Transforming Complex Analysis Into Simple Insight: the Benefits of Dashboard Interface
Putting aside any discussion about the veracity of the Net Promoter Score, the one irrefutable fact has been that the adoption of the metric by management has occurred with blinding speed. And, the reason for the rapid adoption, again putting aside the merits of the measure itself, has been its pure simplicity: a single number (advocacy) purporting to correlate with total revenue.
The desire of management for simplicity is not a new phenomenon. However, it has now reached new heights and the implications are surely the greatest for marketing science and the growing sophistication of the business analytics being produced.
Whilst such analysis has brought with it great insight, it has also required a commensurate increase in the time management must spend wading through and interpreting, indeed, prioritising these analytical findings. Yet management are driven to brevity and so it is not surprising then that a single number alternative is so readily embraced.
The burden of analysis resides with the analysts. However, so too should the burden of transforming complex results into simple, readily digestible, bite size 'nuggets' of insight. It makes sense to engage the analysts’ expertise not only in the production of the analysis but also in this required transformation of the findings. The ability of the analysts to distil the findings down to just the key message and not 'show their workings' may, however, prove to be somewhat challenging.
'Hiding' the complexity of the analysis by embedding the results into simulators historically associated with trade-off analysis, has become one solution. Forethought's Prophecy® Dashboard is one such example in which such a transformation can be applied. The Prophecy® Dashboard involves taking the comprehensive results of customer value analysis (CVA) and feeding them into a dashboard interface. The dashboard utilises the rigorous analytics from the CVA to produce a simple, visual representation of key business performance indicators.
So in a single screen shot, management can assess 1) their position in the market against their main competitor, 2) alter the relative position in order to observe the expected change in 'market share' and 3) undertake net present value calculations in order to calculate return on investment.
The beauty of this approach is that whilst the complexity of the analysis is hidden, it is not ignored.
The challenge then sits squarely with the market researcher to respond to management's need for brevity – simplicity. Rather than simplicity resulting from simple analysis, the way forward then is to develop the ability to distil the results of comprehensive analysis into simple yet accurate metrics that are readily digestible but substantive in their origin.
The desire of management for simplicity is not a new phenomenon. However, it has now reached new heights and the implications are surely the greatest for marketing science and the growing sophistication of the business analytics being produced.
Whilst such analysis has brought with it great insight, it has also required a commensurate increase in the time management must spend wading through and interpreting, indeed, prioritising these analytical findings. Yet management are driven to brevity and so it is not surprising then that a single number alternative is so readily embraced.
The burden of analysis resides with the analysts. However, so too should the burden of transforming complex results into simple, readily digestible, bite size 'nuggets' of insight. It makes sense to engage the analysts’ expertise not only in the production of the analysis but also in this required transformation of the findings. The ability of the analysts to distil the findings down to just the key message and not 'show their workings' may, however, prove to be somewhat challenging.
'Hiding' the complexity of the analysis by embedding the results into simulators historically associated with trade-off analysis, has become one solution. Forethought's Prophecy® Dashboard is one such example in which such a transformation can be applied. The Prophecy® Dashboard involves taking the comprehensive results of customer value analysis (CVA) and feeding them into a dashboard interface. The dashboard utilises the rigorous analytics from the CVA to produce a simple, visual representation of key business performance indicators.
So in a single screen shot, management can assess 1) their position in the market against their main competitor, 2) alter the relative position in order to observe the expected change in 'market share' and 3) undertake net present value calculations in order to calculate return on investment.
The beauty of this approach is that whilst the complexity of the analysis is hidden, it is not ignored.
The challenge then sits squarely with the market researcher to respond to management's need for brevity – simplicity. Rather than simplicity resulting from simple analysis, the way forward then is to develop the ability to distil the results of comprehensive analysis into simple yet accurate metrics that are readily digestible but substantive in their origin.
