Data Understood

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Data Officer of DC Thomson

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

DC Thomson is a media company with interests in digital media, newspapers, magazines, comics, cutting edge technology and genealogy

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Data Understood to accomplish?

• To create and deliver a data strategy

SOLUTION

How did you find Data Understood?

Referral

Why did you select Data Understood over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Data Understood were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The partnership with Data Understood was to design, write and deliver the first comprehensive data strategy at DC Thomson. This included conducting a full audit of data and data practices within the organisation, noting strengths, weaknesses and skills gaps, and taking this information to form a data strategy to support the overall businesss strategy. Further to this work was identifying the priority areas of development that would support short term acceleration as well as long term sustainable growth. Implementation of the strategy has taken the form of translating these priority areas into cross-functional themed workstreams that encompass people from various parts of the business, thus, ensuring as wide a reach as possible. These workstreams each have dedicated missions and outputs and the first phase is due to complete in September 2025. Extending across all of these workstreams is an upskilling project in conjunction with the people team that aims to put in place the long term learning plans for the company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A data strategy has been written and forms a key component of the company strategy going forward. The strategy has been shared with the entire company, and supplemented with workshops and online seminars to describe the work and encourage people to get involved. The dedicated workstreams have been setup and are already driving the business forward in multiple areas (OKR setting, removing silos, promoting experimentation).

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

Data Understood have supeb project management. Work is delivered on time and in addition, scope and output is checked multiple times during the process ensuring that the end goal is always of the highest quality. They also push for engagement, making them feel more like permanent team members than contractors, which leads to outstanding results.

What was your primary form of communication with Data Understood?

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

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

The degree to which they immerse themselves in the work. In data it is quite easy (and common) to solve surface level problems for the short term. However, Data Understood push to learn the nuances of the company, its overall strategy, its people and thus, deliver solutions that benefit the company to its core and lay the foundation for a strong future in data.

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

None that I can think of

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland SCIO and Caerus Opportunities

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide childcare services, childcare sector support services and data insights.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Data Understood to accomplish?

• To help us understand what data we could extract from our software product
• To understand what data our potential customers would find useful
• To progress to wireframe data dashboards for future development

SOLUTION

How did you find Data Understood?

Referral

Why did you select Data Understood over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Data Understood were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

To better understand the data capabilities within our software product, resulting in defining and designing the first iteration of our software product Caerus's Indicator Dashboard.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Understanding what change our product could make, by identifing the top 3 points for software features, stakeholders, reaction, learning, behavioural change and results. Considering outside factors such as what needed to be in place for success and what might prevent success, then moving to a productisation phase.

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

All work was delivered on time, and presented in a way that our team, who have various knowledge and experience levels in this area, could easily understand. The support we received was flexed as needed to meet us where we were at with regards pre-existing knowledge/understanding.

What was your primary form of communication with Data Understood?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The empathetic and support approach, quick understanding of what we were trying to achieve, and pateuince in supporting us through the process.

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

Nothing comes to  mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Development Specialist of South of Scotland Enterprise

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

South of Scotland Enterprise are the economic and community development agency for the South of Scotland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Data Understood to accomplish?

• Deliver an AI and Data workshop
• Empower businesses to think strategically about AI

SOLUTION

How did you find Data Understood?

Online Search

Why did you select Data Understood over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• Successful completion of ITQ (Invitation to Quote)

How many teammates from Data Understood were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Data Understood delivered a programme of work entitled 'Leveraging AI and Data for Business'. It spanned 8 workshops delivered over 4 months to business cohorts looking to better understand their own AI readiness and how to strategically implement AI into their business process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Successful delivery of workshops as per initial scope. Positive feedback from participants.

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

Data Understood were open and always available. They delivered exactly as per scope, and were flexible in the face of environmental challenges outside of our control (weather related). They responded positively to any additional need, and were always more than helpful.

What was your primary form of communication with Data Understood?

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

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

The sense of partnership - at no point did it feel like a purely transactional relationship. Data Understood made me feel like we were both working together to get the absolute best outcomes for businesses in the South of Scotland.

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

Honestly not. They were responsive, understanding, and pivoted where appropriate to better align with the cohort demographic.