Category Archives: Data & Analytics

Why Businesses Should Invest In Embedded Analytics Solutions

Embedded Analytics is the integration of analytical functionality inside enterprise systems (such as CRM, ERP) or portals. The primary benefit of embedded analytics is addressing fundamental enterprise challenges and using analytics that helps customers work smarter.

The Importance Of Embedded Analytics For Businesses

1. Helps To Stay Ahead Of Rivals

Businesses in recent times want to set themselves aside from their rivals in the market and improve the rate at which consumers utilize their items. Only 1/4th of the users return to a website after their first time. Embedded analytics provides insights into the audience’s behaviour while using an application. Analytics embedded into an application can help better analyze, report and compare a website’s performance with others. This can help in future forecasts and taking steps to increase web traffic and traction.

 

2. Create Value, Not Just Report.

Instead of building complex analytics engines from scratch or creating reporting functions that need to be updated frequently, application developers should focus on enhancing functionality by adding new features. With the right built-in analytics, you can meet customer demands whenever you want.

 

3. Analytics As A Service For Everyone

Earlier, IT departments and analysts did most of the analysis and information dissemination. However, data analytics is no longer the domain of a select group of highly skilled professionals. Everyone in the business needs to be an expert in data to make the intelligent decisions that drive business today. Embedded analytics has made it easier for non-technical professionals to perform complex tasks such as data sorting, visual analysis and more.  

4. Boosts Your Audience’s Trust

Your audience should get meaningful insights while using your application so that they have a reason to come back. Embedded analytics solutions allow businesses to provide the tools their customers need and, thus, drive growth in the longer run.

5. Save Costs

The volume of data and complexity of reports have dramatically increased in recent years, increasing overhead costs. Many companies are currently unsure of the best way to improve their analysis and visualization skills. The biggest challenge companies face is creating custom chart sets to represent their data. Building analytics from scratch presents significant obstacles for both technical and commercial decision-makers. Embedded analytics addresses this challenge by significantly cutting costs and providing the best solutions.

Buy or Code?

Many application developers think building a report through self-coding is the most feasible option. Undoubtedly this option is more accessible but poses many challenges in the long run. Very few consumers want to extract and paste data into a spreadsheet. Over time, consumers will most likely want more functionality and the opportunity to add new things independently. For example, creating dashboards and graphics. As demand increases, the scalability of building analytics can be challenging.

 

Why is buying embedded analytics solutions from a third-party provider better than coding?

Today’s software companies are constantly under pressure to improve their analytical capabilities. However, they might not have the time or the valuable resources to achieve this goal. That is why it’s better to integrate embedded analytics from a third party.

 

  • Save Time- It is essential to reach the audience faster than your competitors. Businesses need to reduce their time to market because they typically have short-term opportunities to satisfy their customers, highlight new products, and stand out from the crowd.

 

  • Save Money- Planning, developing and creating embedded analytics from scratch is expensive.

 

Businesses typically have short-term opportunities to satisfy their customers, highlight new products, and stand out from the crowd. Outsourcing embedded software allows you to seize an opportunity and act instantly.

Final Words

A business should clearly define its goals before evaluating vendors for embedded analytics. This will help pick the right embedded analytics platform and make the most of its data storytelling features. 

 

Planning for Robust Data Capture in Harsh and Complex Environments

Written by James Summers, CEO, Conker

It’s a challenge to think of many, if any, companies that don’t capture data in our technology-advanced business world.

Many different industries increasingly rely heavily on the use of devices – with portable devices, including wearables, passing data through organisations to enhance the business’ performance. Some new emerging markets for tech and data-enabled operations, such as hospitality, have been accelerated by the explosion of technological advancement and changes in customer behaviour, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Managing complexities using data

Those working in complex environments, including warehousing, manufacturing, transport and logistics and utilities, rely on real-time information that provides visibility of all elements of the supply chain; of where goods are or how critical services are being delivered. The cost of failure can be substantial, not just in the cost of downtime, but also in terms of customer experience and brand reputation.

