3 Great Examples: Data Done Well

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It’s no secret that big data has big potential – here at Microsoft, we work with hundreds of customers using technology in new ways to get the most out of data in every shape and form. While each of these companies defines “success” differently, there are a few that are top-of-mind for us. The following are just a few examples of how real companies from a variety of industries across the world are seeing real benefits from working with data differently: increased efficiency, improved performance, and using resources more effectively, all with insights from their data.

Grameen Foundation

The Problem: The need to quantify the impact of the Ghana Mobile Technology for Community Health (MOTECH) initiative. With this information, the Grameen Foundation can eliminate ineffective programs and expand those making the biggest impact.

The Solution: Accessible, customizable reports and data visualizations no matter the staff’s location or device. This enables employees to better understand program data, resulting in better justification of program expenses, data-driven program management and community engagement.

The Benefits:

-          Increased efficiency: report creation in minutes instead of hours-          Easy use by anyone in the company without formal training or added costs-          Increased awareness of MOTECH, and expansion of humanitarian efforts

 

MediaCom

The Problem: The need to easily measure and represent the health of an ad campaign despite vast number of diverse data sets. The Solution: A “health check” that captures the various facets of a multi-platform media campaign in one single score, incorporating paid media effectiveness, earned media effectiveness, the ratio of earned to paid media, realized client value, and longitudinal performance. The “health check” is built on Power BI for Office 365, and provides a unified campaign dashboard, as well as a collaborative site where the account team can ask questions and instantly receive answers in chart and graph form to share across the team and with clients.

The Benefits:

-          Increased optimization checks for campaigns: from weekly to daily-          High adoption of BI across the company using the Excel tools that teams already know-          Increased campaign productivity

 

Carnegie Mellon University

The Challenge: Optimize energy and operational efficiency in buildings worldwide. The Solution: Carnegie Mellon worked with OSIsoft (also the Microsoft Business Intelligence Partner of the Year!), to install a PI system, which integrated all of the building automation systems, as well as lights, ventilation, air quality, weather, and security data sources. Then, they added Power BI for Office 365 to provide custom-reporting capabilities for all the real-time data generated by the various systems, equipping employees with maps, visualizations, and dashboards showing information such as building types, geographic locations, and energy consumption. This information allows employees to zone in on problems such as faulty equipment, and identify places to cut back on energy consumption. The Benefits:

-          The ability to present relevant information to diverse users of any analytics skill level-          30% less energy consumption by using data to see where equipment is faulty

How are you using data and analytics to change the way you do business?

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