Case Studies

Case study: Building a Data & Insight function

  • 27 May 2021

The Client

An information & research SME for education leaders. Supporting growth of education leaders & institutions with up-to-minute information & resources. Headquarters in London, c100 people.

 

The Challenge

The company had a strategy to be the go-to industry authority in the education sector for research & insights leaders & institutions. However, there were a number of data challenges holding the company back:

A pattern of poor coordination and communication across business teams, resulting in duplication of manual Excel data related activities. Insights developed provided minimal business value. Productivity was held back by fragmented and archaic data technology. The business had favoured qualitative over quantitative factors, preventing deep evidence-based insights. Business terms and key metrics were inconsistent and poorly defined contributing to a lack of trust in data.

The CEO wanted to carry out a review of their data capabilities and receive a recommendation about how to align their analytics requirements with their long-term business objectives.

 

Ammonite’s Solution

Momentum – One of Ammonite’s Senior Consultants worked with Exco and key stakeholders to review current data capabilities, data infrastructure and the company needs in order to make recommendations about the changes required to address their data challenges and achieve their business objectives.

Optimise & Insight – Ammonite’s Senior Consultant chaired 2 workshops with Exco and the SLT to agree the information and insights that would help them achieve their business goals. Working with key stakeholders, we aligned common business terms and defined key metrics. 2 Ammonite technical consultants addressed data quality issues, automated some of the previously manual Excel processes and built a new data warehouse in Azure to modernise the data infrastructure. PowerBI was utilised for data visualisations.

Autonomy – We worked with the client to create a single Data & Insights team. We hired a Senior Manager to lead the new function and 2 dedicated insight analysts to raise the bar of data literacy in the company. They were tasked with producing deep evidence-based insights. Ammonite’s Senior Consultant provided ongoing mentorship to both Exco and the new data function.

 

The Business Benefit

The company now has a clear vision and roadmap about how data can be used optimally in their business, both now and in the future. They have a single unified Data & Insights function producing deep evidence based insights adding demonstrable value to the business. Companywide self-service dashboards are available via modern data technology. Business terminology and key metrics are aligned across the business, improving the trust and value of data.

This new capability contributes significantly to the business strategy. Working with the client, Ammonite helped build the foundations that helped the organisation to make a number of acquisitions effectively, giving them the agility to incorporate new data products, customers and suppliers seamlessly.

 

Client Comment

“Ammonite played a critical role in our data journey, especially early on in our development. Raising the level of data maturity and enthusiasm for data across the business has been a key pillar to our success…I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Ammonite..” Client CEO.

 

Get in touch

To find out how we can help you achieve competitive advantage from data inspired decision making, contact Ammonite.

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