If we consider a complex operation, such as a warehouse, these fast-moving fulfilment facilities not only have to utilise space effectively, but warehouse managers also need to manage the efficient and accurate flow of orders and deliveries against an optimised inventory. All this must be done whilst managing costs, as in this sector, time literally is money.

Insights and accuracies are the biggest gain for any size of business that captures  operational data. As business data sets grow, analytics help executives see patterns that enable them to make predictions and strategies for planning and communication. It also supports managers in optimising workflows, enabling them to quickly detect and resolve incidents and provides direction to staff to deliver the priorities of the business.

Connectivity must be considered

Capturing essential business data requires having devices that are reliable and appropriate for the environment and easy for staff to use – helping them to get more done, with high levels of accuracy.

Updating and retrieving information quickly is essential to maximise efficiency and productivity. However, harsh working environments, such as locations that are dusty, dimly lit, open to variable weather conditions or with vehicles in operation, make this difficult.

There are ranges of well-developed products that can be used by workforces in harsh environments, including rugged wearable Android companion devices that allow the wearer to safely do their job and complete computerised processes, whilst keeping both hands free. From operating machinery, to troubleshooting and monitoring machine performance, wearables are designed specifically to perform with constant use and without compromising the user in the efficiency of their movement.

These products can be further supported by automation and real-time connectivity with other departments. This seamless integration can increase production, reduce resource usage, and improve the speed of response to customisation and amendments to orders – ultimately resulting in improved bottom lines.

Service and support is often overlooked

Extreme working conditions are not limited to high and low temperatures, but also include humidity, wet conditions, direct sunlight, snowfall and ice, altitude, atmospheric pressure, low visibility, complex terrain and vibration. For example, in cold or hazardous environments touch screens need to be designed to be operated with gloves, and equally usable in direct sunlight.

Selecting the appropriate device for hard-working environments is important, however  service from the device provider should not be overlooked. There is a common perception that critical downtime occurs because of hardware failure, when in fact the biggest drag to an operation is service delay. Extreme conditions call for a choice of rugged devices that are fit-for-purpose, deliver value for money, and come with service levels that match the demands of the job and environment. Could your business afford to wait 12 weeks for a replacement device, or days for inefficient and slow customer service?

When devices are being subject to continuous tough conditions, repair and replacements should be expected and prepared for, particularly in high-pressure industries. To fulfil data needs, operations must consider the end-to-end process, from the business need, to systems, compatibility, fit-for-purpose devices, user adoption, data analytics and insights, as well as the time to replace and repair.

There is no time for downtime in a mission and time-critical environment. In our experience keeping maintenance and service moving swiftly can be more critical to the data that’s keeping goods moving than businesses think.

How To Leverage Data To Increase E-Commerce Sales

The success of e-commerce sales depends on data. Businesses may decide what to stock more of and what to advertise by knowing which goods are doing well and which are not. Additionally, data can help businesses identify trends and understand what customers are looking for.

By leveraging data, businesses can increase e-commerce sales by making sure they are stocking the right products and promoting the right products. This understanding can help businesses adjust their offerings to meet customer needs, leading to increased sales.

 

The Top Facts About Leveraging Data To Increase E-Commerce Sales?

Launching an online store and succeeding as an entrepreneur takes a strong person. Once you’ve made this brave choice, you must use a solid e-commerce strategy to back up your aspirations.

Fortunately, learning how to boost e-commerce sales and create a successful online business doesn’t require special magic. People who are willing to work hard and learn can accomplish anything.

 

Segment your customers and target them with relevant offers.

Businesses increasingly need to leverage data to segment their customers and target them with relevant offers. By doing so, businesses can increase their e-Commerce sales and remain competitive. 

There are several ways to segment customers, including their location and purchase history.

 

Use data to personalize the shopping experience for each customer.

As the e-commerce landscape becomes increasingly competitive, retailers must leverage data to personalize the shopping experience for each customer. 

Retailers can increase sales and build loyalty among their customer base. Data can be used to create a more personalized user experience on a retailer’s website or mobile app.

 

Use data to create dynamic pricing models that reflect customer demand.

E-commerce businesses have long used dynamic pricing to increase sales and profits. By understanding customer demand and using data to create pricing models that reflect this demand, businesses can increase sales while still providing good value to their customers. 

