So, you’ve completed The Data Lab Executive Education Workshop and are feeling confident about how to leverage data to develop a strategy. Our facilitated discussions, case studies and data strategy examples have given you an insight into where organisations drive value from data, alongside the industry trends that are reliant on it. You should now be equipped with new skills that enable you to:
• Visualise how to drive more value from the information you already have.
• Understand how to get business buy-in to driving value from Data.
• Identify business opportunity presented by the use of data and A.I.
• Take practical action when you return to your company.
But what now? You’ve left feeling enthused, informed, energised and ready to take the next steps on your data journey! How do you keep the momentum going after the workshops are done? What are your next possible steps for action? Here are the options available to you from The Data Lab …
Follow up questions with our Data Experts
Although we don’t offer a full consultation service at present, we actively encourage attendees to follow up with our Executive Education Advisors to support with their next steps. This is an informal conversation that invites you to ask any questions you might have (now that you’ve had 24 hours to sleep on it).
It’s not uncommon for those finishing our Executive Education workshop to feel they need to go back to the start and work out what outcome they are looking for. For a lot of attendees, we find many of them don’t feel ready for big steps, but are keen to learn or home in on more specific information. Our Executive Education leaders can point you towards useful documents provided by our Data Science Specialists team. Although this may feel like a slower process, people shouldn’t underestimate its value. We also have a great network within the project and data science community. Connections and guidance by our experts can be a valuable tool in the path to developing your data strategy.
Attendees that are feeling a little more confident of their goals regularly ask us:
• Can you help me write my data strategy?
• Can you give me a data strategy roadmap template?
We usually have an informal conversation to answer these questions, delving further to identify what is it you’re looking for.
What do you mean by a strategy? Do you need a plan? Do you need Investment? Do you need tech?
Our team try to help you establish what the building blocks for your strategy are, and have an initial conversation about where you sit on each of these. From this, we can point you in the direction of templates that suit your personal needs.
Our follow up can also answer questions that you need taken to the next level of detail, helping you to work out an action plan. Where it’s appropriate, we can then pass you onto one of our Business Development Executives. This team of specialists are most likely to have encountered projects similar to yours already, or know someone who can help you. They’ll confirm the places you can start to add value to your organisation and discuss options that The Data Lab (or our network) has to offer.
Our Data Strategy Online Course – Introduction to Data for Business Leaders
Our face to face Exec Education Workshop runs for around approx. 6 hours, whereas our self-paced MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is completed over a 12 hour time period. Whilst the Executive workshop provides a useful platform for sharing thoughts and ideas, the MOOC’s extra time allows for the addition of deeper reflection in a way that centers solely on you.
For example, “What is your business strategy and how does your data activity align to that – and can you draw a line in between the two?” – This is actually an exercise that is included in our MOOC.
Although both courses are designed to stimulate debate and classify opportunities within your own organisation, they approach this in different ways:
• The purpose of the Executive Education workshop is to talk about the subject, clear any doubts and/or questions and allow people to leave with 2 or 3 ideas to go forward.
• The purpose of the MOOC is for you to review your needs and write down specific questions you want to have answered. It’s almost a blueprint for how to write a data strategy statement in the context of your business.
As a result, the MOOC can often be a wonderful follow up that elaborates on the ‘how to’. The workbook developed for the Driving Value from Data MOOC can be used as an initial data strategy roadmap template – setting up the initial plans for the execution of your data strategy.
Learn more about our Online Learning and Free Online Data Course here.
TORCH Business Advisory Service
The Executive Education Workshop has highlighted data opportunities within your organisation and now you feel ready to start your first data project. However, the complex data technology and services marketplace feels a little intimidating. Finding the right support, resources and tools can be time consuming and complicated.
The Data Lab’s TORCH service enables clients to successfully undertake the first project by acting as a critical, unbiased friend. It aims to increase understanding and certainty for organisations that want to undertake projects, whilst reducing the risk of those early stages.
TORCH also looks to address challenges where clients perhaps don’t have the right skills or knowledge in house. We have built a network of Scottish-based companies of all sizes that have proven expertise in delivering solutions and partner with them to enable clients businesses to implement their data strategy.
Most importantly, the TORCH service has been designed to be as flexible as possible, meaning that businesses can cherry-pick the services that most suit them. From confirming data opportunities and identifying options for achieving them, to simply helping overseeing the execution of the project, the service provides neutral advice across the domains of people, process, data, and technology.
Learn more about TORCH and its flexible services here.
Our Executive Education workshops have recently been renamed Leadership Training, in order to reflect feedback and course content. If you have a question about this workshop, you can get in touch with our team here.
