Tia Cheang, Director of IT Data and Information Services at Gallagher, recently delivered an interview with Tech-Exec magazine drawing from her knowledge and experience in shaping the future of the insurance industry at one of the world’s largest insurance brokers. You can read the article here.

Tia is also one of DataIQ’s Most Influential People In Data for 2024 (congratulations, Tia!). We took the opportunity to ask Tia a few questions of our own, building on some of the themes from the Tech-Exec interview.

In the article with Tech-Exec, you touched on your background, your drive and ambition, and what led you to your current role at Gallagher. What are you most passionate about in this new role?

In 2023, I started working at Gallagher after having an extensive career in data in both public and private sectors. This job was a logical next step for me, as it resonates with my longstanding interest in utilising data in creative ways to bring about beneficial outcomes. I was eager to manage a comprehensive data transformation at Gallagher to prepare for the future, aligning with my interests and expertise.

I am responsible for leading our data strategy and developing a strong data culture. We wish to capitalise on data as a route to innovation and strategic decision-making. Our organisation is therefore creating an environment where data plays a crucial role in our business operations, to allow us to acquire new clients and accomplish significant results rapidly. The role offers an exciting opportunity to combine my skills and lead positive changes in our thinking towards data and its role in the future of insurance.

The transition to making data an integral part of business operations is often challenging. How have you found the experience? 

At Gallagher, our current data infrastructure faces the typical challenges that arise when a firm is expanding. Our data warehouses collect data from many sources, which mirrors the diverse aspects of our brokerage activities. These encompass internal systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM), brokerage systems, and other business applications. We handle multiple data types in our data estate, ranging from structured numerical data to unstructured text. The vast majority of our estate is currently hosted on-premise using Microsoft SQL Server technology, however, we also manage various other departmental data platforms such as QlikView. 

“…we want data capabilities that provide flexibility and agility, to enable us to quickly react to new market opportunities.”

A key challenge we face is quickly incorporating new data sources obtained through our mergers and acquisitions activity. These problems affect our data management efforts in terms of migration, seamless data integration, maintaining data quality, and providing data accessibility. 
To overcome this, we want data capabilities that provide flexibility and agility, to enable us to quickly react to new market opportunities. Consequently, we are implementing a worldwide data transformation to update our data technology, processes, and skills to provide support for this initiative. This transformation will move Gallagher data to the cloud, using Snowflake to leverage the scalability and elasticity of the platform for advanced analytics. Having this flexibility gives us a major advantage, offering computational resources where and when they are required.

How does this technology strategy align with your data strategy, and how do you plan to ensure data governance and compliance while implementing these solutions, especially in a highly-regulated industry like insurance?

Gallagher’s data strategy aims to position us as the leader in the insurance sector. By integrating our chosen solutions within the Snowflake platform, we strive to establish a higher standard in data-driven decision-making. 

This strategy involves incorporating data management tools such as Collibra, CluedIn, and Datactics into our re-platforming efforts, with a focus on ensuring the compatibility and interoperability of each component. We are aligning each tool’s capabilities with Snowflake’s powerful data lake functionality with the support of our consulting partners to ensure that our set of tools function seamlessly within Snowflake’s environment.

“…we are contemplating upcoming AI and automation regulations and considering how to futureproof our products and approaches…”

We are meticulously navigating the waters of data governance and compliance. We carefully plan each stage to ensure that all components of our data governance comply with the industry regulations and legislation of the specific region. For example, we are contemplating upcoming AI and automation regulations and considering how to futureproof our products and approaches to comply with them.

The success of our programme requires cooperation across our different global regions, stakeholders, and partners. We are rethinking our data governance using a bottom-up approach tailored to the specific features of our global insurance industry. We review our documentation and test the methods we use to ensure they comply with regulations and maintain proper checks and balances. We seek to understand the operational aspects of a process in real-world scenarios and evaluate its feasibility and scalability.

Could you expand on your choice of multiple solutions for data management technology? What made you go this route over a one-stop shop for all technologies?

We have selected “best of breed” solutions for data quality, data lineage, and Master Data Management (MDM), based on a requirement for specialised, high-performance tools. We concentrated on high-quality enterprise solutions for easy integration with our current technologies. Our main priorities were security, scalability, usability, and compatibility with our infrastructure. 

By adopting this approach, we achieve enhanced specialisation and capabilities in each area, providing high-level performance. This strategy offers the necessary flexibility within the organisation to establish a unified data management ecosystem. This aligns with our strategic objectives, ensuring that our data management capability is scaleable, secure, and adaptable.

Regarding the technologies we have selected, Collibra increases data transparency through efficient cataloguing and clear lineage; CluedIn ensures consistent and reliable data across systems; and Datactics is critical for maintaining high-quality data. 

“As we venture into advanced analytics, the importance of our data quality increases.”

