For analysts, gathering and transforming data for analysis makes up a large percentage of their time. In order to develop meaningful reports and insights the analyst undergoes a series of tasks. Typical steps include defining the questions to be answered, hunting down the necessary data, and staging data for analysis. In many cases, each analyst works in a silo searching for, gathering, and manually maintaining their own data sources for their daily work. This is a concern as it creates an inefficient data environment where data is not readily available, does not represent a single version of the truth, and can introduce unnecessary errors.

To help illustrate this point, let's take a look at a Marketing Analytics example:

The team is tasked with developing key insights for social media like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. They are also in charge of creating reports based on CRM data from systems like Salesforce or SAP. Data specific to events, email, direct mail, and all things digital (Sitecore, Google Analytics) have separate data sources as well. Also in scope may be operational reports, which may require additional data sources depending on the channels used. In order to report on how Marketing is performing, sales and financial data must be brought into the mix as well. The team has at least four critical, but disparate, data sources and are responsible for providing comprehensive analysis from each source.

This is no small feat and there are a number of pitfalls that can occur if not handled correctly. One common problem is that licenses for the data might be limited to certain users. While good in the hands of the people that immediately need the data for their own purposes, it restricts access to others. Another common issue occurs when analysts are assigned to reporting on data from specific data sources. While it might seem like a good idea on paper to align resources to each functional area, e.g. Social Media Analyst, CRM Analyst, etc. this causes challenges down the road. Each analyst is responsible for bringing in their own data, potentially introducing manual error and time wasted. When it finally comes time for comprehensive analysis, each individual team members analysis must be brought together, which is typically cobbled together in PowerPoint or a PDF.

The ideal solution for the Marketing Analytics team is in the form of a data warehouse. By leveraging data management best practices, all of these data sources could be put into a centralized repository that can be accessed by all members of the team. Social media, operational, CRM, and digital data would all be fused together within the core warehouse in its raw form. From there, data marts of aggregated and transformed data can then be made available to roles based on their responsibility. A key benefit of this is the ability to tie data together that may not naturally be connected when analyzed independently (e.g. Twitter and CRM). The result is data with One Version of the Truth that is seen as a trusted data source. Analysts are happy because they're spending less time on data and more time on analysis (learn more information about this topic). Managers are happy because they have an extensible database that will grow with the departments ever growing needs. The Analytics team as a whole is viewed as a center of excellence that has trust worthy and reliable data feeding its analysis and reports.

Partnering with Data Illuminations has many advantages on your data management journey. We specialize in architecting data management solutions that are not performed within an expensive third-party tool. The solution is developed using YOUR data, that resides in YOUR warehouse, and is secure on YOUR side of the firewall. Key differentiators when partnering with Data Illuminations include our ability to dynamically adapt to inputs as they change, professional data architecture, and the transparency available through instant analysis of the ETL process from inputs. Finally, Data Illuminations has the experience and foresight to assist in defining relationships within your data, creating appropriate data marts, and ensuring your data is secure throughout the process. Contact us for more information.