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Unlocking the Power of Data: How to Become a Data-Driven, Data Mature Organization

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Unlocking the Power of Data: How to Become a Data-Driven, Data Mature Organization

Data is the lifeblood of successful organizations, and becoming data-driven is essential for thriving in today’s business landscape! Embracing data as a strategic asset can unlock unprecedented opportunities for growth and innovation. Here are some key steps to becoming a data-driven organization.

Step 1: Define Clear Data Goals
The first step in becoming a data-driven organization is to define clear data goals. What do you want to achieve with data? Identify the key objectives, such as improving decision-making, enhancing customer experience, optimizing operations, or driving revenue growth. By setting specific and measurable data goals, you can align your data initiatives with your organization’s overall strategy and vision.

Step 2: Establish Data Governance
Data governance is the foundation of any successful data-driven organization. It involves creating robust policies and procedures to ensure data quality, integrity, and security. Define roles and responsibilities for data management, access, and usage. Establish data standards and guidelines to ensure consistency and accuracy in data collection, storage, and analysis. Implement data governance practices that align with your organization’s needs, industry regulations, and best practices.

Step 3: Invest in Data Infrastructure
Having the right data infrastructure is crucial for becoming a data-driven organization. Invest in modern data management tools and technologies that enable efficient data collection, storage, analysis, and visualization. Choose solutions that align with your organization’s data goals, scalability requirements, and budget. Consider cloud-based solutions for flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. Ensure that your data infrastructure is scalable, secure, and capable of handling large volumes of data to support your organization’s data-driven initiatives.

Step 4: Foster a Data-Driven Culture
Building a data-driven culture is critical for becoming a data-driven organization. It involves creating a mindset where data is valued and data-driven decision-making is ingrained in the organization’s DNA. Provide training and resources to help employees become data-literate and capable of using data for decision-making. Encourage a collaborative approach where employees are encouraged to share data insights, learn from data, and use data to drive innovation and continuous improvement.

Step 5: Enable Data-Driven Decision-Making
Data-driven decision-making is at the heart of a data-driven organization. Use data to drive insights, inform decision-making, and measure performance. Encourage data-driven experimentation, where data insights rather than gut instincts back decisions. Implement data-driven processes and workflows to ensure that data is used consistently across the organization. Foster a culture of curiosity and learning, where employees are encouraged to explore data, ask questions, and make data-driven decisions at all levels of the organization.

Step 6: Learn from Data
Becoming a data-driven organization requires continuous learning and improvement. Leverage data insights to iterate and optimize strategies, processes, and outcomes. Use data to identify patterns, trends, and opportunities for improvement. Implement a feedback loop where data insights are used to refine strategies and drive continuous improvement. Encourage a culture of data-driven innovation, where data is used to identify new business opportunities, optimize operations, and drive growth.

Becoming a data-driven organization is a journey that requires effort, commitment, and a strong leadership vision. By following the key steps outlined in this blog post, organizations can unlock the power of data and leverage it to drive growth, innovation, and success. Here at Datatelligent, we work with customers to help them embrace data as a strategic asset, establish robust data governance, invest in modern data infrastructure, foster a data-driven culture, enable data-driven decision-making, and embrace continuous learning from data. By taking the first step to becoming data mature, your organization can thrive in today’s data-driven world and achieve industry gain.

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Blog Other Solution Engines Solution Previews

4 Key Differences of Datatelligent’s Subscription-based Approach to Data Analytics

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4 Key Differences of Datatelligent's Subscription-based Approach to Data Analytics

Are you looking for a new and different approach to data analytics?

Datatelligent provides a more flexible and cost-effective way for organizations to access the data and insights needed to make better business decisions. Our subscription-based approach to data analytics is different from traditional, one-time purchase software licensing models.

Below are four key differences of our data analytics subscription.

  1. Scalability: Our subscription-based DAaaS services are designed to be easily scalable, allowing organizations to adjust the size and scope of their analytics needs as their business needs change. This can help ensure that organizations have access to the right data and tools at the right time without incurring additional costs for unnecessary capacity.
  2. Updates and Maintenance: Our subscription-based service include regular updates and maintenance, ensuring that the data analytics tools and technologies remain up-to-date and functional. This can help organizations avoid the cost and hassle of maintaining their on-premise infrastructure and ensure they always have access to the latest analytics capabilities.
  3. Access to Expertise: By partnering with Datatelligent, organizations gain access to a team of data analytic experts, and our Data Literacy subscription helps organizations improve their data literacy.
  4. Cost Structure: A subscription-based approach typically involves paying a recurring fee over a set period of time (e.g., monthly, quarterly, or annually) rather than a considerable upfront cost. This can make data analytics more accessible to organizations with limited budgets and allows for better cost management and planning.

