A little over 5 years ago my Analytics Story begun.
The first year was all about validating my business plan of being an analytics resource to Filipino schools, companies and to a large number of Filipinos themselves.
The 2nd year was taking the concept, basic analytics training, and getting it in front of a variety of audiences to see what where the biggest needs in the marketplace.
Year Three saw us start focusing on the things that gave me both profit and satisfaction. Trainings for groups of professionals who were hungry to get more analytics into their businesses.
By the 4th year my priorities evolved to firming up the foundation of the business to ensure smooth operations so that I could focus more on what I do best; empowering analysts to use data to drive decision-making.
Last year saw it all come together. Year 5 was all about building a network to take my passion and do much more with it then my small team could take on alone. I trained more Filipinos across a wider range of need then I could have imagined. And yeah, we made a nice profit too. Also got my first analytics book published.
Now, as I look at year six I see the fruits of our blood, sweat and tears and I see nothing but growth. More and more Filipinos empowered to use data, across an even wider swath of backgrounds and in an ever increasing footprint.
2017 is going to be the most awesome analytics year ever, not just for me. Not just for my business. But for my beloved adopted home, the Philippines.
I'm the kind of person who craves change.
I get bored kinda easily if I'm doing something routine.
But once I hit a spot where my passion can intersect with a new task, I go all in.
It's not really a short attention span.
I just like trying new things.
Thats why analytics is so amazing to me.
Looking at ever changing data to discover patterns and answer questions.
Helping people get turned on to a career as an analyst or helping a business in need of some analytics guidance is among my favorite things.
As I look towards the road ahead, I see lots and lots of new experiences, new places and new challenges.
For me, no two days are ever the same.
Had a blast at the Big Data Conference at Enderun College yesterday. Lots of things to discuss in upcoming blogs, but here are a few takeaways that I notated.
There is a strong hunger for a national umbrella organization for analytics, big data and data science.
Engagement at the C-Level of Filipino companies outside the IT-BPO sector to eliminate the biggest adoption roadblock.
Restart of the Government, Industry and Academia collaboration on analytics needs to happen.
More hands on experiential learning for both students and faculty involving the industry.
Both traditional training and certification models as well as mentoring and self-guided training opportunities.
The speed and consistency of the internet is a huge threat.
Advocacy for fixing culture before spending on costly technology and high priced talent.
Conversion of up to 70% of Customer Facing BPO Workers to doing analytics and data science as a hedge against automation and political decisions.
Im convinced that a lot of good can come out of the conference as the analytics and data science industry is at about the same point the call center industry was 10 years ago.
However, given the global demand for data savvy talent and the exponential proliferation of data, we need todo in 3-5 years what the BPO industry did in 10.
Most people learn by seeing something… that's definitely true when it comes to using data. They not only learn more, but data visualization also a quicker sharing of information and also enhances communication.
Here's an example. My management team was discussing how to enhance our coaching efforts with the team and since each of my direct reports has a different area of responsibility; production, quality and schedule adherence, they were having trouble agreeing on which analysts needed the most coaching. They each produced reports that were stand alone documents that would be shared via email or dropbox.
It's a simple collection of visuals built on top of a data file.
I created a simple Google docs spreadsheet and shared it. Each of the key performance indicators used to evaluate employee success was given a column and I put each employee a row. I then had each of my directs input the relevant data points and quickly we had a rudimentary business dashboard and I now I have a much more in synch management team.
Simple analytics solutions like this are at the fingertips of any business. You just need to know when, where, and how best to implement them. Something so simple as a place to share data is so often overlooked by even the most successful businesses.
Often you here people in business talk about how it's more important to be either a master at one thing or a jack of all trades. When it comes to being a great analyst, you see many who are great because they have mastered their subject or a certain analytics tool. On the flip side you see many great analysts who seem to know a lot about a lot and are proficient across multiple subjects and/or can use many analytics tools. So which is better?
From both my experience and my personal perspective, analysts who know a lot about a lot are rarer and more valuable to a business. Based on both an accumulation of knowledge and the ability to work in various environments, analysts who are considered to jack of all trades kinds are in general great analysts.
