A story of data and perseverance

Let me tell you a story.?

Why??

Well, I (and many others) believe that story telling is important in business as it gives a real-life insight into how things come about, uses less business jargon, and can bring to life a specific journey without the need for a presentation or anything other than a story. Of course, the story must be true.

This story begins 4 years ago late in the evening in a hotel bar in Aberdeen. I was with my rugby club’s mini’s youth tour. I was a coach and a so-called responsible adult. Hmmm. Our kids were running about causing havoc in the hotel when some of us parents were sipping an orange juice.

There were two other parents that I had not met before and I got talking to, and as luck would have it, we had hit upon the specific topic of data after we got to that moment when someone says: ‘What do you do?’.?

‘I have worked in IT and Systems for the last 3 decades’ I told them, and now own a business delivering consultancy in the social housing sector.

They both owned a data science company that had grown considerably and was delivering great projects for a wide range of companies worldwide, all in the private sector of retail, banking etc.?

Some great customers there I said and jokingly (those who know me, will know I can just blurt things out in the moment) asked if they have ever done work on data in the public or third sector.?

They hadn’t, but there in lay the challenge.

‘Why not?’ I asked.

This was four years ago, give or take a few months, so those reading this from a social housing track will know that although some were looking at data analysis, reporting (yuk), even a dashboard or two, it wasn’t by any means top of the social landlord’s agenda.?

‘It never hit our radar’ they said, and ‘nobody has ever asked from that sector’ they supplemented.?

I know I used to be a lot more critical back then. I was after all still a young pup in my forties, albeit my late forties, but I did say that one of the issues with the social housing sector, and still is to a degree, is that they are very insular and don’t look for solutions or best practice from the outside.?

So, was there a way we could join forces to look at data solutions for the sector by using my consultancies knowledge of the sector and their specific expertise in data science and engineering?

You bet there was.?

We designed some services that brought data analytics and Power BI dashboards to several landlords, and it worked well. However, in business some things throw you off-piste. In this case, they were acquired by a large American company and were taken in some different directions that meant our dream of saving the social housing worlds data-based problems through data science, engineering and problem solving was off the table.

And that was that.

Until that is the founders of that business, the two I bumped into that night recently brought up the subject of trying again. They now had a new business full of talented data scientists, engineers, analysts, and problem solvers.

And so, we did try again. This time it’s even better, and it’s now a service that is about to make some serious in roads to helping landlords with their data-based problems.?

We both love that joining of forces where we can bring some of the UK’s leading minds in data, working alongside my own company that is so determined to make a difference and create change in the sector, this time with one of your most valuable assets, and you could argue, perhaps over that late night orange juice, your most important asset. Data!

So, have a peek below at the overview, basically the output of the above story.