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Data:

The Art of
the Possible
How to create
value from
your different
data sources

Creating value from data is a journey.


Preparation for that journey is crucial and
involves identifying all the core data sets
and getting them ready for analytics. Only
then can the process of extracting value
from them run with maximum efficiency.

Preface

23%

Only 22% of businesses closely align


overall strategy with available data.

As the ancient Chinese proverb says, the hardest part of the thousand
mile journey is the first step. There is no more daunting journey than a
mountainous shifting landscape that grows bigger by the hour. Yet, that
is an accurate summary of the task involved in managing your data and
getting the fullest, most up to date and informed intelligence possible.
Having managed and analyzed data for the best part of a decade, Rosslyn
Analytics has seen the best and worst of practices and absorbed the lessons,
so it can help companies maximize their application of information and
intelligence throughout the organization.
All organizations run on data, but their ability to successfully exploit it is
dependent on many variables, such as data quality, access to information,
timeliness and relevance. Though all organizations have a common
heritage in their reliance on data, the way they plan, adopt and use data
varies dramatically.
We believe that the old fashioned, non-scientific approach to data is akin
to the dietary ignorance that impeded the growth of previous generations.
The lack of understanding of the potency of data, and its ability to invigorate
every organ of the organization is symptomatic of a wider malaise.
In the next sections, we will explore these themes and create a road map
for the journey to invigoration. In doing so, you will be able to ensure
that your organization will not become one of the 33% of Fortune 100
organizations Gartner estimates will experience an information crisis
by 2017 due to their inability to effectively value, govern and trust their
enterprise data.
Hugh Cox
Chief Data Officer
Rosslyn Analytics

info@rosslynanalytics.com

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The Value of Data


This paper has been designed to
serve as a reference guide to help
you make important decisions;
those where you are not sure where
to find the answer in all the data
your organization currently has
but isnt fully using or exploiting.

Business and technology leaders often fail to question the importance of data or even why they
should implement a data management program. However, there is a gap in perception and reality
of best practice and what is going on in the business today. In other words, many theories so few
practical examples.
What is missing is HOW to put in place a plan of action. A successful plan only comes from
knowing the value of data, as it will enable organizations to prioritize resources and investments.
This paper is a first-of-its-kind. Unlike McKinsey, we dont estimate the theoretical value of
big data in the pharmaceutical industry, for example. That wont solve your immediate problem
of reducing the cost of drug research and development, or improving your ability to mitigate
supply chain risks.
This paper has been designed to serve as a reference guide to help you make important decisions;
those where you are not sure where to find the answer in all the data your organization currently
has but isnt fully using or exploiting.
This paper will also come in handy when you want to tackle a specific business problem or explore
a potential market opportunity; as youll be able to discover new insights and solutions that arise
from the marrying of different data sources together.

Value of data

Employee data

+
=

Salary benchmarks

Effectively recruit
and retain talent

To help make the meaning and value of data easy to understand, and to make it personally
relevant to you, we compare data to food groups. There are, after all, similarities. You sometimes
need a nutritionist (or doctor!) to help understand what to eat and when in order
to perform in a manner that suits your lifestyle and goals.
All organizations (whether small to medium sized businesses or global pharmaceutical giants)
must be sustained and fortified by a constant intake of data. It has to be useful and in the right
proportions. The intelligence each needs differs, but the requirement for a balanced diet unifies
all organizations. No matter how many suppliers, products or customers they have and in what
proportion, they will still need some combination of the six major data food groups: customer,
employee, product, financial, spend and supply chain data.
The devil, however, is in the detail. This white paper is intended to explain the most important
general concepts underpinning the Value of Data, and provide a framework by which you can
plan and execute business and data strategies. This paper will provide a start point for a planned,
sensible data intake and a course of invigorating exercises that will enable all companies to work
off that information, keeping the enterprise lean, agile and healthy.

info@rosslynanalytics.com

www.rosslynanalytics.com

We have millions of lines of


complex data, coming in from
multiple sources and Rosslyn
Analytics RAPid platform makes
it simple for us to analyze and
manage, allowing data driven
strategic sourcing decisions
every day.
Jenny McGeough, Value Chain Excellence
Project Manager, The Weir Group PLC

Problem Definition
Value of data

Product data

+
=

Commodity prices

Improve profit
margins by leveraging
fluctuations

In the rush to analyze all the information at hand, many organizations


go boldly, but blindly, into a blizzard of data and soon become lost.
They need to get their bearings before they begin. The founding principles
of a good data strategy revolve around:
1) Obtaining data-business alignment;
2) Understanding the alchemy of data: and,
3) Improving data quality.
Lets explore these three areas in greater detail.
1. Data Alignment
Data alignment is a tragically overlooked but vitally important key to wellbeing. Its vital, and
it should be the first step in any analytical effort because poor data-business alignment leads to
poor decisions not to mention costly data and technology investments; this can happen when
a company puts too much weight on one entity without looking at the interdependence of
all departments of an organization.
It is no good if the senior vice president of a large manufacturer spends millions of dollars to
create a lean supply chain operation if that leads to underfunding in other areas such as, say,
sales. If customer revenue falls, then that impoverished department will be asked to make even
further savings on the supply chain, because there will be no money to re-invest in the business.
The problem being, of course, that they have already produced the leanest possible infrastructure,
which means that any more cuts will start hitting the bone.