In Datactics’ case, it provides data cleansing tools that ensure the reliability and accuracy of our data, underpinning effective decision-making and strategic planning. The benefits of this are immense, enhancing operating efficiency, reducing errors, and enabling well-informed decisions. As we venture into advanced analytics, the importance of our data quality increases. Therefore, Datactics was one of the first technologies we started using.

We anticipate gaining substantial competitive advantages from our strategic investment, such as improved decision-making capabilities, operational efficiency, and greater customer insights for personalisation. Our ability to swiftly adapt to market changes is also boosted. Gallagher’s adoption of automation and AI technologies will also strengthen our position, ensuring we remain at the forefront of technological progress.

On Master Data Management (MDM), you referred to the importance of having dedicated technology for this purpose. How do you see MDM making a difference at Gallagher, and what approach are you taking?

Gallagher is deploying Master Data Management to provide a single customer view. We expect substantial improvements in operational efficiency and customer service when it is completed. This will improve processing efficiency by removing duplicate data and offering more comprehensive, actionable customer insights. These improvements will benefit the insurance brokerage business and will enable improved data monetisation and stronger compliance, eventually enhancing client experience and increasing operational efficiency.

Implementing MDM at Gallagher is foundational to our ability to enable global analytics and automation. To facilitate it, we need to create a unified, accurate, and accessible data environment. We plan to integrate MDM seamlessly with our existing data systems, leveraging tools like CluedIn to manage reference data efficiently. This approach ensures that our MDM solution supports our broader data strategy, enhancing our overall data architecture.

“By including data quality activities in our approach, we anticipate significant benefits from the MDM initiative.”

Data quality is crucial in Gallagher’s journey to achieve this, particularly in establishing a unified consumer view via MDM. Accurate and consistent data is essential for consolidating several client data sources into a master profile; we see it as essential, as without good data quality the benefits of our transformation will be reduced. By including data quality activities in our approach, we anticipate significant benefits from the MDM initiative. We foresee a marked improvement in data accuracy and consistency throughout all business units. We want to empower users across the organisation to make more informed, data-driven decisions to facilitate growth. Furthermore, a single source of truth enables us to streamline our operations, leading to greater efficiencies by removing manual processes. Essentially, this strategic MDM implementation transforms data into a valuable asset that drives innovation and growth for Gallagher.

Looking to the future of insurance, what challenges do you foresee in technology, data and the insurance market?

Keeping up with the fast speed of technology changes can be challenging. We are conducting horizon scanning on new technologies to detect emerging trends. We wish to include new tools and processes that will complement and improve our current systems as they become ready.

“We prioritise the security of our data assets and our clients’ privacy because it is essential for our reputation and confidence in the market.”

Next is ensuring robust data security and compliance, particularly when considering legislation changes about AI and data protection. Our approach is to continuously strengthen our data policies as we grow and proactively manage our data. We prioritise the security of our data assets and our clients’ privacy because it is essential for our reputation and confidence in the market.

Finally, we work closely with our technology partners to leverage their expertise. This collaborative approach ensures that we take advantage of new technologies to their maximum capacity while preserving the integrity and effectiveness of our current systems. 

Are there any other technologies or methodologies you are considering for improving data management in the future beyond what you have mentioned?

Beyond the technologies and strategies already mentioned, at Gallagher, we plan to align our data management practices with the principles outlined in DAMA/DMBOK (Data Management Body of Knowledge). This framework will ensure that our data management capabilities are not just technologically advanced but also adhere to the best practices and standards in the industry.

In addition to this, we are always on the lookout for emerging technologies and methodologies that could further enhance our data management. Whether it’s advancements in AI, machine learning, or new data governance frameworks, we are committed to exploring and adopting methodologies that can add value to our data management practices.

For more from Tia, you can find her on LinkedIn.

The post Shaping the Future of Insurance: Insights from Tia Cheang appeared first on Datactics.

In an era where data drives strategic decision-making, data governance and the quality of that data become increasingly vital.

Building a business case for data governance can bring a number of enterprise-wide benefits. This is especially true in banking and financial services, where the risk-focused mindset can sometimes overshadow the potential to become data-driven.

However, it is often a challenge to communicate the value of investing in a data governance and analytics programme.

Successful data governance programmes are influenced by more than the deployment of advanced technologies or methodologies. They are also determined by fostering an organisational culture that fundamentally prioritises data governance. Often referred to as ‘data literacy’, this focus on encouraging a data-driven culture helps ensure that better data management efforts are adopted and sustained over time. Consequently, this can lead to improved data quality, better adherence to rules, and smarter decision-making across the company.

In a recent roundtable in London with some of our customers, we gained first-hand insight into how they are tackling the challenge of fostering a company culture that values data governance. As thought leaders in their fields, we thought we’d share some of their insights. We’ve broken these tips down into simple summaries below.

