The document discusses the critical importance of data stewardship and governance in improving business performance, highlighting that poor data quality can significantly impact organizational effectiveness and revenue. It emphasizes the need for clear ownership, a strategic approach to data management, and collaborative relationships among stakeholders to enhance data quality and drive informed decision-making. Key achievements from implementing these strategies are outlined, including improved marketing effectiveness, operational access to quality leads, and a strengthened reputation in business support services.

1. The Business Performance Index – An
Explanation
Ged Mirfin, Chief Data Officer, Business Link Northwest
Data Stewardship & Data Advocacy: An Explanation

2. “60% of Public Sector
Organisations around the
world think that inaccurate
and incomplete data costs
them money in terms of
wasted resources, lost
productivity and/or wasted
marketing spend”
“The impact poor data management has on your
organisation”
QAS Experian
International Research White Paper
September 2005

3. “Business users are rightly
intolerant of new systems
that are delivered filled with
rubbish data and may even
fail to adopt the system. It’s
like investing in a new sports
car, filling it with the oil and
fuel drained from your old
vehicle, and then wondering
why it fails to perform as it
did on the test drive.”
(Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers)

4. The Gartner View
• Biggest contributory factor in “outright
failure” CRM is lack of process
ownership.
• The problem is nobody owns it. When
CRM cuts across different departments it
breaks down at the interface between
different departments. There's no
understanding of the end-to-end process.
• No helicopter overview.
• Therefore no CRM “grand strategy”.

5. Data Stewardship
Creation of a formalised management
structure including systems,
processes and the establishment of
standards. Accountability for the
processing of data throughout the
business was designed to increase
operational effectiveness, promoting
“data” and its use into a highly valued
“strategic asset”

6. Who owned BLNW Data?
• Marketing
• Operations
• Brokers
• IT
• CRM Manager
• M. I. Team
• Business Improvement

7. Who had ultimate “ownership” of
BLNW Data?
• Everyone and No-One
• Everyone had responsibility for their
individual piece of the jig-saw
• Devolved Control of the Management of
Data was dispersed throughout the
Business
• This led to anarchical and fragmented
decision-making and ineffective quality
control mechanisms
• No one Individual or Team was in
charge

8. The Gartner View
“The challenge of poor data quality
presents a vicious circle. If
business users don’t trust the
existing data in a system, they
take less care themselves when
entering new information, which
only compounds the data quality
problem. With data being
recognised as an organisation’s
second most valuable asset, and
poor data quality losing
organisations up to a quarter of
their revenue, this is a topic that
cannot be ignored.”

9. Data Governance –Ensuring Data
Quality, Data Acquisition &
Reporting
Structures and Processes for
Management & Storage of Data
as a Strategic Asset
Maintaining Data Integrity
& Measuring Data Quality
Placing Data at the very heart of BLNW activities
Data Stewardship
Data
Team
-Data
Strategy
Data
TQM

10. Data Strategy
• Identifying ways to improve current data
• Searching the market for external data that can
further enrich current dataset
• Establishing a programme for managing
suppliers.
• Monitor the quality of this data.
• Implementing effective control procedures.
• Apply change management processes.
• Measure the impact of data.
• Establish review processes.

11. Issues Encountered At O2
-Focus at Executive Level
-Wider Organisation Buy In
removal of accepted norms
-Addressing Director Silo Culture
-Gaining Agreement for
Information Ownership
-Sheer Volume
and Complexity
of Data
-Agreement on Change in
Organisational Structure and
Process and Reallocation to
Corporate Resources Directorate
-Sufficient Power Vested in Project
Team to Ensure Delivery of Project
Form a powerful team with a real
remit to make the change happen
-Recruitment of
Experienced Specialist
Contractor “Developer”
Resource
-Proving the Business Case and Obtaining
Funding
Issues Encountered At BLNW

12. Communicating the Benefits of Data as a
Corporate Asset – the Advocacy Approach
“Selling the vision for data for the
business going forward.”
• Evangelical approach to the
adoption of Data internally by
publicising Data Issues
• Developing effective working
relationships with key data users
and the ICT team to develop
performance management
solutions.
• Actively pursue collaborative and
cohesive working relationships with
all internal personnel.

13. Key Stakeholders
Marketing
Build
increased
penetration
amongst
service users
through
improved
segmentation
and targeting
Operations
Improve take-
up of intensive
assists for
Broker Team
by increasing
lead generation
Executive
Meeting of
Strategic
Priorities: To
be recognized
as the leader
on regional
business
intelligence
and playing a
vital role in
informing
business
support policy
making
Cluster Orgs.
Make definitive
pronouncements
about the
effectiveness of
BLNW services
delivered to the
NW Business
Community
including
Membership &
Cluster Orgs,
Local Councils,
Politicians &
Opinion Leaders
“Advanced
Customer
Segmentation”
“Vastly
Improved
Lead Quality”
“Delivering
Strategic
Priorities”
“Sharing of Key
Data across the
Region”
NWDA
Provision of
relevant and
up-to-date
information on
emerging
business
trends allowing
the NWDA to
service
requests from
Government,
Political Parties
& Lobbying
Orgs
“One Version
of the Truth”
The Business Support EnvironmentINTERNAL EXTERNAL