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44%

see data as a strategic asset

This exemplifies how company data strategy can go off course, as goals are hastily set without
understanding and creating the alignment of the business to information. This guidance can
only come from the understanding and management of data with desired business outcomes.
The realignment of organizations around data is difficult because it requires significant
organizational change. It calls for a new focus, from the top down, and discipline from the
bottom up.
As a starting point the enterprise leader should assess the organizations goals (the use case of
data). The next step is to determining what type of data they believe is required to make those
decisions. This also works the other way around: you may have a specific type of data which
will help determine the correct business goal. The key message is aligning both of these points
data and business goals.

Diagram 1
Align data to your business goals

Align business goals to data

Internal
data type

External
data type

Type of socialdemographic data

External data
sources

Customer data

Social-demographic

Geo-location

Credit card
companies

(=)

Business
Answer

Business
Goals

Boost campaign
effectiveness by
targeting the right
groups of customers

Increase sales
revenue

Once the value of data is established, it often comes as a shock to discover that copious funds
have been wasted on unnecessary business intelligence or analytical projects. Meanwhile, other
areas of the business will have been kept in the dark through under investment in data.

Value of data

Customer data

+
=

According to Forrester Research, 90% of the data sitting in most organizations is not used
primarily because it is so difficult for people to access, they fall at the first hurdle.
So a large percentage of problems persist and go untackled, and a number of opportunities go
begging. However, once the data is accessible, you can improve its quality and your organization
will benefit from better, more timely, decision-making thus trust and value your data more.

Customer behavior

Reduce marketing spend


on low revenue making
customers

2. The Alchemy of Data


Once you know what you want to achieve in terms of business objectives, you will be in a better
position to understand the type of data you need to support your decisions.
All types of information becomes much more powerful when contextualized. Data sets, when
cross-referenced, become even more so. This multiplication of value is created due to
a certain alchemy that exists between different data sets. The more you mix together, the
better the outcomes increase in profitability, business efficiency and internal alignment.

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41%
say data is from too many
different sources.

Rosslyn Analytics believes every organization should follow a three-phased approach to data
discovery and analysis:

Obtain and use


specific internal
data sources

Connect multiple
internal data
sources into
a single view

Connect internal
data with
external source
of information

It is not uncommon to see organizations run expensive, year-long big data projects that
incorporate phase three before theyve mastered one or both of the first two phases.
In the long-term, this approach is unsustainable because long-term business performance
will be impeded and reveal which organizations have not focused on exploiting the value of their
existing data. This leads to a situation where business value goes untapped and organizations
are missing opportunities.

Value of data

The question is where efforts should be focused most profitably. Fortunately, we have provided
use cases of data for every major department with practical examples of:

Product data

When to apply data to solve business problems


How to get the most out of existing datasets within your organization
How to augment your decision-making with contextual information from external sources

Competitive intelligence

Below, in each data section, you are given an overview of how you can exploit the value of core
datasets, at each phase of the journey, so you can maximize your efforts and investments.

Secure first mover status


with new offerings

3. Data Quality
For obvious reasons, bad data taints the thought processes of any organization and leads
to inefficient and sometimes disastrous - decision making. No matter how wonderful your
visualization tools and your data mining platforms garbage in still leads to garbage out.

+
=

Its also costly! According to Experian, 75% of organizations waste an average of 14% of revenue
due to poor data quality.
The techniques many organizations currently use for refining the quality of data (such as
removing bad records, deleting duplicates and incomplete entries) are not enough.
However, more importantly, its a reflection of how organizations view the value of data and
where they are using data. The more that data gets used in decision-making, the more perceived
value employees get out of it, and, as a result people are more concerned about keeping it in
shape.

info@rosslynanalytics.com

www.rosslynanalytics.com

Value of data

Customer data

+
=

Customer lifestyle

Reduce customer
churn by creating
customer profiles

New World Order:


Take a New Approach to Exploiting Data
In order to stay healthy, an organization needs a balanced diet of information
on customers, employees, suppliers, products, finance and spending.

Six

We believe there are six critical data


food groups that are essential to
maintaining a healthy corporate body.

Too much of one thing and too little of another can lead to bloating in
some circumstances, circulation problems, light headedness and even
hemorrhaging of cash and resources.
When too much sales information is absorbed, without a counterbalance of spending data to
soak up the excesses, a sales director can become giddy and prone to rash judgment. Under these
circumstances, anyone over indulging like this should be prevented from driving a car, making
forecasts or operating any of the heavy levers of power in a modern mobile enterprise.
We believe there are six critical data food groups that are essential to maintaining a healthy
corporate body. This section will discuss how they work, why and in what proportions they should
be taken. It will examine why some data rapidly perishes, while others have an almost timeless
sell by date. We will discuss how you can marry data to bring out its full flavor, and warn against
mixing data types that are incompatible.
Below you will find practical examples of data preparation, sharing and consumption which
have benefitted users and created a sense of wellbeing and health. These will be tempered
with some cautionary tales of data abuse, misuse and malnutrition, as a warning of the perils
of taking data for granted.
First, we should explain the form and function of the six essential data food groups that
all breeds of organizations run on:

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Six Datasets Critical to Your Success

Customer data

Employee data

Product data

Offers insights into existing


and prospective buyers of
goods and services. Customer
data is primarily a top-line
revenue maker.

Provides insight into your


colleagues, past, present and
future. Employee data is primarily
a top-line revenue maker.

Is a record of the portfolio that a


company offers and how the market
(customers) responds to it. Product
data is primarily a top-line revenue
maker.

Financial data

Spend data

Supply chain data

Sheds light on revenue and other


incoming transactions. Financial data
is used for both creating top and
bottom-line value.