Businesses must understand what their customers are willing to pay for their products or services.

 

Understand which products are selling well and which are not.

As the world moves towards e-Commerce, businesses need to understand how to leverage data to increase sales. Businesses can adjust their stock and marketing strategies to compete better when they clearly understand which products are selling well and which are not.

This can provide insight into why customers are not buying certain products.

 

Use data to optimize your website for better search engine ranking.

There is a lot of data available to website owners and e-commerce businesses. If used correctly, it can help to increase sales and improve search engine ranking. 

This data can come from various sources, including website analytics, customer feedback, and social media.

 

Track customer behavior and understand their buying patterns.

Businesses need to understand the buying patterns of their customers to increase e-Commerce sales. Several ways to track customer behavior include cookies and web analytics.

 

Operate data to improve your customer service and support.

To increase e-commerce sales, businesses must focus on customer service and support. One way to leverage data to improve customer service is to use customer feedback to identify areas where it can be improved. 

Another way to use analytics to identify trends and areas of opportunity is to look at the customer experience.

 

Develop new marketing campaigns and strategies.

In recent years, data has become increasingly important in marketing. With the rise of e-Commerce, businesses have collected more data than ever on their customers. This data can be used to develop new marketing campaigns and strategies that can help to increase e-commerce sales.

One way that businesses can use data to increase e-Commerce sales is by developing targeted marketing campaigns. 

By using data to segment their customer base, businesses can create marketing messages that are more relevant to each customer. This can lead to increased engagement and, ultimately, more sales. After register business in the UK, another way to use data to increase e-commerce sales is by personalizing the shopping experience. By using data to understand each customer’s needs and preferences, businesses can tailor the shopping experience to each individual. This can lead to more customer loyalty and higher sales figures.

Ultimately, data is a powerful tool that can be used to grow e-Commerce sales. By using data to develop targeted marketing campaigns and personalize the shopping experience, businesses can boost their sales and succeed in the competitive world of e-Commerce.

 

Monitor your competition and learn from their successes.

In the world of e-Commerce, data is everything. You can learn from their successes by tracking and analyzing your competition’s data and adjusting your e-Commerce strategy to increase sales.

There are several ways to collect data on your competition. Social media monitoring tools can give you insights into what kind of content resonates with their audience. So, by using social media, you can grow your business to the next level.

By leveraging data, you can gain a competitive edge in e-Commerce. You can adjust your strategy to boost sales by understanding what’s working for your competition.

 

Improve your business processes continually.

In any business, it is essential to have a process in place to improve performance continually. This is outstandingly true when it comes to e-commerce sales. By leveraging data, businesses can make informed decisions that will help them boost sales and improve their bottom line.

There are several ways to leverage data to increase e-Commerce sales. One way is to use data to identify trends. This can be done by analyzing customer data to determine the most frequently purchased items. 

By understanding customer trends, businesses can stock their shelves with items that are more likely to sell. They can also adjust their marketing and advertising efforts to target customers more likely to purchase certain items.

Another way to use data to increase e-Commerce sales is to provide personalized recommendations to customers. This can be done by analyzing customer data to see what items they have purchased and then recommending similar or related items. In addition, refer to the more ways to improve your business recruitment. This helps businesses to cross-sell and upsell to their customers, which can boost sales significantly.

Finally, businesses can use data to improve the overall customer experience. This can be done by analyzing customer feedback to identify areas of improvement. 

By making small changes to the shopping experience, businesses can make a big impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Data is the key to success in eCommerce. Leveraging data, you can increase sales, drive traffic, and improve conversions.

 

Conclusion

Understanding your customers better and using data to your advantage can drive more sales and improve your overall performance. You also need a great product, a strong marketing strategy, and excellent customer service to succeed in the e-Commerce world. 

In addition, getting an idea about business tax filing questions will be really helpful for your future. But if you can use data to your advantage, you’ll be well on increasing your sales and becoming a top player in your industry.

