

Each time I read an article about data, I am reminded of ‘Good to Great’ (by Jim Collins). The book exposes the many myths often credited with creating large-scale corporate change. For me two of these myths in particular always underpin the dialogue about data. The first is The Myth of Fear-Driven Change — the idea that a fear of being left behind, the fear of seeing others win or the fear of … [Read More...]

Feeling the pain of data?

We all subscribe to the belief that leveraging insights from our data will bring us better business results. However the journey to insight is not without its challenges. If you are finding data frustrating, you can be sure that you are not alone. While much is written about the benefits of working with data, there are a lot fewer articles identifying the issues that commonly crop up. In an effort to address this, we … [Read More...]

It is not information overload, it’s filter failure

As an Analyst one of your key challenges is to act as a filter for your organisation. You are tasked with sifting through mountains of data and communicating insights in a way which supports better decision making. Computers cannot make sense of data, only people can. More precisely only people with the necessary … [Read More...]

Why working visually with data is the future

Are you tired of looking at rows and columns of numbers and trying to work out what they are telling you? Tabular formats can work well for looking up one or two individual facts but it can be hard to see the whole picture. This is why exploring data visually has really taken off. The human brain can process a picture much faster than a table of numbers. Interactive … [Read More...]