Provides visibility on where the


enterprises investments are being
made and what its running costs are.
Spend data is primarily a top-line
revenue maker.

Tells the story of the sourcing of the


essential raw materials, goods and
services required to function. Supply
chain data is primarily a bottom-line
revenue maker.

info@rosslynanalytics.com

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Product Data
This is the meat of the business. Products, like protein, can be broken
down into their various components and absorbed into the body of the
organization. Products go hand in hand with the strength of a company.
The more products that a company has, in
general, the better it will be able to withstand
adversity, fight off competitors and move
quickly. The company with products targeted
at multiple sectors will always be best placed
to address a new market when it begins
to take off.

Value of data

Product data

+
=

Customer feedback

Lower product returns by


incorporating requests
from reviews

However, just as too much protein can cause


kidney failure, the regulating organs of a
corporation can begin to overheat and even
shut down if they are forced to process too
much product information. Since products
come in many forms and have many functions
(some are outward facing, some regulate
internally and others address suppliers) so
it is quite easy for a company to become too
pumped up.
Product data can cover everything from a
companys own prices to competitor prices,
from customer feedback to supplier costs. To
understand how product data can be blended
to create a rich, succulent morsel, which both
hits the spot but offers an immensely satisfying
after taste, let us consider how Ford Motor
Company presented its F-150 truck to an
ecstatic audience of consumers.

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The car maker had pleased audiences for


years, but its intelligence told it that consumers
were developing a taste for a lighter model.
So Ford gave them one, by blending various
data ingredients and cooking them, it created
an end product that was 700 pounds less
heavy. First it took some aluminum alloy parts
and used them to create new components,
instead of using the traditional iron. This
meant it could burn less fuel, a saving that
could be added to by using a new technique,
stop-start technology. A bit of data crunching
allowed Ford to source a 2.7 gallon EcoBoost
V6 engine that provided this flavor of motoring
experience.
The data analytics used to define the product
helped Ford make a big difference to its
revenues. The lower CO2 levels produced
helped with the product plaudits from
The Union of Concerned Scientists, the
Natural Resources Defence Council and the
Environmental Defense Fund. As a result of
the goodwill generated and the impressive
performance data, Ford sold over 760,000
F-150 trucks in 2013.

www.rosslynanalytics.com

Creating value from product data

KEY
Key
Product data
Product data
Data from other internalData
departments
from other internal departments
External data
External data
Business outcome
Business outcome

info@rosslynanalytics.com

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www.rosslynanalytics.com

Customer Data
This is a very complex information set which has massive hidden
consequences and opportunities, much like a vitamin intake. It affects
the making of deals and the opening and closing of sales, in ways
which arent entirely understood by scientists.

It can have a short shelf life because


customers are organic and subject to rapid
change and if customer data is overcooked its
nutritional value can be destroyed. However,
if the data is fresh and used sensitively, it can
be massively beneficial.

Value of data

Customer data

Customer online
conversations

Lower reputational risk


by identifying disgruntled
customers

11

Consider the case of a high street retailer that


used big data analysis to discover something
fresh and totally unexpected about its clients.
The retailer delved into its information on
brand awareness, loyalty, demographics and
many of the other fields of customer data.
By cross referencing them it discovered an
unusual taste. The data revealed that the main
buyers for its bone strengthening products
were not brittle-hipped pensioners but steroiddriven young body builders.
Analysis revealed these were valuable shoppers
who drive profit. The bone fortifying food itself
was not a particularly high value product (it was
aimed at a demographic that isnt particularly
rich) but it turned out this commodity was
attracting some valuable customers.
So logically, it was worth pushing as it raised
the frequency of these valuable customers and
attracted high-value shoppers.

info@rosslynanalytics.com

The lesson of this big data exercise was that


the real profitability of products is deceptive.
Taking one value on its own is misleading
and sometimes other elements can
combine to bring out more. In this case,
only analysis revealed the true value.
Though the margin on a banana might be low,
if it gets the right people into the body building
shops, its a marketing tool as well as a unit in
the product portfolio.
Analysis of customers also showed that
frequency of buying doesnt correspond with
profitability. However, it also shows that loyal
customers shop more often and spend 30 per
cent more per transaction. Those who buy
the store magazine spend 50 per cent more
than those who dont buy it. There are
many actions and reactions at play
when the chemistry of customer
data is examined closely.

www.rosslynanalytics.com

Creating value from customer data

KEY
Key
Customer data
Customer data
Data from other internalData
departments
from other internal departments
External data
External data
Business outcome
Business outcome

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12

info@rosslynanalytics.com

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www.rosslynanalytics.com

Supply Chain Data


Just as the human body cannot produce all its own nutrients and
needs a staple intake of minerals by which to manufacture its tissues,
so does the corporation need regular supplies.
Supplier data helps an enterprise to regulate
its intake. Its important that the company
knows exactly where to source its supplies,
how reliable the source happens to be at any
moment (this is subject to constant change
and risk) and whether there are alternative
pastures that need to be explored.