 

Alveo extends Ops360 data operations solution

Rolls out ‘no code’ in its curve builder capabilities and integrates with QuantLib

Alveo, a leading provider of cloud-based market data management services, has announced the extension of its data operations solution Ops360 including standard integration with QuantLib for advanced analytics.

With the new functionality, any appropriately permissioned business user can simply drag and drop input data sets into functions and set parameters to derive data and kick off the calculation of curves and risk factors. No coding is needed and the process is interactive. Users can add sources, tweak parameters before promoting a given calculation to production and anchoring it in an operational workflow in, for instance, financial modelling, valuation, product control, margin calculation or market risk management.

The capability comes with Alveo’s standard benefits including full transparency into the underlying sources of risk factors, the management of different families of interest rate curve drawing from different baskets of bonds; and the capability to quickly set up proprietary calculations.

Neil Sandle, Head of Product Management Alveo, said “the release of our new, interactive no-code curve building capability follows customer demand. New financial risk factors, changing input sets and calculation parameters but also broader market trends such as benchmark changes require a capability to easily maintain derived data sets such as curves and surfaces.

“The capability to quickly set up and prototype and do ‘what if’ analysis on risk factor creation, using different market data sources, or input sets, against either standard libraries, such as QuantLib, or customer’s own libraries in Python, or other languages, is a major business enabler” he added.

Mark Hepsworth, CEO Alveo, said “this functionality shows our blend of ultimate flexibility to end users with the rigour and industrial scale of an enterprise solution. Customers can set-up, prototype and manage different sets of derived data sets for different purposes and, using Alveo’s permissioning and data governance, easily share those with the wider organisation and include them into business operations. Whether clients use our solution on-prem, in private cloud or via our Data-as-a-Service, Ops360 puts the business user in control”.

 

About Alveo

Alveo is the leader in market data integration and analytics solutions for financial services. Focused on optimizing data flows for business user self-service, we provide cloud-native data aggregation and data quality management that enables clients to easily access trusted data while maximizing their data ROI. Through our managed services, we ensure that clients can smoothly onboard, prepare and validate data for use in operations, trading, investment management, pricing, risk, reporting and machine learning.

We service a global client base and our award-winning technology provides easy integration into business user workflows and a proven platform for advanced analytics. Through combining deep domain expertise with the latest open-source technologies, we help financial institutions ensure high-quality data, optimize market data cost and maximize productivity. For more information, please visit www.alveotech.com

inriver extends Digital Shelf Analytics capabilities with “Channel Insights”

Leading enterprise SaaS company inriver launches inriver Channel Insights – a new Digital Shelf Analytics (DSA) capability. DSA capabilities are critical to success on the digital shelf, and inriver is at the forefront of building awareness and lowering barriers to adoption. With its freemium and paid subscription, inriver Channel Insights enables all users of inriver’s product information management (PIM) solution to experience the power of digital shelf analytics via self-service functionalities available on their inriver dashboard.

With ever-increasing revenue opportunities driven by digital commerce, a PIM solution that ‘closes the loop’ is a must. However, many PIMs offer only product syndication, a one-way flow that solely delivers content to channels and touchpoints. These PIMs do not allow users to monitor the performance of products online and close the loop by taking appropriate action. Many brands acknowledge the importance of digital shelf analytics, but they struggle to secure the budget to implement a full-scale DSA solution. By launching inriver Channel Insights, inriver aims to bridge that gap.

“Inriver Channel Insights changes the dynamics of DSA adoption. Our freemium version makes digital shelf analytics accessible to all our customers and forms a foundational step to demonstrate the business value of DSA”, explains Johan Boström, CPO at inriver. “As inriver Channel Insights complements our existing DSA solution, inriver Evaluate, they can be used independently or as a dynamic duo.” 

Key features of inriver’s Channel Insights

  • A self-service solution providing closed-loop functionality within a single platform
  • At-a-glance view of category-level data about selected products – brand’s own or their competitors – across identified e-commerce sites that are pre-populated by the inriver data pool
  • Weekly updated category-level data, including visibility, out-of-stock, category rank, price overview, and ratings.
  • The inriver Channel Insights wizard lets users browse a collection of pre-loaded products and select a chosen number of SKUs and channels to monitor. The wizard allows users to switch out SKUs or channels as often as they want, in line with their subscription level.

