Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CIO of NHS Professionals

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provides flexible and Bank healthcare professionals into the NHS

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis) to accomplish?

• To maximise the value of our data and radically change our customers use of our services
• To demonstrate how methodologies used in other industries can benefit a healthcare and the NHS in particular
• To change the perception of what great looks like for our industry and raise the quality bar

SOLUTION

How did you find Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis)?

• Online Search
• Other

Why did you select Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis) over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Subject matter expertise

How many teammates from Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis) were assigned to this project?

20+

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Beyond have delivered and and continue to deliver the following: MI/BI strategy to both organisational and technical. MI/BI thought leadership redefining what can be done with our data and how we can use their retail and customer centric knowledge to maximise how we utilise our data to assist our organisation in delivering its core objective of servicing the NHS's needs for staffing. 

Running the day to day service for MI/BI supporting operational needs and needs and assuring industry best practice as a strategic supplier. CIO support providing subject matter expertise and helping develop the CIO's ability to deliver the IT strategy as well as develop personally in skills and effectiveness EXCO support to help educate and challenge the EXCO to be more data aware and more data led.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

1. An improvement in the day to day operation of the MI team, resulting in a 15x increase on speed to deliver for BaU services. 
2. The thought leadership in how other industries leverage their data that led to the agreement of the MI strategy at board level. 
3. The delivery of specific projects for client onboarding and for internal organisation changes on time and on budget. 
4. Technical leadership on new MI/BI technology choices and the cost and programme required to adopt them. 
5. The creation of a potential new revenue stream and product for the organisationT

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Beyond have been leading us and are more agile and faster at delivery than we are. Their project management has been excellent and we have been lucky enough to have the senior team sponsoring the programme with an incredible commitment of their personal time to ensure success. The move to their manged service for our BaU services was expertly delivered and seamless in its transition. This was done ahead of time and immedicably showed benefits in the quality of service

What was your primary form of communication with Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis)?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Beyond's technical skills are second to none and are everything we hopped for, but the thing I find most impressive about the Beyond organisation is its culture and its fundamental commitment to quality. It is very personal to every member of the team that, they genuinely care about the services they provide and about us as a company. 

There were many occasions in the tender process and the initial contracting phase where a lesser company would have walked away, but Beyond did not, they stuck with us and they are truly a great partner organisation to work with. This culture is set from the top and Paul and Will embody that service ethos, not only in there professionalism but also their never ending enthusiasm and drive really does set the tone for our partnership. 

On a very personal level, I enjoy working with them both and I learn a lot from them too. Thank you

Are there any areas for improvement or something Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis) could have done differently?

We could try staying on topic and time in meetings... but to be honest that is much me as anyone else.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at Celestyal

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

A cruise company offering unmissable experiences (at sea and ashore) in the Greek islands and Eastern mediterranean

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis) to accomplish?

• Scope a 3 year plan for the commercial department
• Bring together several large consultancy outputs into one strategic plan
• Analyse and review, make recommendations on gaps in data & insights across the business

SOLUTION

How did you find Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis)?

Referral

Why did you select Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis) over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis) were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Audit existing data and insight maturity across the business. 
• Review multiple pieces of work and deliver into a cohesive and strategic three year plan. 
• Prepare executive communications of the change. 
• Make recommendations on the change management approach for the strategic plan.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Approval of the plan by the shareholders, board and leadership team

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Always on time, proactive in managing the schedule and aware of business needs to be agile in their approach.

What was your primary form of communication with Beyond: Putting Data to Work (previously Beyond Analysis)?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We were impressed with their positive and can-do attitude, professionalism, and quality delivery.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Celestyal could have done differently?

None that come to mind

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior account director at an advertising agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beyond Analysis?

We hired them to provide email marketing services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team provided segmented and targeted customer lists from our customer database, which served as our basis for sending emails. They also provided results and analysis on the emails we sent out.

What is the team composition?

We collaborated with four people from Beyond Analysis. Two of them were in charge of the day-to-day requests, and the other two were in charge of making sure everything ran smoothly.

How did you come to work with Beyond Analysis?

Beyond Analysis was already engaged with the company before I joined. I wasn’t sure how we brought them on board.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership ran from June 2019–September 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They were excellent in this project; they completed all the tasks we gave them. Whenever we had problems, they always tried to solve them.

How did Beyond Analysis perform from a project management standpoint?