Value of data

Supply chain data

+
=

Geo-political events

Prevent supply chain


disruptions

13

The supply chain is a particularly perilous


territory. In certain industries, such as retail,
the fine-tuning of the supply chain makes
the difference between survival and death.
If a CIO can shave half a percentage point
off the supply chain costs of one of Britains
big four supermarkets, then he or she would
achieve legendary status, as the potential
savings would run into the millions. It is an
incredibly difficult task, however, as the supply
chains for companies like Tesco, Sainsburys
and ASDA are notoriously tight and the
managers already run incredibly lean and
agile operations.
Supplier data doesnt just have to be about
logistics. It can cover everything from political
to geological data, from world stock markets
to commodity prices. No single piece of
supplier data can single handedly change
the way the body works but, in combination
it can catalyze important reactions that
energize the enterprise and restore the
profitability of the corporate body.

info@rosslynanalytics.com

A good balanced diet of supplier data is


increasingly difficult to achieve in todays
busy corporate landscape. A recent Accenture
survey of 1,000 senior executives from global
companies found that 97% of them understood
the value of big data in the supply chain, but
only 17% had an idea of how to implement
it even in a single supply chain function.
Examples might help improve understanding.
The big four UK supermarkets use big data
analytics to investigate losses from their
supply chain. Much of the produce travelling
is perishable and delays in the movement
of fresh fruit and meat causes companies to
throw billions worth of food away every year.
In the vast warehouses of the distribution
chain, as goods make a pan European journey
from producer to processor to distributor,
it is easy for pallets to get damaged or
misplaced temporarily. Analysis of information
gathered by RFI (radio frequency investigation)
tags on each pallet of goods and sensors
placed at each stage of the supply chain
has enabled Tesco to gather masses of data
on the traffic flows of products as they are
transported across its global network.
This knowledge about accident black spots,
black holes into which goods go missing and
time consuming bottlenecks has allowed
Tesco to save millions by ironing out these
discrepancies.

www.rosslynanalytics.com

Creating value from supply chain data

KEY
Key
Supply chain data
Supply chain data
Data from other internalData
departments
from other internal departments
External data
External data
Business outcome
Business outcome

Impro
ve su
pply
cha
in d
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Sup
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by
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Product demand
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Ca
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Supp
ly ch

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: trigge

ain and sales outcomes


utom
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cha
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in d
r
p
r
e
sales a
t is m
ata
re made and demand fulfillmen
with
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s of data

info@rosslynanalytics.com

p
ati lianc
rte ons e ou
no tha tco
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r-to quir s: en
su
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live ocu re
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Warehouse inventory

inv
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pl
ier
list
s

Truck location
W
GPS sensors inv are
e
ship nto
pin

Traffic data

Weather data

tcome: improve custo


eting ou
Mark providing more accurate mer
time
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www.rosslynanalytics.com

data

Shop she ventory


lf in

ate risk by knowing where


ome: mitig
part
s
r
e
in outc
q
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ired f
ly cha
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p
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Geo-political news

ing data - e.g. INTRA


Shipp
ocean metrics

i si
Ex p
su d a
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sp e

of
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r fo
the
ho
wit

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str ials
ad anc
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so

c
Fa e n
in v
ra
ns
ac
tio
ns

Sourc data
ing
(suppliers and
parts lea times)
d

Supplier
parts

Combine
supply chain data
with other forms
of data

to
to r y
ry

t
les
sa
ily
Da

es
ye
plo
Em

o
ce t
an in
Fin ver
co
un
yc
sb
ion
cis
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sal
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nce
fina
ting,
marke
Improve

14

S
an pe
a

nd is
lys

Warehouse
inventory
e
s
u
data
ho yand
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u
er tco
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l fr e:
au
d

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bin
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ly
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h e rep ain i
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ep ppl
su

S
of d ales o
ecl utc
ini om
ng
s e:
or ales ide
lat fig
ed

outcome: accurately buy the


ly chain
right
Supp
ck to support marketing pro
o
t
s
f
o
motio
es
i
t
i
t
n
ns
holding stale stock post prom
qua
otion
o avoid
and t

Finance Data
Financial information is the carbohydrate of the data food groups.
It is finance that provides the energies such as the motivation for staff
to go to work in the morning, for customers to buy products, for companies
to take the risk of creating products for trade that power every form
of transaction in a commercial enterprise.

Like the complex range of sugars that make up


the carbohydrate family, the smorgasbord of
financial data types is broad, varied and not
universally understood. As with many trendy
short-term no-carb and low-carb diets, many
agendas based on financial data are myopic,
short-termist and can be self-defeating in
the long run. This is because many types of
financial data are as characteristically different
as cellulose and glucose.

Value of data

Financial data

+
=

Pricing information

Determine how sales


should use discounting
with customers

15

Some information can only be digested by


certain types of beast, others can give a rapid
release of insight but need to be converted into
other forms before they can have long term
strategic value. Auditing and governance data,
for example, are long-term forms of information
that need a wider historical analysis. But
quarterly (or even weekly and daily) revenue
streams are examples of data that needs
immediate analysis.
Many organizations are supplementing their
big data analysis of their petabyte silos of
information with technology that intercepts
data streams as they move across the
company network. Companies such as Storm
and ElasticSearch provide tools that tap into
electronic trading events as they happen
and create an instant analysis. This allows
companies to make timely interventions if a
downturn in trading circumstances is identified.
Companies that cannot process information
efficiently exhibit a form of data diabetes
that needs to be addressed.

info@rosslynanalytics.com

In biopharmaceuticals, they use data alchemy


to put the most efficient processes in place
to make vaccines, hormones and blood
components. These end products are made
using live, genetically engineered cells, whose
working environment must be delicately
balanced by monitoring and managing over
200 variables. Two batches of hormones,
produced using an identical process, can
still result in a total variation in yield. Big
data analysis is the key to managing yields,
maintaining purity and avoiding regularity
scrutiny. Not to mention profitability.
Biopharmaceuticals makers use advanced
analytics to boost yields in vaccine production
without additional capital expense. They do
this by breaking down the entire process into
segments of related production activity. In each
division the finer details about process steps,
materials used and by-products created can
be measured and stored in a central database.
Statistical analysis of upstream and
downstream process parameters and their
impact on yield, their influence on the time to
inoculate cells and the conductivity measures
associated with certain chromatography steps,
yielded enough clues about the potential for
improvement for one manufacturer to save
$10 million a year. That ten million dollar
breakthrough, as a result of big data science,
was the saving on the manufacturing of just
one of its products.

