DATA DATA DATA powered by DATA3 Issue 6 | 29 November 2023

Do you want to grow your business, innovate, drive efficiencies, &/or create new revenue streams? Of course, you do! Well data is the starting point…and this is the only data-focused roundup you’ll ever need!

DATA IN THE NEWS

Not quite in the news (or is Netflix news?) but this documentary was recommended to me by my Dad who has been well trained to spot anything data-related that I can mention in this newsletter…!

“I saw a documentary yesterday that explained how a plane crashed because they had been using the average passenger weight for 30 years when in America it had gone up by 10% and the plane had too much weight to get off the ground! I thought it might be a basis for your next bulletin?”?And so, here it is…that’s how easy it is to get a shout-out in DATA DATA DATA, it seems. For those of you who like a good disaster story, check it out at Watch Downfall: The Case Against Boeing | Netflix Official Site .

DATA TIPS

In DATA DATA DATA, I want to share the most important lessons learnt that I’ve realised in the last 5 years since I set up Data3 and started working with SMEs on their data challenges and data opportunities.

This time, it’s – you could be sitting on a data goldmine.

Some organisations are sitting on an untapped asset that could be commercially valuable…an asset that they have access to, an asset they own, an asset that’s growing every day and an asset that could be exploited. Data…of course! Think about businesses that have…

• Lots of customers
• Lots of transactions
• A long track record in business
• Different regions or countries where they operate in
• And more

Many organisations have tons of data…which often they’re not using much or at all. I often find that businesses are paying more to store their vast volumes of data than they are deriving value from it!

So, how can organisations transform this mine of data into gold?

1. The data could be used to generate new business insight, uncover hidden knowledge, and provide new information to the leadership team so they can make smarter, data-driven decisions.
2. The data could be used to automate current manual processes to improve efficiency within the organisation and improve business performance.
3. The data could be used to generate new products or services that could be sold to customers, such as forecasts, benchmarks, alerts, or indices.
4. And more…

So, challenge yourself today – are you sitting on a data goldmine??

DATA THEMES

In the first five issues of DATA DATA DATA, I focused on the most frequent questions, the team and I get asked - Microsoft or AWS? Power BI or Tableau? Off-the-shelf or DIY? Recruit in-house or use a data consultancy? And do we need a data engineer or a data scientist or a…?

This time, it’s do we need a data lake, database, or data warehouse?

You’ve probably heard all these terms mentioned, sometimes in the same sentence, and often interchangeably…but what do they actually mean?

Here’s how our data engineers describe the differences when we’re working with clients…

So, now you know what they are, that’s a start…but which one do you pick? Which one does your business need? Which one’s right for your project? Now these are tougher questions to answer as it’ll depend on the data to be stored and what you want to do with it.

Keeping it super simple and non-techie, much like me, here’s how I see it…

• Data lakes are great when you want to push lots of data into a holding place and you’re not yet sure how you’ll use it. Data lakes provide a low-cost and easy way to store data.
• Data warehouses are great when you have a clear view of how data will be extracted, cleansed, processed, analysed, and visualised…and you need to ensure that your data is stored in an organised way.

In future issues of DATA DATA DATA, I’ll cover other frequent questions that I’ve come across when talking data with our clients…anyone want to guess what they are?!

DATA CRAZINESS

I LOVE seeing examples of good/bad/funny data visualisations, data wins, data mistakes, and more.

Here’s a serious example of data craziness…read this amazing book by Caroline Criado Perez. Among the facts in here are…

• Most offices are five degrees too cold for women, because the formula to determine their temperature was developed in the 1960s based on the metabolic resting rate of a 40-year-old, 70kg man - women’s metabolisms are slower.
• Women in Britain are 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed following a heart attack - heart failure trials generally use male participants.
• Cars are designed around the body of “Reference Man”, so although men are more likely to crash, women involved in collisions are nearly 50% more likely to be seriously hurt.
• The average smartphone, at 5.5 inches long, is too big for most women’s hands, and it doesn’t often fit in our pockets.
• Speech-recognition software is trained on recordings of male voices: Google’s version is 70% more likely to understand men.

And there are loads more…if this isn’t crazy, I don’t know what is. One of the best books I’ve read and guaranteed to make you want to share the data-related facts with anyone in earshot!

Have you seen any examples of data craziness you want to share? Please drop me a line.

DATA QUOTES

In this issue, I defer to Sherlock Holmes for a data quote…

In future issues, I’ll share more quotes I hear, quotes I read, quotes you tell me about, and more – what’s your favourite data-related quote? Let me know and we’ll find a data-related prize for the best one.

DATA FREEBIES

We’re regularly sharing blogs and data information, free advice, free tools, free tips, and lots more. They’re all available at:

• Data3 website - Blog | Data Cubed (data-cubed.co.uk)
• BoomBoard website - Blog Post – BoomBoard

In future issues, I’ll share links to super useful, completely FREE videos, guides, templates, and similar…so, there are loads more freebies to come.

Thank you for reading…I’ll be back soon with more data news.

And, if you’re in data hell, I’m data Hels!

Recommend a friend or colleague to join our mailing list for DATA DATA DATA – [email protected] or connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/helentanner/