Good Data, Better Year.
January 28, 2016
“Big Data” and “Data Analytics” has become hot topics over the last few years and for very good reason. There is so much power behind understanding your data and applying the insights you gain when analyzing that data to improve your business. The concept of data analytics sounds simple, but can be an overwhelming task for some, especially with the large amount of data you already have at your fingertips to analyze.
When starting to use your data, there are lots of questions that you have to ask yourself. What data am I using and how am I getting that information? What sort of trends and results do I want to get out of my data? Do I need to be a math professor to create the reports and graphs that I desire? How can I apply advanced, data analysis to my business and have the best financial year possible?
I think it is best to start with the easiest way of addressing the use of data: what problem am I trying to solve? Is it planning staffing for the following week? Are you trying to make an offer to a band and want to see what your expected revenue will be or what price point you should push for? When it is a month out, are you trying to predict where the sales will end or what you need to do to increase those sales? Or, are you simply trying to have that person who is renting your venue or booking agent’s assistant stop calling you to request ticket counts? To help you solve these questions and more, our accesso ShoWare solution integrated with the GoodData platform in 2015 to provide the tools to analyze questions your organization is having and perhaps even some that you have not yet pondered. Nearly all of the data (patrons and performances, memberships and donations, dates and places) entered into your accesso ShoWare system is synced with GoodData daily so you can easily create the reports and dashboards important to your group – and the best part is you do not need to be a math professor or a computer whiz to do this!
When you sign up to use the GoodData module, you will have many items available from the start. We have already populated reports, charts, graphs and dashboards for you based upon client feedback and “problems” that you and others have wanted to solve over the past ten years. We also provide one-on-one training that evaluates your specific goals and needs, assisting you with making those concepts a reality as you learn to build your own reports and dashboards.
The user interface is very friendly with detailed explanations. In most cases it takes just a click and drag to create a report and build a graph. For those that are more advanced in analytics, it accommodates you as well as the data can be broken down into segments like quarters of the year, days of the week, price ranges, etc. The data can be used to create metrics that aren’t currently available through standard reporting. For example, looking to find a way to compare a year over year, week by week sales analysis of a specific tour. For another venue, they could, based on previous or similar performances, predict the sales rates in quantity and value to better structure a deal. Really the possibilities are endless!
So on to that part where I explain how accesso and GoodData can make you have a better year… Clients have already begun to start using the product to gain insights into where they need to focus marketing resources, staffing, and general time-saving applications. By way of pre-populated reports in GoodData, we paired order volume and sales by day of the week to see when traffic was heaviest. Then we break it down further by looking at the sales channels used by day to see if the volume is online vs. walkup. By viewing those charts you can see what days are the busiest so you can properly staff your business operations.
The marketing benefits to this system are quite limitless. One of the great benefits to this platform is the ability to create year over year sales trends. You can compare events, memberships, donations, etc. to predict next year’s sales. You can then compare that to the geographical location of those patrons to then determine where those ads need to be placed to increase sales.
In addition to those great uses is the ability to save you time – attempting to create analytics reporting via “pen and paper” can take hours. Running multiple reports and the brain power involved in compiling and auditing the data can be exhausting. Once a report is created in GoodData, this tool uses the formulas to populate in an instant to give you consistent and easy results every time you run the reporting. Not only can you pull this based on the data loaded daily, but you can automatically email out those reports to whomever you like. Clients who once had to manually email out 10 reports a day to promoters or board members, now don’t even have to touch a computer. Create the report and schedule it to be sent – then it is hands-off from there. These examples are only touching the surface of the power between our accesso ShoWare system and the GoodData analytics platform – how it can help your business is really up to your specific questions and what problems can we help you solve. These data analytics tools paired with your ideas and our support can help more effectively steer you marketing and increase the efficiency of your operations.
If you have additional questions, please reach out to your Client Services Manager to get a demo scheduled so we can better understand how we can help you analyze your specific business needs. We look forward to helping you have a better year with GoodData!
By Drew Belmont
Sr. Product Manager
Drew is a native of South Carolina and joined the accesso team in 2010 where he specializes in client services and product development. Drew enjoys sporting events, concerts, and anything near the water. He loves his dog Hank and Clemson sports.