Datatelligent’s Subscriptions

For our clients, Datatelligent provides three DAaaS subscriptions (Solutions, Data Operations, and Data Literacy).

  • Solutions Subscription: Analytic Solutions for your entire organization & data solutions to bring together all your sources, including:
    • Analytic Solution Engines
    • Data Solution Engines
    • Unified data platform
    • Data maturity roadmap
  • Data Operations Subscription: Data analytics operations managed all in one place, including:
    • Data capacity services
    • Project flex-up services
  • Data Literacy Subscription: Education and enablement as well as solution adoption to ensure successful knowledge transfer

Our Solutions, Data Operations, and Data Literacy subscriptions are powered by Tableau, Snowflake, Power BI, Cloud Infrastructure, Stitch, FiveTran, and many others.

Contact Datatelligent to learn more about how our unique Data Analytics as a Service subscription service can help you make informed decisions.

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Blog Data Analytics as a Service Other

5 Outcomes of Making Data-Driven Decisions

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5 Outcomes of Making Data-Driven Decisions

Organizations can and should make better, more informed decisions grounded in objective information and aligned with their business objectives.

To help remove barriers to making data-driven decisions, below are five key outcomes of accessing your data in new and different ways.

  1. Objectivity: Data provides an objective basis for decision-making, helping to remove bias and subjectivity that can come from personal opinions or intuition. This can lead to more informed and accurate decisions.
  2. Transparency: Data can make decision-making processes more transparent by providing a clear and easily understandable view of the underlying information. This can help build trust and confidence in the decision-making process.
  3. Collaboration: Data can facilitate collaboration and communication among different teams and stakeholders by providing a common language and shared understanding of the underlying information. This can help break down silos and improve decision-making across the organization.
  4. Agility: Data can provide real-time insights that allow organizations to respond quickly to market or environmental changes. This can help improve agility and make organizations more responsive to customer needs.
  5. Efficiency: Data can help organizations identify areas where they can streamline operations and reduce costs by identifying inefficiencies and areas for improvement.

DAaaS can be a cost-effective solution for companies that need more resources to build and maintain their own data analytics infrastructure. It allows businesses to focus on their core competencies while leaving data analytics to the experts.

Contact Datatelligent to learn more about how Data Analytics as a Service can help you make informed decisions.

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Blog Data Analytics as a Service Other Solution Engines Solution Previews

What is Data Analytics as a Service & How is it Different?

What is Data Analytics as a Service & How is it Different?

Datatelligent enables the use of data to make our communities better.

Our subscription-based approach to data analytics, Data Analytics as a Service (DAaaS), is different and can be a game-changer for organizations since it can help remove barriers for your organizations to make better, more informed decisions.

In a nutshell, DAaaS is a service that provides businesses with specialized tools and expertise to help process and analyze data. Instead of investing in costly infrastructure and hiring dedicated data analysts, companies can partner with Datatelligent for their analytic needs. This can include everything from data management and predictive modeling and visualization.

For our clients, Datatelligent provides the following three DAaaS subscriptions:

  • Solutions Subscription: Analytic Solutions for your entire organization & data solutions to bring together all your sources, including:
    • Analytic Solution Engines
    • Data Solution Engines
    • Unified data platform
    • Data maturity roadmap
  • Data Operations Subscription: Data analytics operations managed all in one place, including:
    • Data capacity services
    • Project flex-up services
  • Data Literacy Subscription: Education and enablement as well as solution adoption to ensure successful knowledge transfer

Our Solutions, Data Operations, and Data Literacy subscriptions are powered by Tableau, Snowflake, Power BI, Cloud Infrastructure, Stitch, FiveTran, and many others.

Contact Datatelligent to learn more about Data Analytics as a Service.

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Blog Higher Education Student Retention

How a Customer Service Approach Can Drive Student Success

How a Customer Service Approach Can Drive Student Success

I had the opportunity to attend Educause’s 2022 annual conference, which brought together IT leaders, technology professionals, and campus stakeholders in the higher education community. I was overwhelmed with the amount of excitement, ingenuity, and creativity on hand—whether in the breakout sessions, panel discussions, or hallway conversations and meetings, I came out of the conference energized and ready to tackle 2023.