They were responsive; they got back to us quickly whenever we had requests or queries. We mostly communicated over email because they were based in various countries, but there were times we communicated over video calls. They also had solid customer service skills which allowed them to deliver outputs in a quick and accurate manner.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I haven’t worked with others within the same space, but I found Beyond Analysis to be very professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

With the time difference between us, it was a challenge to communicate our urgent requests to them. However, they responded as quickly as they could.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear at the start of the relationship who needs to be kept in the loop on communication. In addition, establish the project’s process. After that, ensure that you’ll have occasional face-to-face or video calls with their account manager or owner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing director of Countrywide. We are a property services business in the UK with more than 50 regional state agency brands serving England, Wales, and Scotland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beyond Analysis?

We wanted to make a reintroduction of a Net Promoter Score (NPS) customer satisfaction survey, while also adding NPS measurement and dashboard services across our sales and business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The involvement of Beyond Analysis has been from the initial concept stage. We thought of what milestones we would serve our customers, how we would send the surveys to them, pull the data into a dashboard, visualize the information, provide that information back to the business, and use the data to create positive intervention with customers.

Rather than just have a standard NPS score that was just the score, it was supposed to be a piece of data that we actually used across the business. 

What is the team composition?

I work with 3–4 partners. I dealt with an account manager who looked specifically after this project, and, at some point, we worked with a slightly more senior person and with a couple of their more technical people.

How did you come to work with Beyond Analysis?

We chose Beyond Analysis because we had some earlier dealings with them. They did data scoping work and created marketing analytics tools. When I spoke to them about this project, they mentioned other businesses where they had done similar projects.

In particular, there was a case study of how they created a dashboard for a retail company across multiple sites and locations. That gave me the confidence that they could give me what I needed since this wasn't an off-the-shelf solution. They needed to work with us to construct something that was right for our business. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested somewhere in the region of £60,000–£80,000 (approximately $84,000–$112,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2019, and our partnership is ongoing. We just relaunched a new version of the dashboard.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The ultimate measurement of success on this project is the fact that the overall NPS score has improved. We've been able to visualize and get the data from customers back in a timely fashion to all of our branches, brands, and to our customer relations team. They've been able to use this data that enabled them to intervene.

We've highlighted areas where the NPS was poor, and we've been able to put in account corrective measures. The NPS has gone from what was about 40 to now scoring 52. This has given us transparency and visibility of where we were scoring poorly and been able to address those issues.

How did Beyond Analysis perform from a project management standpoint?
 
We've actually maintained constant communication throughout the whole process, so whenever there is feedback or just to check the progress of the project, we have conference calls. 
 
What did you find most impressive about them?

I think they've been incredibly patient, and they've been able to deal with the complexity of the project. Our 60 brands are a lot of brands across the business to build a dashboard to deal with. They've dealt with quite a few problems with the complexity of our data, and overall they seem to be quite willing to listen and work with me to build what we need.

Are there any areas they could improve?

On occasions, there was a bit of information that was lost in translation. Sometimes, it might have been better to have technical people in earlier meetings for us to explain directly to them what our requirements were.

There were times when some people misinterpreted our intentions back to the technical people, and then they built something different, but whenever those problems occurred they were quickly remedied.

Any advice for potential customers?

I think that project scoping is the stage where you have to put as much work as possible to define the project requirements. It is really important to have clarity early on in the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of customer insights at A.P. Moller-Maersk, a major shipping company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beyond Analysis?

When I arrived at the organization, I inherited a customer segmentation. I was really keen to get my head around the segmentation, so I brought in Beyond Analysis. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Beyond Analysis came in to review the methodology and how it was being used, and give an initial view of a roadmap for improvement. I specifically wanted some feedback in terms of the robustness and effectiveness of how we were applying the segmentation.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked primarily with two people from Beyond Analysis.

How did you come to work with Beyond Analysis?

I’ve known Will (Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer) for years. We have incredibly overlapped interests in terms of the importance of the customer, and customer data. However, we’d never had occasion to work together until this project. I’d always been impressed by the work Beyond Analysis had been able to do for their clients, so I decided to give them a call.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together for about a month and a half, since about May 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

My main success metric was whether or not they’d be able to deliver a clear roadmap going forward, which they have. When I first inherited the segmentation, there was quite a bit of confusion surrounding how it was being used and how effective it was. Thanks to Beyond Analysis, I’m much more confident and comfortable with it. They’ve provided us with a real clarity of thinking we’d been struggling to arrive at.

