In this earlier post, I shared my perspectives on looking at data analytics in a less intimidating way than through the lens of big data. The essence of my point was to start your data analytics journey by posing the small, but mightily important questions.
Today, I’d like to share a story to further illustrate.
The Wish
Recently a client came to me with the following wish, “I really wish I knew if our marketing, sales, and overall outreach efforts were truly making a financial difference.” I translated this into the following question, “How do I know which outreach efforts are making a positive top-line financial impact?”
Fortunately, I was familiar with a financial analysis approach to use as a framework for answering this question. Many of you may be familiar as well…
The approach aligns a patient to the period of time when they entered the organization as a new patient. It then ties all revenue associated with the patient back to this prescribed time period. This allows the total patient revenues to be creatively assessed in parallel with the timing of outreach activities that may have led them to the clinic door.
Unfortunately, most canned system reporting does not lend itself to easily gathering the data to support this approach. I’ve worked with an organization that manually compiled this type of report. This required 24 hours per month of manual work for a single, monthly report!
The Solution
Instead of heading down such a path, our Focus team collaborated with the COO and Billing Manager to find a better, more efficient solution to granting the wish. After confirming we clearly understood the question they were seeking to answer and gathering a few more detailed requirements, we went to work.
The solution was an on-demand report available at any time with the click of a mouse. We used existing tools and existing data to bring this solution to fruition… and make this client’s data wish come true. No genies involved or big investment in magical lamps required.
The Takeaway
The intent of my story is not to brag about our capabilities. Rather, my intent is to show a real example of allowing your questions to help set the course for your organization’s data analytics efforts.
It’s not about gobs of mystical data or magical Cadillac tools. It’s about finding your way to the right data to inform and answer your questions. Or, put another way… the things you wish you knew.
OK, now go ahead and grant yourself three data wishes for the year ahead.
Please reach out if our team can help make your wishes come true. No magic lamps required!
Always here to help,
