What Does Being Data-driven Mean for Your Business?

BI is helping us to turn data into a valuable asset, and one which various stakeholders across the business can use to boost service quality and customer experience, at the touch of a button

BI provides us with near real time data, and we have now provided a self-service functionality for users to tap into the data however they like.

What data we review and why we do it

One of the main objectives for BI was to help reduce the manual work across operational teams, so that more time can be spent on analysing data, which can then steer all of our decision-making. There have been multiple benefits so far  for the data analytics team (led by Samantha Potter) during the Covid19 pandemic.

The graph above shows the kind of view we can have through BI, in this instance, closely tracking energy consumption by time of day and by month. While simple, these insights can help us with managing risk, purchasing and they allow us to more accurately advise customers on trends.

Boosting understanding and accountability

One of our main challenges to this day, and one we expect will continue, is  addressing the topic of ‘data quality’. It is a known fact that all businesses face the challenges of addressing how to improve the quality of their data. Niccolo Insight has created a platform for internal users to help spot where things don’t look quite right; this has become a good trigger point for further analysis if something doesn’t look as we might expect, allowing users to go back into the source systems to correct any data issues.  This has helped instill more responsibility and accountability into key stakeholders within the business as we centre our approach  on data-based decisions.

Using data as a universal touch point in business

In addition, by bringing our data into one place and creating a central storage solution, it has provided a foundation for us to combine many data sources for analytics purposes. This has helped to support consistency in our analytics approach where the same data is being used by all stakeholders rather than various sources being used as a basis for decision-making across the business.

Are you maximising the data you have for your business?

The key takeaway here, is that data-based decision making is of course the way forward. With new technologies and an ability to track, log and follow data like never before, both energy suppliers like us, and energy users, like you and your business, can work smarter, learn faster and adapt to reap the rewards of this data-rich future.

If we better understand our markets and customers, we can better serve them. Showing your customers insights, or basing your approach on data that will help them get a better deal, better service or increased benefit will boost trust, loyalty and relationship longevity. As data continues to drive everything from how we shop, spend and live, consumers will increasingly seek products and services geared to their needs in a much more specific and tailored way.

More data, more success

We have exciting times ahead of us, as we have also recently launched our first version of an external Insight product. We will be venturing our BI tool into the data we hold for the world of Electricity, EV charge points and other product areas that emerge as we grow. Stay tuned for more updates on this.