But what has gotten me so excited? It’s the untapped opportunity we have to harness data to improve student retention, academic success, student financial health, student LMS engagement, and learning outcomes.

And there was one statement that kickstarted this train of thought:

During a panel discussion, one of the speakers stated that early in the semester, a large number of their students had not even been to class. Many hadn’t even been to the cafeteria.

What does this say about student success? Or their journey?

It brought me back to some ideas that have been on my mind. We need to start applying the lessons learned in other industries to our work in higher education.

I spent a big part of my career working with financial institutions. The number one topic is always customer retention: understanding a customer’s journey within the financial institution, working to retain them, and knowing the triggers that might cause them to leave.

The way to help hold on to that customer is by making your relationship more sticky, which can be accomplished by:

  • Establishing a solid relationship with that customer and helping with their financial needs
  • Cross-selling to that customer. The more services you provide, the less likely they are to leave.
  • Understanding not only the individual customer but their whole household

When I think about the word retention in higher education, I see parallels from other industries. And I see opportunities to apply those learnings in new and innovative ways using data.

I see retention as the byproduct of student success. If we better support the student’s journey from the point of enrollment, their persistence/retention is far more likely.

Having a data-first approach is essential to making this a reality. Colleges and universities that have built a solid data analytics foundation are able to better understand the student journey by stitching together data from disparate systems. This unification of data helps identify broad macro trends and also addresses student needs at the individual level. They are able to pinpoint early warning signs and begin intervention efforts to address issues before they are catastrophic.

For example, we at Datatelligent have been working with numerous colleges and universities to develop Student Success & Retention Solutions that integrate data from throughout the institution — academics, housing, student financial health, etc. — and help identify at-risk students. The solution’s dashboards are highly visual and easy to use, allowing advisors and other staff members quick and efficient access to information essential to improving student success.

These analytics dashboards empower staff to intervene at the student level and help them identify broader trends or issues. School administration is now armed with the information they need to make data-driven decisions, can spend less time cobbling together reports, and can allocate their time to improving the student experience at their schools.

Learn more about Datatelligent’s Student Success & Retention offerings and see how our clients are using this custom solution to identify and retain at-risk students. 

 Visit www.datatelligent.ai for more information on our higher education offerings and learn how our clients are becoming data-driven.

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Case Studies Insights

Cowley College Case Study

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Blog Events & Webinars Higher Education Other

6 Takeaways from the 2022 AIR Forum Conference

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6 Takeaways From The 2022 AIR Forum Conference

A team from Datatelligent ascended on Phoenix for the 2022 AIR Forum Conference, the first in-person event for us since 2019. Bringing together higher education professionals, specifically institution researchers, with data and analytics leaders, AIR Forum was well attended and full of energy. 

The conference also allowed us to reflect on the current and future state of data across the higher education space based on the sessions we attended and the meeting and discussions we had with leaders. With that, here are our top 6 takeaways from 2022 AIR Forum.  

1. It was Great to be Back in Person 

Conference attendees, myself included, were excited to see one other, to share ideas, and to catch up. AIR Forum provided opportunities for networking, brainstorming, and problem-solving.  

The coffee shop in the convention center was a regular hot-bed of connections and conversations, and it served as a good reminder that connecting face-to-face is an unparalleled experience.  Virtual conferences have proven to be extremely effective when it comes to delivering great content, but I think we can all agree that nothing replaces those spontaneous hallway discussions. It sure was  great to be back in person!  

2. Data Literacy & Maturity are Critical 

Data literacy is the ability to explore, understand, communicate and tell stories with data.  

The good news is that from the discussion we had at AIR Forum, higher education institutions truly understand that data is the ultimate differentiator and that data literacy is the key to unlocking the value of your data and technology investments.  

Understanding your institution’s data maturity in terms of your data and analytics vision, as well as your data sources and KPIs, is critical to advancing your maturity.  

We met with several leaders and discussed data maturity. Through this, we learned that there is a wide spectrum across organizations, ranging from data aware to data proficient and then further up the spectrum to data savvy and ultimately data driven. 

3. There’s a Severe Data Staffing Challenge… and Options 

We can all agree that it’s difficult trying to find the right talent for the job, regardless of the job. But when you add in the need for specialized data skills, the challenge becomes even more cumbersome. On top of that, as we potentially head into a global recession, the outlook becomes grim. 

