Heather Fitzgerald manages a workforce that places rivers of data to work.
Fitzgerald, the senior vice chairman of distribution intelligence and buyer relationship administration technique at Jackson Nationwide Life Distributors, Jackson’s annuity distribution arm, and members of her workforce flip chaotic torrents into useful streams that Jackson can use to assist shoppers put together for retirement.
She has a bachelor’s diploma from Michigan State and a grasp’s diploma in enterprise from the College of Detroit Mercy. She labored in knowledge analytics in Chicago, Detroit and Silicon Valley earlier than becoming a member of Jackson in 2019.
Fitzgerald not too long ago answered questions, through e-mail, about her view that the guts of what her workforce does is knowledge storytelling. The interview has been edited.
THINKADVISOR: What’s knowledge storytelling?
HEATHER FITZGERALD: Knowledge storytelling is the method and skill to translate usually advanced and disparate knowledge into easy, business-oriented phrases to influence a choice or motion.
Knowledge storytelling can be utilized to higher visualize knowledge in a means that enhances viewers engagement and influences giant and small-scale enterprise actions similar to gross sales and pipeline reporting, new product introductions, aggressive evaluation, buyer conduct and workforce productiveness, amongst others.
Telling a narrative with knowledge may also help audiences get from Level A (the place they’re) to Level B, which is the place they’ve the ‘aha’ second that can change the whole lot.
What might an instance of information storytelling seem like?
Knowledge storytelling can take many kinds, and it really depends upon the viewers, matter, trade and even the strategy of presentation (report, dialogue, PowerPoint presentation, dashboard, and so on.). Briefly, there is no such thing as a proper or improper strategy to share the info, however understanding your viewers and the strategic decisioning that can happen due to your knowledge story ought to dictate the shape.
The next three elements are a very powerful — the info, the narrative and the visible — and people may be very totally different based mostly on the use case or the issue you are attempting to unravel or reply.
What assets does an organization want to prepare an efficient knowledge storytelling effort?
Knowledge storytelling may be profitable in a corporation based mostly on 4 fundamental elements: individuals, processes, platforms and knowledge.
The individuals side is paramount to drive an influential enterprise intelligence/analytics operate, and infrequently these individuals are onerous to seek out.
They have to be capable of communicate the language of the enterprise whereas understanding the know-how aspect as effectively. In addition they must develop the story surrounding the info and the enterprise downside by utilizing not solely numbers, but in addition visualization and a compelling and fascinating narrative — all on the similar time.
It isn’t straightforward to seek out this skillset, however when you do, you notice how crucial it’s to the enterprise.
Who tends to do effectively in knowledge storytelling?
Though it’s important to have classically skilled analytics workforce members (together with those that embrace the predictive and prescriptive nature of the place knowledge has developed to), having a real pure curiosity in regards to the numbers, the enterprise and the aggressive panorama actually units candidates aside from each other.