Using the category-level, data-driven guidance provided by inriver Channel Insights, customers can refine and adapt content and drive marketing activities. They can enhance product stories, optimize their syndication strategy, and assess the viability of new e-commerce sites.

With this launch, inriver customers can now access the many benefits of digital shelf analytics through two complementary, in-built DSA capabilities: inriver Channel Insights and inriver Evaluate. While inriver Evaluate offers a deep dive into content audits for PIM-managed products, Channel Insights is designed for those with a curious mind. Users can focus on a new combination of products and channels every week, offering endless possibilities to learn more about products, channels, and competitors.

Record breaking year for Inheritance Data

Growing business expands its reach with range of new partners and services

Inheritance Data has reported a record-breaking year with enhanced services and functions and a significantly expanded customer base.

Through new partners The National Will Register and CLS Property Insight, along with existing partners, a growing number of Executors and Probate Professionals are taking advantage of services provided by Inheritance Data.

Through industry leading technology and API (application programming interface) capability, searches can be placed seamlessly from a multitude of platforms, with results shown instantaneously as Inheritance Data receives them.

In addition to new partnerships, a raft of new services are now available through the Inheritance Data platform to complement its Comprehensive Financial Asset Search, such as:

  • Certainty Will Search (powered by the National Will Register)
  • Liability Search (powered by Equifax)
  • Section 27 notice (London Gazette)

Inheritance Data is also working with a further range of new partners which will enable additional services to be unveiled soon, offering a complete searching solution for all probate matters.

Daniel Cane, CEO of Inheritance Data said: “We’ve welcomed new members to the team and achieved a record-breaking year which will allow Inheritance Data to invest further in our technology. Thanks to our growing success we are able to offer the most comprehensive Financial Asset Search, with a range of other complimentary services, all in one place.”

As the most experienced Financial Asset Search providers, Inheritance Data services benefit from not only exclusive Share searching capabilities but an Estate Distribution Warranty.

Every search placed comes with a unique warranty, to protect the Executor / Administrator from any additional costs that could be incurred from a missed asset for up to 10 years.

For more information, or to request a free demo to see how Inheritance Data’s services could benefit your organisation, assist probate professionals and help to mitigate risk, get in touch with the team at www.inheritancedata.com.

Yugabyte Joins the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform Partner Ecosystem

Simple, Automated Connectivity of YugabyteDB with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics Eliminates Silos Between Transactional Data and Analytics

 Yugabyte, the leader in open source distributed SQL databases, today announced it has joined the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform ecosystem. As an Intelligent Data Platform ecosystem partner, Yugabyte is excited to announce a new, native integration between YugabyteDB and Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics, that will directly connect the two environments.

Tight integration eliminates the classic silos and challenges of sharing transactional data between a relational database management system (RDBMS) and analytics platforms. One-click integration will give users the ability to seamlessly stream data changes from YugabyteDB into Intelligent Data Platform, yielding powerful insights from business-critical data.

Database modernization is accelerating as businesses look to extract insights to inform critical business decisions. To adopt data-driven business models and embrace adaptive analytics, organizations need flexible, available, and resilient database solutions that consistently deliver data to business-critical applications at cloud scale.

By integrating YugabyteDB with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics, Yugabyte will provide a single, consistent data ecosystem that enables organizations to quickly and easily analyze and act upon their data. The connection will be configured via a single, simple web portal where customers can select the Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS) folders and YugabyteDB folders of interest, and query each via Synapse Analytics or other Microsoft Services.

“As businesses accelerate their modernization journeys, data is their most valuable asset. However, extracting full value from their data via the intelligent use of analytics requires continual access to business-critical data. This is an enormous challenge for most organizations,” said Karthik Ranganathan, CTO and Co-Founder, Yugabyte. “A consistent data ecosystem is needed, providing tight integration that seamlessly connects systems and accelerates time to value. As a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform ecosystem, we can further help enterprises extract value from their data and embrace the journey to becoming data-driven organizations.”