It’s not surprising that we heard from several higher education leaders who said they were actively looking to get creative and “future-proof” their workforce in the face of: 

  • Not being able to hire due to a shortage of data workers  
  • Declining retention due to employee turnover  
  • Economic uncertainty in the face of a possible recession 
  • Inability to keep good talent due to the high demand for highly skilled data workers

One way to circumvent the hiring challenge was to actually not hire directly. Instead of hiring, leading higher education institutions that are looking to reduce risk while also increasing efficiency are turning to Datatelligent’s Data Analytics as Service (DAaaS) model, an alternative option to staffing and building your data team. 

For the cost of just one senior data architect, with our DAaaS model, you can get a whole team to support your data needs—from solutions, strategy, to detailed expertise. We bring use of our leading-edge solutions to help grow your business—all under one unique subscription as a service solution. 

4. Virtualization was Everywhere 

For institutions looking for a new way to combine data from different sources that make it easier to access, understand and share across your organization, conference attendees didn’t have to look far. Virtualization was everywhere. 

There were several sessions about virtualization and how to easily connect to data stored anywhere, in any format. Our technology partner, Tableau, was on hand at AIR Forum sharing how they can help institutions quickly perform ad hoc analyses that reveal hidden opportunities using drag and drop functionality to create interactive dashboards with advanced visual analytics. If you have questions about virtualization, let me know. I can help.  

5. The Future for Data Inclusion & Equity is Now 

For data solutions to be relevant and sustainable, they must be designed in collaboration with the communities they are intended to represent and support.  

We are seeing organizations be intentional about their data. From what we saw at AIR Forum and the meetings that we continue to have, I think that higher education institutions are on the precipice of ensuring data is more inclusive, representative, and effective. In fact, viewing data as a strategic asset and committing to an organizational culture of data inclusion can lead to discussions about policies and how higher education institutions can and should invest in their communities into the future.   

6. Student Recruitment, Retention & Success was a Hot Topic 

Did you attend our session at AIR Forum? Titled “How Tableau Can You Go? Increasing Data Access for Decision-Making,” our own Larry Blackburn, Chief Solutions Officer, was joined by Deborah Phelps, Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness at Cowley College during a session at AIR Forum. They shared how Cowley College has dramatically improved student recruitment and retention by successfully evaluating and reimagining their data analytics infrastructure to become a more data-driven organization. They also reviewed Cowley’s implementation of Tableau, a data visualization application.  

If you missed our session at AIR Forum and would like a copy of the presentation slides, just email me. I’d also be happy to review the presentation with you detailing what we did to improve student success at Cowley College. 

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Case Studies Faith Insights

Outreach Community Ministries Case Study

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Insights News

Feeding Westchester and Datatelligent Collaborate to Enhance Community Outreach Efforts

Feeding Westchester and Datatelligent Collaborate to Enhance Community Outreach Efforts

Connecting Donors, Volunteers, and the Community to Provide Data-Driven Solutions to Food Security Issues

GLEN ELLYN, Ill., December 23, 2021 — Datatelligent, LLC (www.datatelligent.ai) today announced it has been selected by Feeding Westchester to create a dynamic data analytics solution that will enhance staff efficiency and improve collaboration with volunteers, donors, and board members. Drawing upon its extensive experience in the nonprofit sector, Datatelligent’s team will build a Unified Data Platform to collect, clean, and organize data from sources throughout the Feeding Westchester organization, providing staff with timely and accurate data — efficiently and easier than their current approach.

Feeding Westchester, based in Elmsford, New York, is Westchester County’s largest nonprofit hunger-relief organization, and in 2020, provided more than 18 million meals to people in need. It does an exemplary job serving its community and galvanizing volunteers and donors, and its leadership team recognized that staff could further enhance operations and outreach with a more robust, turnkey solution to collect, analyze and report data. Consequently, Datatelligent has been engaged to reimagine Feeding Westchester’s data analytics structure and build a platform using Snowflake to standardize data collection and reporting, integrate disparate information, create highly visual reports, and enhance collaboration throughout the organization.

Using Datatelligent’s Data Analytics as a Service (DAaaS) offering, Datatelligent staff are building a solution to collect, track and report data as it relates to food donations and distributions, fundraising, and volunteer activities. The platform will provide Feeding Westchester with up-to-date, easy to interpret data, speeding access to accurate information, decreasing staff time spent compiling reports, and improving timely decision-making efforts.

