The Blog
A collection of ideas relating to the use of analytics, data, technology, and design to make the digital world a little better.
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For many years I've been talking about the benefits of integrated and automated systems which allow businesses to free up their resources to focus on actual data analysis and insight, such as actually investigating the available data, making changes based on the resulting insight, and then measuring the impact. Crazy, I know!
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Browse past articles on dashboards, customer feedback, measurement frameworks, and life as an independent consultant.
The old adage "the Customer is always right" has been a mainstay of offline customer experience for decades. But is it correct? A core component of the work I used to be involved in at Seren, related to digital Customer Experience trackers or Voice of Customer programmes: typically an on-site survey to see what your customers' think. Online surveys, if implemented well, can be extremely powerful especially when integrated with other data sources and used as part of a customer feedback mechanism.
Read more →Five principles for effective dashboard design: relevance, context, colour, story, and aesthetic. Why a flashing red KPI works like a cockpit warning light — and why colour alone is never enough.
Read more →Inspired by the British Library's 'Beautiful Science' exhibition and William Farr's 1852 cholera map — on why effective data visualisation isn't just aesthetic, it can genuinely change outcomes.
Read more →OK — Big Data doesn't have to suck. But far too often it does. And the reason is almost always the same: execution.
Read more →Why "mobile first" design thinking misses the point — and how understanding the full customer journey, across every channel, leads to better outcomes than optimising for a single device.
Read more →Surveys are a great way to hear what your customers think — but they often get bad press due to poor implementation and design. Done well, they're one of the most powerful tools in your analytics stack. Here's how to get started.
Read more →A year on from founding Analyt, I look back at the leap from a 70-hour working week and a 3.5-hour daily commute to building an independent consultancy — and the lessons learned along the way.
Read more →Get in touch with questions, ideas, or feedback on the blog.