www.rosslynanalytics.com

Creating value from finance data

KEY
Key
Finance data
Finance data
Data from other internalData
departments
from other internal departments
External data
External data
Business outcome
Business outcome

Re
sal ven
esp

e
ns l
es

o
sf
on e
ssi of v
i
l em
Fue

d
le enti
ct fy
ion h
s a ow t
nd o s
de ave
live
ries

r
hi diff
cle er
s ent

co
or
Gf
P
M

typ
es

fle
et

Revenue per
service

Daily
warehouse inventory

m
pa
ny

Pro
fit
pe
rs

Em
plo
ye
e

Profit per service

ptio
ce consum n per customer
Servi
profile

H
pos R out
itiv co
e m
tho ly co e: i
se nt den
wh rib ti
o s ute
im

sa
lar
i

i
e:
m col
o
tc r
ou me
ce usto
n
a
Fin for c
s
t
s
co

www.rosslynanalytics.com

data

Fu
pe
ex

outcome: understand
Finance
barriers to growth

utcome: identify services which


eting o t profit and then target the generate
k
r
a
co
M
os
the m with the right marketing ca rrect
mpaig
nce
e
i
ns
d
u
a

s of
orm
rs f
the
ho

Competitor financials
- Dun & Bradstreet

info@rosslynanalytics.com

t
wi
ve
ta
pro
da
im
ce
to
an
w
fin
ho ues
ine ven
rm s re
la

D aily
re ve n u e s

:
Employe
e mo
e eBay accounts
ym men nito
r
t
en co de
ion
ts m pa
to pli rtm
sb
su anc en
yc
pp e a t
om
lier nd
s
bin
ing
Finan
fina
ce outcom
fraud
e: uncover internal
nce
dat
a wi
th ot
her fo
rms of dat
a

16

e capabilities
Employe
and attitudes

en
r t m PC
pa by

e
sp

nd
an
aly
sis

Internal credit
availability

o
Inv

De
r
lie
pp
Su

e
m
co r
ut cu
t o ro pa
en re p us
em su eo
cis
cur en on
de
Pro nd to d err
HR
spe avoi
nd
ta
en
em
cur
pro
ing,
rket
e ma
Improv

te
ca x p e
rd nse

Inc
rev o
e

Combine
finance data
with other
forms of data
ice
s

to
sts
co ers
al tom
us

Rent and utility


costs

ing
m ue
n

r
pe
ue rson
e

rs
me
sto
cu
of

Impr
ove
fina
nce
ome: identify new global terri
c
t
u
dec
o
e
t
c
o
n
r
h
e
t
b
d
a
u
i
n
isio
s
a
e
i
p
n
x
ess
s
to e
Fin
ns
by
F
i
n
o
anc
co
h
m
w nd
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e
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l
i
r
n
e
t
e
h
a
t
r
n
o
a
l
m
d
u
o
p ss
r
e
f
p
a
a
t
t
o
r
a
ing
t
c
m
d
e ine
h
e
o
t
p
i
n
p
t
m
w
s
r
y
s
a
a
o
s
t
n
e
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a
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f
d
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i
l
:
/
b
t
o
s a de
r ex
nce
sa e m
s w te
ter
ina
fy to th ost
onomic report
na
ef
egional ec
s
el
n
R
c
i
l
b
d
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a
m
ta
p
Co
Life
ses
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P
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k
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Op
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p
s
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l
a

Employee Data
If departments are the organs of a corporation, then employees
are the lifeblood equivalent. Some are red cells, with their capacity
to oxygenize the raw materials of production and take them to
a higher state of energy level.

Value of data

Employee data

+
=

Social media network

Cost effectively attract


new employees
and customers

17

In corporate terms, this is known as adding


value. Other types of employee carry out a
more regulatory function, with accountants
and compliance officers and security having
a role of neutralizing dangers, in the way
that a white blood cell is devoted to engulfing
anti bodies that make it into the environment.

They want to identify whether traders are


covertly contacting clients and illegally profiting
from doing so. Banks also monitor mobile
phone use and use data to log the number
of times traders take a break to smoke outside.
They do this to identify suspicions patterns
that hint at insider trading.

Employee information as a food group has a


dual role then. It can help both to oxygenize
those areas that need life breathed in to them,
and neutralize others that need to be stifled.
Which is why employee information covers
everything from selling to social media.

Banks must use big data for staff surveillance


because the penalties for insider trading are
huge. The scope of surveillance needs to
be tempered with the potential damage
this does to employee relations. The legal
issues are another concern.

Banks now track employee data and combine


the various strands of information to get a
flavor of the atmosphere on their trading floors.
This helps them stay within the right side
of the regulators.

However, employee data analytics arent just


based around punitive examples. Employee
motivation and subsequently retention is
another important area that can be improved
by analysis of the records. Tracking, analyzing
and sharing employee performance metrics
can give performance data to employers and
help employees get on, by pointing out what
theyre doing right. Helping them to focus their
attention on the most useful actions is very
motivating and maintains employee loyalty.