Key benefits of the YugabyteDB-Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics Integration include;

  • Faster Time to Value: Customers reduce friction and complexity in creating and managing data flows from transactional data to the analytics platform.
  • Democratized Data-Driven Decisions: Through a one-click integration, users can dramatically reduce the amount of time and expertise needed to leverage powerful, cloud-based analytics.
  • No Data Silos: Eliminate common data silos with YugabyteDB’s unified, versatile database for transactional applications.

Along with the native integration planned for release later this year, Microsoft and YugabyteDB customers can get started today by streaming changes from the YugabyteDB database into ADLS through YugabyteDB’s Change Data Capture (CDC) feature. Once in ADLS, customers can query the data with Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI.

For information on deploying the solutions together today read more on the YugabyteDB and Azure Storage Options blog. For additional information visit www.yugabyte.com

Learn More: Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform Partner Ecosystem announcement


About Yugabyte

​​Yugabyte is the company behind YugabyteDB, the open source, high-performance distributed SQL database for building global, cloud-native applications. YugabyteDB serves business-critical applications with SQL query flexibility, high performance and cloud-native agility, thus allowing enterprises to focus on business growth instead of complex data infrastructure management. It is trusted by companies in cybersecurity, financial markets, IoT, retail, e-commerce, and other verticals. Founded in 2016 by former Facebook and Oracle engineers, Yugabyte is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, 8VC, Dell Technologies Capital, Sapphire Ventures, and others. www.yugabyte.com

Cohesity Research Reveals that a Reliance on Legacy Technology is Undermining How UK Organisations Respond to Ransomware

New global research commissioned by Cohesity, a leader in next-gen data management, reveals that half of respondents in the United Kingdom say their company depends on outdated, legacy backup and recovery infrastructure to manage and protect their data. In some cases, this technology is more than 20 years old and was designed long before today’s multicloud era and onslaught of sophisticated cyberattacks plaguing enterprises globally.

Challenges pertaining to outdated infrastructure could easily be compounded by the fact that many IT and security teams don’t seem to have a plan in place to mobilise if and when a cyber attack occurs. More than 6 in 10 (62%) respondents* in the UK expressed some level of concern that their IT and security teams would be able to mobilise efficiently to respond to the attack.

“IT and security teams should raise the alarm bell if their organisation continues to use antiquated technology to manage and secure their most critical digital asset – their data,” said Brian Spanswick, chief information security officer, Cohesity. “Cyber criminals are actively preying on this outdated infrastructure as they know it was not built for today’s dispersed, multicloud environments, nor was it built to help companies protect and rapidly recover from sophisticated cyberattacks.”

Backup and Recovery Infrastructure That Could Be Considered Archaic 

Fifty percent (49.4%) of respondents in the UK said that their organisation relies on primary backup and recovery infrastructure that was designed in, or before, 2010. Among that group, 27 percent claim to utilise technology that was either designed between 2000-2005, or in fact, before the new millennium in the 1990s.

Enterprises are utilising this legacy technology despite the fact that managing and securing data environments has become much more complex, not just because of the exponential growth in structured and unstructured data, but because of the vast array of locations where that data is stored. In the UK, 38% percent of respondents stated that they store data on-premises, 39% rely on public cloud storage, 50% utilise a private cloud, and 41% have adopted a hybrid model (some respondents are using more than one option).

“In 2022, the fact that any organisation is using technology to manage their data that was designed in the 1990s is frightening given that data can be compromised, exfiltrated, held hostage, and it can create massive compliance issues for organisations,” said Spanswick. “In this survey, we easily found respondents who said their organisations are relying on very outdated data infrastructure, and this raises the question, how many other businesses are in the same situation around the world?”