Additionally, the solution will tap into Datatelligent’s expert knowledge of Snowflake’s data cloud to centralize data storage which will allow Feeding Westchester staff to create highly visual reports enhancing understanding of disparate information.

“We are thrilled to be working with an organization that is doing so much good in its community, especially as the ongoing effects of the Covid pandemic continue to create challenges and need. We look forward to creating an innovative solution in support of Feeding Westchester’s mission,” said Larry Blackburn, Chief Data Transformation Officer, Datatelligent.

 

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About Datatelligent

Datatelligent is 100% focused on data, analytics, and AI solutions. We help organizations compete and thrive in today’s data-driven world by providing a unique Data Analytics as a Service (DAaaS) approach—the People and Platform in Partnership with businesses—to achieve data and analytic success. With speed, agility, scalability, and more than 20 years of experience, our leadership team’s expertise spans all business sizes and industries.

www.datatelligent.ai

 

About Feeding Westchester

Feeding Westchester is the county’s largest nonprofit hunger-relief organization at the heart of a network of 225 community partners and programs. With a mission to nourish their neighbors in the fight against hunger, the organization sources and distributes good, nutritious food and other resources throughout every community in Westchester County. In 2020, Feeding Westchester delivered 22 million pounds of food or 18.4 million meals through soup kitchens, food pantries, schools, shelters, residential programs, and mobile distributions. The nonprofit is committed to creating a community where all people have access to the food they need today and the fundamental resources to build a better tomorrow. Feeding Westchester is located at 200 Clearbrook Road, Elmsford, NY 10523. For more information, visit feedingwestchester.org.

Jessie Meehan 
communications@feedingwestchester.org 

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Insights News

Indianapolis Non-Profit Selects Datatelligent to Grow Data Analytics Capabilities

Indianapolis Community Food Access Coalition Selects Datatelligent to Build Data Analytics Dashboard

Partnership Harnesses Data to Help Meet Food Access Needs in Indianapolis

(GLEN ELLYN, IL, JANUARY 20, 2022) — Datatelligent, a data, analytics and AI solutions firm focused on helping higher education institutions, not-for-profits and small to mid-sized (SMB) firms manage their data, has been selected by the Indianapolis Food Council to create a comprehensive data analytics solution that will help provide equitable access to food, improve staff efficiency, and analyze program efficacy. Datatelligent staff, drawing upon their extensive experience in the nonprofit sector, will work collaboratively with the Indianapolis Community Food Access Coalition (ICFAC) staff to integrate data sources and provide staff with access to accurate and up-to-date analytics.

“We’re proud to be working with a group that is making a valuable impact in their community. We look forward to helping the ICFAC work more efficiently and knowledgeably in support of their mission,” said Larry Blackburn, Chief Solutions Officer, Datatelligent.

Datatelligent’s team has been engaged to develop a data analytics dashboard using Tableau. For example, ICFAC staff will utilize the dashboard to review the performance of programs implemented in collaboration with Lyft. Using metrics tied to transportation to and from grocery stores, ridership demographics, destinations, and other markers, staff will have the information needed to determine program impact and make improvements for the future. This solution will integrate and cleanse data flowing in from both internal and external sources and will allow staff self-service access to timely information. The dashboard will free up valuable team resources by automating data collection and reporting efforts, speeding access to accurate information, and improving their ability to assess program impact and success.

About the Indianapolis Community Food Access Coalition
The Indianapolis Community Food Access Coalition is an organization focused on providing equitable access to healthy and nutritious food in the community. Their goal is to connect participants with healthy, local food across all ages and demographics as well as expand the market for local food and increase access to community-based programming to improve healthy eating habits. Learn more at indyfoodpolicy.org.

About Datatelligent
Datatelligent is 100% focused on data, analytics, and AI solutions. We help organizations compete and thrive in today’s data-driven world by providing a unique Data Analytics as a Service (DAaaS) approach—the People and Platform in Partnership with businesses—to achieve data and analytic success. With speed, agility, and scalability, and more than 20 years of experience, our leadership team’s expertise spans all business sizes and industries. Learn more at datatelligent.ai.

Datatelligent is a data analytics firm that enables the use of data to make our communities better. Our unique approach, Data Analytics as a Service (DAaaS), helps remove barriers for organizations to make data-driven decisions.

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