For example, some banks monitor their traders


performance against the number of times
they use internal communications systems.

info@rosslynanalytics.com

www.rosslynanalytics.com

Creating value from employee data

KEY
Key
Employee / HR data
Employee/HR data
Data from other internalData
departments
from other internal departments
External data
External data
Business outcome
Business outcome

Impro
ve HR

ome: retain emp


HR outc e right sa loyees
laries
with th

dec
isio
ns b
y

cti
u vity
or tput
ts

s
ee
loy tus
p
a
Em st

e w emp
tim ith loye
e/n the es w
ee ir tim ho a
dh e
r
elp and e

Skills
records

Employee
salary data

info@rosslynanalytics.com

o
up cial
da me
tes dia

e
lla ssag
nc e
e

(e.g
. ne Com
w
off /exi peti
ice sti to
s in ng r
the co
s
Em
plo
y
e
sta e
tus s
u

r feedback about
Custome
individual employees

Operations outcome:
ed resource allocation
m
i
t
op iz

Sat
is
sur f
v

Emplo
yee satisfaction
updates

m
ail ei
Em urv
s

co
Employee social media
ve
re
status updates
mp
loy
sio
ee
ns
fra
by
ud
co
Mark
mb
eting o
sters
inin
utcome: prevent PR disa e
b
y
s
ge
monito
ring employees who po
mp
loye
communication risks
e da
ta w
ith ot
her form
s of data

18

e productivity and
Employe
work output reports

du
Pro rk o
wo rep

ng
re
ve
nu
es

ive hiring tools


Predict

Personal
reviews

Sh o
rec

se
ou c
reh re
Wa

i
om
inc
ily
Da

un
e:
om
i
utc
ec
eo
sd
anc
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Fin
rat
pe
do
an
nce
fina
ng,
rketi
e ma
Improv

or inve
ds nto
r

Background
checks

e: identify the right people to ir


h
utcom
HR o anding the correlation between co e by
mm
rst
unde personality traits and work outputs on

fee 36
d

Combine
employee
data with other
forms of data
ift
rd
s

s
use
on
db

Salaries and
bonuses

0 ck
ba

n
tio
ac ys
e

ees t
loy men
mp art
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g a x ppo
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HR
ou
tco
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fec iti
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HR icien ose w
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www.rosslynanalytics.com

Spend Data
Spending, like fat in the human diet, is an essential ingredient of
corporate life. However, too much of it is very dangerous and can
lead to a rather unattractive bottom line, which will put off investors
and horrify auditors.
To learn more about this
type of data, read
How to Obtain a Return on Your
Spend Visibility: A User Guide
for Finance and Procurement
Professionals.

Spend data is often used by procurement to


assess what has been bought, with whom and
at what price. Yet, spend data, by connecting
it with other sources of information can
transform an entire organization; not just
delivering bottom-line value such as improving
profit margins, the same data can help inform
decisions focused on top-line goals such
as increase revenue.
Here are five real-world examples
of the benefits of spend data:
Contract compliance
You have contracted with suppliers to provide
goods and services. However, do you know
when the supplier goes off-contract and
deliver something that doesnt meet your
specifications? Spend analytics, integrated
with contract data, will inform you when items
have been placed on invoices that go against
your supplier agreements.

Value of data

Spend data

+
=

Supplier product

Expand revenue
opportunities through
new channels

19

Tail-end spend exposure


The quickest savings opportunities can be
had by getting a grip on the biggest spend with
your biggest suppliers. Yet, the largest savings
are often found in the tail the 20% of total
purchasing spent with your smaller suppliers.
The challenge for many organizations is first
obtaining visibility of the fragmented tail-end
spend followed by effectively managing
it to conclusion.
Overpayments
Unplanned overpayments are inevitable
but if it happens more frequently its a sign
of something more severe such as potential
fraud. Its therefore vital that you identify
erroneous transactions so you can recover these
overpayments as quickly as possible. Spend
analytics will also help you to prevent duplicate
payments, preventing your organization from
leaking cash that could be used elsewhere.

Cash flow
Lack of spend visibility negatively impacts
company profits because you cant manage
cash that you dont see. Spend analytics
can help you improve cash flow by better
understanding the cost of paying suppliers early.
Further analysis such as high purchase order
volumes under $100 could reveal an inefficient
accounts payable process that requires your
immediate attention.

Supplier diversity
Establishing supply chain diversity isnt just
good business sense, its often a government
requirement. The challenge for most
organizations is not knowing the types of
suppliers; and this lack of visibility can often
limit business growth. Spend analytics will tell
you how many of your suppliers are minority
and women-owned businesses and through
this knowledge youll be able to establish a
more robust sourcing strategy that will create
significant value for your organization.

info@rosslynanalytics.com

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Creating value from spend data

KEY
Key
Spend data
Spend data
Data from other internalData
departments
from other internal departments
External data
External data
Business outcome
Business outcome

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outcome: trigger automated pro


d
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www.rosslynanalytics.com

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Conclusion
You need to have the right
leadership, data strategy,
technologies and business
processes to prioritize and
turn complex data into
meaningfully information.

Organizations run on data. When tapped and refined into information,


you are able to do exciting and innovative things.
In a world where organizations are inundated with data from so many
sources found inside and outside the office, the question is where to focus
efforts to deliver business value.
Rosslyn Analytics believe too many business and IT leaders are focused
on big data projects, neglecting the large amounts of data already residing
but untapped in your organization. This should be the priority. Its why,
for the first time, we have mapped out the value of data so you can deliver
business value.
This unique research showcases a sampling of the insights that you can
create by accessing, connecting and sharing data across your organization.
But it is not going to happen overnight. It is a journey similar to that an
athlete faces, to get into shape to win a race.