What Keeps IT and SecOps Teams Up at Night  

Respondents in the UK highlighted what they believe would be their biggest barriers to getting their organisation back up and running after a successful ransomware attack. The findings are as follows (respondents were asked to check all that apply):

  • integration between IT andsecurity systems (41%);
  • lack of coordination between IT andSecurity (37%);
  • lack of an automated disaster recovery system (34%);
  • lack of and timely detailed alerts (31%)
  • antiquated backup and recovery systems (29%);
  • lack of a recent, clean, immutable copy of data (24%);

“Both IT decision-makers and SecOps should co-own the cyber resilience outcomes, and this includes an evaluation of all infrastructure used in accordance with the NIST framework for data identification, protection, detection, response, and recovery. Also, both teams need to have a comprehensive understanding of the potential attack surface,” said Spanswick. “Next-gen data management platforms can close the technology gap, improve data visibility, help IT and SecOps teams sleep better at night, and stay one step ahead of bad actors who take great delight in exfiltrating data from legacy systems that can’t be recovered.”

Nearly 4 in 5 mining sector CEOs don’t have a digital strategy, finds new survey

Mining industry failing to dig a gold-standard data future

Mining companies need to mine their own data as effectively as they extract natural resources, according to a new study of digital technology and data strategy within the sector.

A survey of senior mining professionals across 57 countries, conducted for data enablement software company, WCKD RZR, and mining executive search and recruitment consultants, Stratum International, shows poor and haphazard take-up of digital technology and data strategies.

Nearly four out of five respondents (77%) thought mining CEOs had failed to make provision for a digital strategy. More than one in three thought that while most CEO’s acknowledge the importance of data, few had implemented data analytics’ strategies.

Not enough companies in the industry have invested in teams of data and digital specialists and as a result the sector is lagging behind on digital and data transformation.

 

Chuck Teixeira

Chuck Teixeira, founder and CEO of WCKD RZR, said: “What’s apparent from our survey is that mining is falling behind. The sector is failing to dig a gold standard digital future for itself, which will impact livelihoods, competitiveness and profitability.

“One of the key reasons is that the sector has not made sufficient space for digital and data technology experts within its structures. Mining companies are also falling behind the curve in extracting and using the data they have to transform efficiency and productivity.”

Teixera added: “Many of these companies have multiple databases in numerous countries. This means finding, governing and accessing all that data, with the myriad of international data rules, might seem a big obstacle. But that’s where WCKD RZR can help, as our Data Watchdog software does exactly that.”

 

Current data suggests that the global natural resources industry is 30%-40% less ‘digitally mature’ than comparable industries.

 

Will Coetzer

Will Coetzer, Founder at Stratum International, said: “As with most industries, technology in the mining sector is improving productivity, profitability and cost-saving.

“However, there is a very real sense within the industry that most companies are ill-equipped to handle the changing digital and data landscape. This may be attributed to ageing leadership and the failure to appoint experts, like Chief Digital Officers and Chief Data Officers to manage their processes and analytics.”

 

Mining businesses, like many other global organisations, often face a range of problems caused by conflicting data governance policies and authorisation controls in different locations and jurisdictions.

 

WCKD RZR’s Data Watchdog software is easily installed onto any organisation’s internal network allowing seamless access to data. It begins to work within minutes, spidering and mapping all identified databases, using proprietary machine learning technology, auto-labelling the data so that it can be easily accessed by users.

Mining image credit- istock-knenon

Evri Appoints Chief Data Officer

Evri, formerly Hermes, has appointed a Chief Data Officer, a new role designed to support the company’s continuing growth and ensure that it is leveraging its data assets to maximise operational and delivery performance.

Harvinder Atwal joins the business from MoneySuperMarket where he was Chief Data Scientist and was responsible for integrating advanced analytics and machine learning to deliver a sophisticated and personalised customer experience. Prior to this he worked for Dunnhumby where he was Insight Director for the Tesco Clubcard Development. In his new role Harvinder will be focusing on developing a best practice data strategy for the business, setting a vision for data for the next 3-5 years. This will include ensuring the business continues to operate to the highest standard of data compliance and security.

Commenting in his new role, Harvinder said: “I was attracted to this role because of the scale of the business, its strong growth trajectory and the dynamism of the sector. My background is in operational research and using data algorithms to improve performance and I am excited to be using my skills to support Evri on its ongoing Transformation journey.”

Fash Sawyerr, Chief Transformations Officer at Evri said: “This is a key area of our business and it’s important that we have the right calibre of person in place. Harvinder is talented and experienced and we are confident will be a great asset to our team.”