However, I have also found that most business actually find more value in master of certain type of analysis work or someone who is great at using a certain tool. Specialization is something that is on the surface very impressive as it shows discipline and competency in a certain subject. They know a lot about their area of expertise and are recognized as such.
Occasionally you can even come across analyst who are both knowledgeable about a lot and even more knowledgeable about a specific subject matter. Now that is a rare breed.
So, no matter what type of analyst you are or want to be, the bottom line is you need to constantly read and connect and expand your knowledge… you need to know a lot if you want to be great!
As 2012 came to a close, things really started to slow down. I took full advantage of this to prepare of a big launch of DMAI in January. We didn't go home for the holidays, and ended up just staying in Makati to enjoy Christmas and New Years. And boy was it memorable.
The Winter Holidays in the US start with Thanksgiving. That's when the malls have huge sales and you start seeing Christmas lights and hearing Christmas music in the malls. However in the Philippines that starts in September. So, but December I was pretty fatigued from hearing and seeing the Christmas cheer and looking forward to finally seeing the day come and pass.
There were a couple of additional interesting lessons I learned. From the period between Christmas and just after New Years, all movies show in Manila are Filipino made films. No Hollywood blockbusters or international films. It's both good and bad, it allows Filipinos to relish in their own productions and guarantees viewing for films that might otherwise be missed. However, they are of course all in Tagalog. I went to one and got some of it, its was a romantic comedy so most of the jokes don't need translation, but boy wouldn't it be nice if they had subtitles.
The other one that really stands out is the fireworks. In the US we do fireworks in a big way on July 4th. There are also some on New Years or Veterans Day or Memorial in places, but fireworks really cant be enjoyed when its cold so for the most is just Independence Day. In the Philippines in Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Years Day. Staying on the 10th floor of a corner condo in Makati I could see fireworks all around from Pasay to Manila to Makati. Big and Small. It was amazing. And after the smoke was so thick it was like fog. It was truly amazing.
From an analytics standpoint I took away a couple of things. Know your holidays. For example, if you are an American company doing business in the Philippines know the holidays so you can keep your people happy. The second is that someone needs to do some analysis on the lost revenue of just showing Filipino films. They still make good money, but it has to be tough on the cinemas to sacrifice profit for art over a two-week period where everyone is at the malls.
In September we stated working for a client that at first seemed to be a wonderful opportunity. They asked us to help them set up a manpower staffing business in Clark, Pampanga. It was a very interesting proposition. We would go out and sell the business and get a 50% commission on any business we brought in the door. We were given an office space, internet access, business cards, a business proposal and we found a list of potential clients to market too. We started doing a multi channel sales campaign with an e-mail blitz, phone call and in-person meetings. We also did some deep dive competitor research including mystery shopping. And we networked with the government agency in charge of the Clark Freeport Trade Zone. But we made a lot of assumptions and mistakes and after about three weeks of travelling from Makati to Clark (about 2 hours each way), things hadn't worked out the way we had hoped for. Let's look at a couple of the issues and analyze them.
1. We decided to set up shop in an area we were not at all familiar with. To mitigate this we hired a local with manpower experience.
2. We had to spend a lot of time travelling, so we had a small window for meetings. So we made sure all appointments where confirmed the day before.
3. We wanted to get to know the way things worked. So I networked with several key people via LinkedIn and in person appointments.
4. We didn't have any upfront revenue. We got our client to pay most of the upfront costs for marketing and promotions.
5. We need to get our name out there. We sponsored a job fair and I got a speaking engagement at the event.
6. We had to assess the market opportunity. I had a couple of trainees build a prospective client database and map out locations.
So all things looked good. We had a great opportunity, I had applied a lot of analysis and we were ready to go.
But there were crack in the foundation and they had nothing to do with my analysis or our strategy. They had to do with people.
Even the best laid plans don't work our if you cant count on the people to execute the plans. Partners got distracted, staff had to deal with personal challenges and personal life started to suffer from professional stresses. By the end of September there were more cracks in the pavement then I had cement to fill them with.
But it was still so much fun, so much adventure, so much excitement I just rolled with the blows and kept pushing forward!