Value of data

Employee data

+
=

Employment predictions

You need to have the right leadership, data strategy, technologies and
business processes to prioritize and turn complex data into meaningful
information AND then to ensure its actually used to support decision-making.
In the next section, we will discuss how big data is used practically,
by executives in the following roles: procurement, supply chain, finance,
product manager, marketing and human resources.

Forecast the cost of


running company in
competitive market

21

info@rosslynanalytics.com

www.rosslynanalytics.com

Addendum 1.0 Roles/Department


Value of data

Customer data

+
=

Sales revenue

Determine total cost of


customer acquisition

Five Ways Better Data Leads to


Better Financial Decisions
A global data center service provider wants
to move into Turkey, because reports from
Gartner and Unisonius indicate that this region
has the fastest growing economy of the region
where East meets West. Financial data (on
the growth in the banking sector here) suggests
this could become an international hub of
global trade.
As part of its due diligence, the service provider
will consult regional economic data (from
say, the World Bank) and data evaluations on
how easy it is to do business in Turkey. (Even
business culture can be quantified.) The next
set of investigations will examine potential
markets and customers, with data on previous
patterns of spending.

Finance
Data is invaluable to finance get it right
and revenue soars. Get it wrong In 2014,
Walgreens lost its CFO because he reportedly
misforecast that thedrugstore chains
pharmacy division would show $8.5 billion in
sales for fiscal-year 2016. Three months later,
the executive reduced the forecast by $1.1
billion. These mistakes are rare but they do
happen. Armed with the right data, better and
timelier decisions are possible. Finance can
and should use data in many ways, helping
colleagues across the entire organization to
lookinto the past, present and future. This will
improve budgeting and forecasting capabilities
and risk management capabilities.

Finally, more detailed data sources, which are


co-dependent (such as revenue per service,
cost per salesperson, and margins per service)
will be examined, to see if the Turkish data
center market is worth entering.

22

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Addendum 1.0 Roles/Department


Value of data

Spend data

+
=

Employee names

Mitigate supplieremployee collusion


and fraud

Procurement
In the age of austerity, the cost of running
public services is a political hot potato. Whether
savings are achievable without hurting front
line services is a moot point. Data analytics can
only help shed light on this contentious area.
Analysis of the costs of procurement would
work on five levels. Firstly, the number of
categories of products and services purchased
would need to be analyzed, to provide greater
clarity when making purchasing decisions.
Clarity reduces errors. Its often the case, in
the public sector, that high staff turnover and
long lead times for invoice payments lead to
situations where suppliers are unwittingly paid
several times for the same work. Analytical
tools can help eliminate these mistakes.
More detailed data on performance can lead to
tighter management of the running of contracts
and enforce contract compliance, which saves
the authority considerably from the risks
of expensive lawsuits. A cross fertilization of
data sources can indicate areas where services
could be shared, creating greater economies.
Shedding more light on spending, and greater
clarity exposes any malpractices because
embezzlers have less option to hide. Using
these techniques the National Procurement
Service of Wales could save an estimated
202 million.

23

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Supply Chain
The retail industry is under immense
pressure to tighten up its supply chain. Even
a one per cent saving can wipe millions off
its running costs. In the UK grocery chains
like Aldi and Lidl surveyed the supply chain
costs of stocking multiple brands of the same
product. Then they compared the costs of
using one brand per product, the improvement
in bargaining power by giving all their business
to one supplier. Analysis showed the costs
of managing the supply chain dropped
dramatically when the number of suppliers
was drastically cut back.
The retailers than calculated how much
of these cost savings they could pass on
to the consumer. As a result of this supply
chain analysis, discounting retailers Aldi
and Lidl have made significant inroads into
a market previously dominated by the big
four incumbents (Sainsburys, ASDA, Tesco
and Waitrose).
Sales
There are thousands of important stories
buried among the silos of sales data. The
relationships between them are not always
obvious or apparently logical. For example,
the annual battle of wits between the retailer
and the customer at Christmas means that
purchasing patterns are changing. Sales
data shows that many canny customers
are waiting until after Christmas to do the
bulk of their shopping. Analysis of social
media and shopping web sites (such as
MoneySavingexpert.com) shows that shoppers
are being urged to plan their purchases
tactically. There is a significant demographic
however, influenced by shopping deadlines,
such as Black Friday, according
to analysis. This data enabled many white
goods retailers to have a highly successful
pre-Christmas campaign.

www.rosslynanalytics.com

Addendum 1.0 Roles/Department


Value of data

Product data

+
=

Industry news

Identify future skills


gaps and prepare for
a battle for talent

Marketing
Most human beings display consistent
patterns, according to shopping psychologists,
and their analysis of customer data bears this
out. History repeats itself, so historical patterns
of customer behavior are a useful guideline
to predicting future behavior. Purchase
histories, when cross referenced to reactions
to competitor pricing, for example, could
give retailers insight into how to protect their
markets. Tesco and Waitrose, for example,
analyze their customer data (as well as
feedback from Twitter and Facebook) in a bid
to win back the customers they are losing to
Aldi and Lidl. Customer perception of offers
(such as Buy one Get one free) is changing,
and the retailers will be analyzing how
customers react to these initiatives.
Product Development
The amount of money a manufacturer invests
in product development needs to be weighed
against the possible revenue, but this in turn
is affected by several other factors that are in a
constant state of flux. In the green fuels market,
one company is facing a dilemma over how
much money it should devote to developing
a biological, environmentally friendly form
of aviation fuel.