How did Beyond Analysis perform from a project management standpoint?

Since this has all taken place during COVID-19, we were all working remotely throughout the project. Beyond Analysis was able to spin up very rapidly and coordinate their own involvement. The distance wasn’t a barrier. I also haven’t felt like I’m being forced into a system; the experience feels personalized and tailored to me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been most impressed with their rapid mobilization and quick turnaround. It was fantastic. We’re asking them for follow-up work, which is a pretty good endorsement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing that comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Chief Customer Officer for consumer engagement and loyalty programme across 18m customers. Multi-sector consumer products and services business with interests in financial services, aviation, tourism, music and entertainment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Beyond Analysis?

We engaged with Beyond Analysis to use a third party global bank in the analyse our customer base in the UK (our primary market) to understand cross-business product holdings, frequency of spend and profiling of these consumers to understand their behaviours and brand synergies.

What were your goals for this project?

Our key objectives to understand what messages and brands to align with to attract new customers in certain segments and retain those already with us. A byproduct of the study also identified low-hanging fruit where look-a-like customers available for cross-sell opportunities.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I have used this vendor extensively in the last 10 years, whilst working across 3 retails banks based in London. For each of the previous projects, a comprehensive procurement process and vendor competition consistently rated Beyond Analysis' capabilities over-and-above the next industry-player tendering.

Describe the project in detail.

Analysing the UK consumer based on behaviours, to which my team could the apply consumer psychology tools to define the attitudes and values of our base shaping the way we talk to our customers, about what, when and over what channels.

What was the team composition?

Data scientists from both Beyond's partner bank and their own in-house teams in Europe, coupled wit

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Within the defined timelines of the project engagement we had a science- and data-based set of actions to allow us to shape our business model and approach, the science-led data is compelling when it comes to engaging new partners.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Paul A. is, quite simply, brilliant! His ability to understand business drivers for his clients quickly is incredibly powerful for fine-tuning the brief to in-turn bring the best results of actionable insight.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They took the time to understand the business we're in, see what we need to achieve, and deliver actionable insights that would help our business to grow.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Quality of output and delivery in a timely manner, and the team delivered that!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the director of strategy for the UK at Fleetcor, a financial services firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Beyond Analysis?

We hired Beyond Analysis to produce separate proofs of concept relating to different segments of data we hold as a business. These included attrition, reporting, and data commercialization.

What were your goals for this project?

We know that we hold a lot of robust data which can help drive cost efficiency and revenue opportunities for our business. However, we lack the ability in our company to use this data in a meaningful way. We hoped Beyond Analysis could show us the power of our data through POCs to secure further investment in data.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We heard presentations from three companies, and we selected Beyond Analysis after scoring each of the firms.

Describe the project in detail.

We relied on Beyond Analysis to develop a model that can, among other things, accurately predict when a customer is likely to leave our business. Their co-founder interviewed our primary stakeholders to get a deeper understanding of our operations. We had weekly meetings to discuss our progress and align our priorities.

What was the team composition?

Their co-founder served as our main point of contact. We also interacted with a technical lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Beyond Analysis successfully produced a random forest model that can identify likely customer actions with greater accuracy than our current model. We are testing their model against our current iteration to prove this notion in a live environment.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We maintained a productive working environment. Beyond Analysis supported ad hoc requests and was able to meet with our wider team in person or via teleconference.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are a relatively small consultancy, but they feel larger because of their resources and skill set.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, Beyond Analysis has met all of our specifications. We operated in a fairly unstructured format, and that may not work for other clients. Given the nature of this work, it suited us well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business intelligence manager and customer data center analytics manager at a travel commerce platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beyond Analysis?

We wanted to make use of our data and build better engagements with our customers. Specifically, we wanted data-driven insight to help us engage with our customers in a new way.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The partnership comprises two main projects. First, Beyond Analysis built a product that enabled our customers to self-serve data. We then used that information to understand travel agents’ needs. Next, the team built an interactive platform for those travel agent clients. The solution lets travel agencies measure themselves against peers in a wider market.

The second project has emphasized driving personalization through the travel industry. We’ve created clusters and persona groups that we can then marry up with intent-based data assets including Google’s marketing platform. We use this information to help our clients make smart marketing decisions.

What is the team composition?

The team includes senior data scientists, analysts, a project manager, and senior consultants that run the discovery sessions with clients.

How did you come to work with Beyond Analysis?

