Start with the Data

I got excited this week because our plan to overhaul how and what we measure and monitor in the business started to bear numerical fruit. My excitable state reached a new level because it didn't just involve the finance team but drew on other teams to provide data that started to establish a single (broadly) and integrated view of how we are performing as a business and the functions, channels and products across our portfolio.

In essence, I'm a big fan of dashboards.

Transforming a media business.

When you're transitioning like us, migrating from a legacy global publisher and events business to a multi-channel content, data, intelligence and marketing services business, more often than not the the focus is on shaping and activating the strategy (naturally). The route-map that you initially set out has now become a reality as you start to act and make things happen.

For us, change and transition was not an option and we recognised that the role of content in our B2B audiences' lives has changed and so too the requirement to make material changes in how we operated as a business. But more importantly, how we served (or should serve) our audiences and customers, with compelling and relevant content, through the most relevant channels. And that's our clear proposition. 'We're here to help you grow your business'.

That change and transformation plan has manifested itself through investment: new websites, a new integrated CRM platform, a new business intelligence team, the migration to registration and subscription among others and a new audience insight programme to put the customer at the heart of our business.

All of these material drivers of change have taken time and will take more time and resource to embed, all within the context of a changing landscape: B2B consumption habits, declining print readership and revenue, an increasingly competitive market, short shelf life of existing content formats, complexity of choice of tools and technology and critically, the impact of change on teams and individuals.

It's been both energising and exhausting. Measuring, monitoring, applying. A strategic pillar.

So why is a spreadsheet (dashboard) so important?

Many businesses struggle because they lose sight of not just how the business is performing, but why. It’s easy to take your eye off managing ‘business as usual’ when change is always present. But having a clear understanding of how the business is performing on a week by week, month by month basis, whilst activating the 'big stuff' is critical. Why? Because detail is also the big stuff.

Given the significant change and transformation we are and have been going through, measuring and monitoring business, platform and product performance is a strategic imperative for us as a multi-channel content business: measuring sales, revenues, pipeline, costs, margins, mark ups, profitability, cash-flow and overhead and using it to activate change and quickly, where required, is key.

It provides us with opportunity to review any number of levers: our supplier base, our portfolio, mark up benchmarks, margin improvement, cost reduction, cost efficiencies, revenue per head, profit per head, cost out, contract renegotiation, investment and much more.

Inputs and outputs.The proof is in the spreadsheet.

And that's why I get excited about good data and a good dashboard.

Assuming all of the inputs are correct it tells us how we are managing each one of our global conferences and events: audience registration, segments of audiences, final attendees, cost of venue, cost of travel, cost of F&B, cost of AV, cost per head of attendee, email marketing, sign up and much more. It shows us historical data and trends: pricing, cost per head and attendance. We can also track how we are performing, live. Are we under target, over target, do we need to change the spend, what is the impact of that change on revenue and margin targets.

Measuring and monitoring has also provided us with opportunity to make more informed decisions around the impact of declining print advertising revenues: yield, print and distribution costs and associated pricing, design and production resource. Not just tactically, but strategically: consolidation, format change, frequency change, focus of content and the shift to digital first.

It has also helped to inform our investment choices. Our migration to new websites and a new CRM platform: the cost, time, usage of legacy systems versus the benefits of new systems and the value that each would bring to deliver on the vision and ambition of the business.

So there's nothing like a good dashboard to focus the ROI mind. Whilst in the midst of change and transformation, monitoring and measuring business, brand, platform and product performance, the spends, the costs, the contribution, is critical. It takes time to construct one, it requires all the right inputs, it's a valuable and shareable tool for the wider teams and above all it's not just a spreadsheet, it's a key strategic imperative.