Human Resources
Human resources are one of the hardest
variables to manage, and yet they make the
biggest difference to outcomes. Each human
brain is infinitely more sophisticated than the
most advanced computer that the combined
efforts of IBM and Google could produce. But
the human psyche is far more volatile than
a machine and more prone to downtime
and defection. The studies of data related to
motivation (such as salary data, competitor
salaries and salary surveys) all give companies
insight into employee wellbeing.
However, money is not the full story. Analysis
of productivity and its relationship to
satisfaction data is illuminating. The other
motivations for work and factors for enjoyment
can be measured by, say, social media
analysis and data from companies that track
social trends. Though the soft skills and
psychological factors that affect human output
are difficult to quantify, there is data available
to make educated guesses. This data might
not be definitive, but it will help HR managers
and CEO to back up their hunches and makes
judgments more scientific. Human resources
are difficult to manage but big data analysis
makes for better decision making.

The potential is huge but data will be analyzed


to ask: which other companies are known
to be involved in this? How close are they to
launching? What is the price tipping point at
which some airlines will go for a biofuel? How
much more expensive would it be than normal
aviation fuel? What sort of tax and carbon
reduction savings would be available? Should
the green fuel inventor ramp up production
itself, or do the figures suggest it would be more
cost effective and timely to sell its intellectual
property (the secret of the manufacturing
process) so that bigger companies, with a
ready-made infrastructure, can sell the product
under license.
These are all examples of product development
data that analytics will shed light on.

24

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www.rosslynanalytics.com

Addendum 2.0
Your internal data

Type of external data

Business Answer

Customer

Income of customers

Better market to customers based on socio-economic information

Name of customers

Increase number of customers and prospects

Age

Know how much a customer spends and how much disposable income they have

Gender

Improve retention with better knowledge of customers profiles or personas

Occupancy

Reduce customer churn with better knowledge of customers profiles or personas

Location

Boost campaign effectiveness by targeting the right groups of people by geography

Family / dependents

Get a faster return on investment with more segmented / targeted marketing

Lifecycle phase

Increase number of high value customers by knowing who the high value customers are

Purchasing habits

Increase average revenue per customer by understanding buyers online behaviour

Competitors prices

Respond faster to a competitors aggressive pricing strategy

Industry prices

Benchmark your pricing against competitors

Pricing by location

Increase sales by localizing pricing based on market insight

Pricing by demographics

Accelerate customer acquisition by selecting appropriate regional partners

Testing

Improve operational efficiencies by incorporating emerging QA technologies and processes

Supplier costs

Reduce cost of developing products by expanding supplier base with innovative vendors

Customer thoughts about pricing

Predict consumer purchasing plans by monitoring lifestyles trends

Commodities pricing

Improve profit margins by leveraging fluctuations in commodity prices

Product

Value of data

Supply chain data

+
=

Government black lists

Prevent fines by
not trading with
sanctioned entities

25

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About Rosslyn Analytics


Value of data

Product data

+
=

Competitor price lists

Respond faster to a
competitors aggressive
sales strategy

26

Rosslyn Analytics (AIM: RDT), the leading global data technology company,
helps organizations create new business value from previously inaccessible
data. We have developed exciting award-winning technologies designed
specifically for business users to easily access and turn complex data into
meaningful information via our RAPid Data Cloud Platform. No other
platform, on premise or in the cloud, is such a game-changer, with a data
technology stack that includes human-driven machine learning and NoSQL
technologies such as Hadoop, MongoDB and ElasticSearch.
For more information including a demo, visit
www.rosslynanalytics.com or @RosslynBI.

info@rosslynanalytics.com

www.rosslynanalytics.com

Value of data

Customer data

Competitor customer
wins

Run an efficient,
targeted sales
program

Hugh Cox
Founder, Chief Data Officer

Lance Mercereau
Chief Marketing Officer

Hugh co-founded Rosslyn Analytics Ltd with


Charlie Clark. Hugh is a recognized expert in
helping public and private sector organizations
tackle business issues through technologies
including cloud computing, data management
and analytics.

Lance lives and breathes technology, always


thinking of new and innovative ways of
exploiting the latest such as cloud computing
for the benefit of his customers. Lance started
his career - almost 20 years ago - at the height
of the San Francisco dot.com era, advising
start-ups on business strategy, customer
acquisition, alliance ecosystems, corporate
affairs and brand management.

Hugh has authored and spoken extensively


on the subject of data analysis with particular
focus on fraud prevention and detection,
through the deployment of cloud-based
analytics platforms.
Prior to establishing Rosslyn Analytics,
Hugh held senior positions with COO
Investments (EMEA) and Citigroup Private
Bank. He also worked for Perot Systems,
JP Morgan and Logica.
After leaving the British Army, Hugh took a BSc
in Computer Science and an MBA from City
University Business School, London, UK.

27

info@rosslynanalytics.com

Known for his aggressive West Coast Offense


approach to marketing, he subsequently
moved to and worked in the United Kingdom
and the emerging markets of Central and
Eastern Europe where he successfully
established in-house marketing organizations
and launched products and services for awardwinning companies such as Agilent, Dell, IBM,
Intel and SAP, targeting enterprises, small
and medium sized businesses (SMBs) and
consumers. After a year away as global head
of marketing at a technology-focused business
consultancy headquartered in London,
Lance rejoined Rosslyn Analytics as its Chief
Marketing Officer.

www.rosslynanalytics.com

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