14. Impact Analysis – Key Achievements to Date
• Marketing: Dramatically Improved Response Rates from Direct Marketing Activity
• Has allowed BLNW to Build increased penetration through improved segmentation and targeting
• Achieved 14.29% conversion rate rate from Large Scale Direct Mail Activity (35,000) – c.5,000 new users over a 2 Month
period
• Operations: Has given Adviser Teams Access to High quality Leads in Increased Volumes
• Has Improve take-up of intensive assists for Broker Team by increasing lead generation – Diaries of Advisers full
• Access to a Much Wider Universe of Businesses than previously allowing BLNW to widen the net
• Executive: Strategic Priorities: Recognized as the leader on regional business intelligence and playing a vital role in informing
business support policy making
• Enhancement both Reputation and Policy Influencing Role of BLNW within Business Support Community
 Business Support Community Partners & Stakeholder Orgs: Has allowed BLNW to Make Definitive Pronouncements about the
effectiveness of its Services to the NW Business Community including Membership & Cluster Orgs, Local Councils, Politicians
& Change Architects
• Has allowed BLNW to contextualize the impact of its service delivery with robust evidence
• Benchmarking effective performance and identifying gaps
• In return has allowed Business Support Community Partners & Stakeholders to consider their own activity whilst
providing effective specific Business Support in their Geography/Sector
• Northwest Development Agency: Provision of relevant and up-to-date information on emerging business trends allowing the
NWDA to service requests from Government, Political Parties & Lobbying Orgs
• BLNW Data recognized as the Primary Source of Business Intelligence in the Northwest Region
• Creation of Rapid Response Framework with BLNW Data Warehouse(s) at Core
• Delivery of Strategic Business Trend Data to Key Decision-Makers have become Key Forecasting Indices
• Data at this level of granularity is available to no other RDA

15. Who wanted to know what?
Everyone had an opinion but NOBODY had the facts
• NWBL had a significant set of operational targets for Y1 of its
operation
• Certain members of the business support community in the North
West felt challenged by BL
Interested Parties Local Regional By Sector By Theme By Team Team Member
NWDA
Government
Cluster Organisations
Geographic Orgaisations
Local Operations Management
Marketing
Business Development
Information Type - Performance

16. BLNW are uniquely placed to deliver market intelligence
Aim: Change
from Anecdotal &
Judgmental to
Evidence-based
Decision making
Experience-
influenced
Evidence-
based
Opinion-based
Evidence-
influenced
Experience
Evidence / Information

17. The Advocacy Model
Build Data Coalition: Communicate the
Benefits Internally
Creation of Database
– customers –
internally focussed
BL Management and
internal data
consumers
Value Chain for the North West Business Data
Universe
First Phase - Create

18. The Advocacy Model
Internal
Sector specialists
and cluster
management
teams
First interaction
with third party
data consumers
and political
oganisations
Data becomes more relevant for
decision making bodies
Second Phase – Sell
Benefits

19. Internal
Geographically
dispersed bodies
require data to
confirm Business
support activities
or to quantify the
impact of future
plans and policies
Data becomes more relevant for
decision making bodies
Sector
The Advocacy Model
Third Phase – Build Dependency

20. What happened after we shared the data?
Lancashire
Economic
Partnership
Major Input into
Economic Downturn
Report for
4Northwest
Collaborative
Reporting and
Shared Input into
Policy Making
West Lancashire
District Council
Report on SoHo
Businesses across
the Borough,
Profiling of Industry
Sectors and
provision of Data on
Plastics
Manufacturers.
Informing Policy
Making
The Mersey
Partnership
Cross LA Report on
Commercial Risk
Position at Sub-
Regional Level and
Insolvency Rates
Benchmark
Reporting
Manchester City
Council
Ward level Reporting
on Commercial Risk
and Insolvency Rates
amongst Businesses in
Manchester to identify
and market to
Businesses in need
Supporting Data Driven
Decision Making
Liverpool Vision
Testing of criteria to
inform delivery of
Business Support
Activity designed to
render assistance
to struggling retail
Businesses
Data Driven
Marketing to effect
the optimum
delivery of Public
Funding available to
support struggling
Businesses and
that its impact can
be effectively
measured
The Commission for
the New Economy
(Manchester
Enterprises)
Cross Local
Authority View of
Commercial Risk,
Insolvency and
Businesses by Size
and Turnover
Top Down versus
Bottom-Up view of
Policy Making to
identify severity and
concentration of
impact upon
Businesses of both
the recession and
policy
Bolton
Council/Business
Bolton
Profiling of Large
Businesses by
Employee Nos. to
identify Businesses in
Above Average or High
Commercial Risk
Bands
Segmentation to drive
Collaborative Direct
Marketing Activity to
deliver Business
Support to deliver
policy impact – in this
case ameliorate the
impact of
unemployment
Cumbria Vision
Sub-Regional View of
Business
Performance across
all 6 Local Authorities
Provision of Data
where none existed
previously and the
development of
shared analytical
resource facilities to
meet analytical
resource deficiencies
– in this case the
Cumbria Observatory.

21. Internal
Local hierarchy of
business support
functions demand
input to decision
making and
assessment of
economic impact.
Data becomes more relevant for
decision making bodies
Sector Geography
The Advocacy Model
Fourth Phase – Widen User Base

22. Internal
Demand for joined up
information sources
and “one version of the
truth” among all
business support
organisations.
Tie together regional
strategy and delivery
with a system of
quantifiable evidence
based results
Data becomes more relevant for
decision making bodies
Sector Geography Local
The Advocacy Model
Fifth Phase – Consolidate Business Intelligence

23. Internal
Regional Data can
be used to
challenge and
improve National
directives.
Involve regional
factual data in
National
extrapolation.
Data becomes more relevant for
decision making bodies
Sector Geography Local Regional
The Advocacy Model
Sixth Phase – Influence
National Agenda