Not-for-Profit Virtual Seminar: How Not-For-Profit Organizations Can Build an Effective Data Strategy
February 25, 2021
Each year, our Not-for-Profit Seminar hosts a number of relevant topics, provides timely insights and poses questions and considerations to takeaway for your own organization. Below, we review the session Transforming Outcomes with Analytics and Business Intelligence, and recap important themes covered in the meeting.
Successful organizations are using analytics strategically to drive growth. In the webinar Transforming Outcomes with Analytics and Business Intelligence Bryce Gartner, Principal of icimo analytics by Cherry Bekaert LLP, explored critical components of an effective data strategy with participants from not-for-profit organizations across the US.
The session kicked off with an audience poll question, asking participants whether they have a formal data strategy. The majority (67%) said they either didn’t or weren’t sure.
Feeling Behind with Analytics? You’re not alone.
Turns out, session participants were an accurate representation of the marketplace. Most organizations feel like they are behind when it comes to analytics. However, they should get comfortable—and not intimidated—with where they are on their journey. Overall, most organizations are still grappling with how to best use data.
Three Common Analytics Mistakes
As companies work to figure out how to best leverage data, there are pitfalls to avoid:
- Denial. If you think you have all the data you need, you are in denial.
- Technology centered. The most successful organizations know they need technology, but they don’t start there. They start with the business.
- Let’s analyze everything. If you try to do everything, you accomplish nothing. Build a data strategy that executes on your business priorities.
How Will You Tell Your Data Story?
No matter how well you use data and analytics to answer critical questions to drive your business, it all comes down to how well you communicate your findings. Most session participants (60%) indicated that they are sharing “data” with their audience – but they are not sharing “data stories”.
At its core, analytics is a communications function that needs to engage its intended audience. For your data to be understood, you need to develop a method—likely simple visual representations—that tells the story.
Contact Luis Gallardo about developing your data strategy and how to tell your data story to deliver results.