Our team wanted to hit the ground running and provide a credible solution to clients. We searched for a partner that could tangibly demonstrate success with machine learning algorithms and AI technology in past projects. We did some research and Beyond Analysis walked us through their portfolio. Their experience was compelling.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2016 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They spun the platform within three months, having consumed billions of records. That was something we hadn’t been able to do internally. As a result, all of our KPIs are positive. Our customers have gained market share while reducing their customer acquisition costs.

How did Beyond Analysis perform from a project management standpoint?

The partnership is still in its early stages and we haven’t had any issues. During the last three years, we’ve had loose requirements and timelines. But Beyond Analysis has quick turnarounds; they provide insightful analysis to our customers in a timely manner. They use Jira internally and Slack to communicate with us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They work together to get the job done. Beyond Analysis feels more like an extension of our workforce than a consultancy we pay. Whenever there’s a problem, the team meets or exceeds those challenges. We’re now able to provide enhanced offerings and capabilities, which enables us to work smarter and monetize great solutions through different means.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them as a partner and be transparent. They have great assets in their data science, account management, and analytic capabilities.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Travelport is a technology company listed on the NYSE. Its travel commerce platform offers distribution, technology, and payment solutions for the travel and tourism industry. I was head of data products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Beyond Analysis?

We hired Beyond Analysis to build a travel market with an insights tool that would help our customers gain traction in a challenging market. We had 600 billion rows of data, so the challenges were enormous.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was twofold: grow our client base and sign 100 online agencies to our platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We considered a variety of companies, but Beyond Analysis was the obvious choice. We appreciated their extensive data science experience and their ability to address all our requirements within the product lifecycle.

Describe the project in detail.

We provided the product requirements, and they handled delivery. They occasionally accompanied us to client meetings, helping to translate their needs into features. Beyond Analysis also helped with UI/UX design.

What was the team composition?

Between five and 10 people from Beyond Analysis worked with us at different times.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Due to the immense value we provided, we signed five new customers and renewed the contracts of 12 others.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We used Jira to manage the workflow effectively and kept communication channels open at all times. Their response times were impressive.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We appreciated their ability to understand our business needs and translate them into technical outcomes.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we were satisfied. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re the number one local tour operator to the UK leisure market. I’m head of trading systems, so I’m responsible for the reservation platform that handles all of our bookings, customers, and the web platform that sits on top of it.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beyond Analysis?

We wanted to improve our customer insights so we have a clearer indication of the effects of changes and new features on the UX. We had a tremendous amount of data but needed help using it to inform what we were doing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked with our customer and marketing director, as well as with our head of planning and analysis. They helped us create an NPS [net promoter score] model.

The work involved looking through the portfolio of enhancements, features, and developments that we wanted to bring in. They helped us pull together a model that measured those things. That included lot of data mining, data cleansing, and restructuring. They got the data into a state where we could draw from insights from it.

What is the team composition?

We received a lot of support from their senior team. William [CSO, Beyond Analysis] was very helpful in getting us organized and working out who and what type of resources, scale, and approaches were right for us. It was really easy to work with him.

We had a very talented insight person from their team, Giedrius [Head of Insight Solutions, Beyond Analysis]. In the later stages, we had one of his colleagues working with us too.

How did you come to work with Beyond Analysis?

One of my colleagues found them. We spoke to three to four different companies, but Beyond Analysis convinced us that they were the right choice.

How much have you invested with them?

£25,000–£100,000 [$34,950–$139,800 USD].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together 18–24 months ago and the project is completed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They helped us reach a level of self-sufficiency, which was always the goal. I’d absolutely use them again. We’re actively using the NPS model in our portfolio of product and services to bring to our customers in the market. It’s very valuable.

How did Beyond Analysis perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very organized. There were no surprises, and they were flexible and adaptable. We work in a very agile way in the digital product development area, with full end-to-end continuous delivery. They really adapted to working with us in that space very well as they have an agile mindset.

Their communication is very good. They were very easy to deal with on the phone or in person, and we had in-person meetings. A couple of their team were implanted into ours and based on site. They integrated into our way of working very quickly. On the data side, there was some experimentation around some of the insight tools that were being used.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very good at quickly understanding our particular needs. I’ve worked with a lot of companies over the years, and that is where they stood out for me. They grasped what we needed quickly and helped us understand that need. They have some really talented people on their team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open and honest about what your challenges are, or what your goals and aspirations are. Have a candid conversation about what it will take to achieve them.