Tell us a better love story than Brand Managers and data.
Brand Managers possess some of the strongest number-crunching skills in the industry. Everything’s solved and managed in Excel; sales, logistics, marketing; development, execution, evaluation. Operations and decisions are dependent purely on data, and these invite data-related challenges as well.
Let’s look at 3 data-related challenges Brand Managers face, and the possible solution to each:
Data-Related Challenge 1 – Data Fragmentation
The swiftness of strategic decisions suffers the most when data is fragmented across files and sheets. The data currently residing in Excel is stored under different column headers and cannot be combined. Internal and external data reside separately, and pivots have to be repetitively extracted from each individual dataset to move further with the analysis.
Fragmented, unsynchronized datasets also affect the quality of insights derived. One reason we can think of is the sheer (and avoidable, as you will see in the solution) manual effort BMs put in, in bringing the data at one place to perform analysis on it.
Solution
We have a tailored method to organize your data. Explorazor by vPhrase Analytics is a data exploration platform built specifically for Brand Managers to query their data better and extract instant data cuts from it. What Explorazor does is combine all the datasets currently residing in Excel, and provide unified, single-view access for Brand Managers to explore. Examples of such datasets would be primary sales, secondary sales, Kantar, IQVIA, and more.
Explorazor relieves Brand Managers from having to constantly switch between files and sheets to find relevant data cuts. Correlating reasons for market loss, estimating the right media budget spend, gauging discounting effectiveness, finding best-performing regions, etc. become much easier. We imagine that a seamless experience will encourage Brand Managers to explore further and deeper into event root causes, key focus areas, and other ad-hoc analyses.
Data-Related Challenge 2 – Data Standardization
Metric definition is the first hurdle in the data standardization process. What Nielsen defines as an Urban area and a Rural area and what internal company definitions for the same terms are, are mostly dissimilar. Information capturing done by field sales personnel contains numerous kinds of errors. The spellings are different, the name of a state is mentioned in a shorter form, capitalization issues, etc etc.
Raw data standardization is a necessary prerequisite for efficient data analysis, and right now it is a task that Brand Managers would love to sweep off their table.
Solution
Our team at Explorazor ensures that all your data is modeled and standardized so data analysis can be conducted without having to worry about missing data points.
Redundant, duplicate, inaccurate, and irrelevant data is expelled, leaving a de-cluttered dataset that serves as a base for higher-quality analysis and insights extraction.
A clean dataset is also helpful when creating routine dashboards and presentations for senior management.
Data-Related Challenge 3 – Large (and Clumsy) Data Dumps
The data dumps that Brand Managers work on are too large – Excel cannot output results fast on our laptops, as one would like. Loading – and ensuring that the data is saved – takes excessive time. An abundance of formula insertion slows the workbook down.
Thinking about quick pivots? Think again. Then again, and then again, because your laptop is slow and you have lots of time on your hands…
Solution
Loading huge Excel files is no joke. To create pivots, and to create them now, is one of the prime reasons we believe a solution like Explorazor will go a long way in assisting Brand Managers save time. All data resides on servers and is accessible via a browser, so laptops breathe freely again. Brand Managers, using a simple search interface on Explorazor, can conduct ad-hoc analysis and test out hypotheses at accelerated speeds.
If you want to take the pivots to Excel – permission granted. All pivots are downloadable as CSV files. Convert pivots into charts using simple customization options and pin them to pinboards. Each project within Explorazor allows its separate pinboard creation.
Explorazor is built for Brand Managers
Explorazor alleviates data-related challenges which Brand Managers face, as well as:
- Saves their time by taking the processing load off their laptops
- Eases their data exploration journey by providing unified access to all their datasets
- Enhances the quality of their insights by standardizing all current and incoming data
- Increases their independence by letting them conduct ad-hoc analyses on their own, without over-reliance on BI/Insights teams
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