The Four Essential Tips

Here are four ways that our customers cultivate a company culture that prioritises data governance:

1. Start with Data Quality
2. Highlight Success Stories
3. Use Positive Language
4. Tap into the Human Side of Data Governance

1. Start with Data Quality

Our customers agreed that this is one of the most impactful steps. Data quality is the foundation, ensuring consistency and accuracy across the organisation’s data landscape. This is essential for any governance and analytics programme to succeed. This step helps make the benefits of data governance more apparent and relatable to all employees, as stakeholders see how data quality can enhance decision-making, reduce errors, and streamline processes. Equally, better data powers better decisions, more of which to follow…

2. Highlight Success Stories

When trying to gain buy-in internally, it’s important to be able to create a compelling story that your key stakeholders can relate to. Success can look different depending on every organisation and it’s particularly important to shout about the wins, big or small. For one organisation, having proper data governance can drive efficiencies and profits. For another, it could result in more lives saved. Real-life examples of how improved data governance has led to better outcomes can be an excellent motivator for change.

3. Use Positive Language

The way data analytics and governance are talked about has the power to significantly influence key stakeholders. This can be as simple as talking about the opportunities and benefits of having a robust data governance programme, instead of framing it as something that’s necessary to comply with regulations. Compliance is critical, but so is growing your business; consequently, demonstrate the value your improved data quality is bringing in clear dashboards.

4. Tap into the Human Side of Data Governance

While it may be true that people will frequently resist change, it doesn’t have to derail your ambitions. To deal with this effectively, try to identify some of the areas of frustration felt by other teams across the organisation. To begin with, ask them about their daily work challenges. Oftentimes, these challenges are caused by underlying problems with data quality. Understanding this helps convince them of the value of investing more in data governance to make their day-to-day jobs easier. Our customers also commented on the value of having good interpersonal skills to work effectively with stakeholders and deal with push-back.

Maintaining a Successful Data Governance Programme

Once these initial steps have been taken, continue the conversation through ongoing education and training. Offering workshops, seminars, and online courses can help demystify data governance and analytics, making it more accessible across the business.

Another way to sustain an enterprise data governance programme is by leveraging technology. User-friendly, no-code tools and platforms are a great way of democratising data governance, making it more accessible across the business. With AI, these tools can automate mundane tasks, extract valuable insights from the data, and ensure data accuracy. Accordingly, this makes it easier to encourage a company-wide culture that values data governance.

Conclusion

Fostering a company culture that values data governance is a multifaceted process. With this in mind, it’s worth seeing how our customers have gone about it. In general they achieve buy-in by starting with data quality; leveraging the power of storytelling; providing continuous education; and embracing data management technologies. By focusing on these areas, organisations can ensure that their data governance efforts move beyond compliance requirements to become strategic advantages driveing better decision-making and operational efficiency.

How Datactics can help

Looking for advice on how to build a business case for data governance within your organisation? This is something we’ve done for our clients.

We have developed Datactics Catalyst, our professional services offering, to deliver practical support in your data strategy. 

From augmenting your data team to working on specific data projects, delivering training or providing a short-term specialist to solve a specific data quality problem, let Datactics Catalyst accelerate your ambitions, help you increase data literacy and foster a data-driven culture.

Have a look at our Catalyst page to find out more: www.datactics.com/

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Datactics has been awarded the Bronze Diversity Mark Accreditation for its efforts in championing Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. 

Diversity Mark, established by Women in Business NI, helps businesses across the UK and Ireland build more diverse and inclusive workplaces, through accreditation, insights, best practice and peer support. Evaluated by an independent assessment panel, Datactics has achieved Bronze Award, which marks the beginning of the organisation’s journey in advancing diversity and inclusion.

Datactics Head of People, Elspeth Flenley, said:

“Achieving this award hot on the heels of International Women’s Day feels befitting. We have long championed the role of women in the workplace, especially in technology companies, and securing this award demonstrates our longstanding commitment to a diverse workforce. It marks the start of a continual process of action and review and provides us with a solid framework to demonstrate progress against our DEI ambitions at Datactics.” 

Recognising Datactics’ ambitions, Nuala Murphy, Director at Diversity Mark said:

“We are delighted that Datactics has been awarded the Bronze Diversity Mark Accreditation for its commitment to advancing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace. Our independent assessment panel applauded Datactics’ forward thinking attitude in relation to culture within the organisation. Huge congratulations to all the team on this robust achievement.”

About Datactics:

Datactics is an award-winning, Belfast-based tech company with a team of over 70, providing AI-augmented data quality and matching software to a growing number of international clients across industries. Solutions are data-agnostic and offer interoperability with data lineage, governance, and metadata management tools, especially critical in the deployment of data fabric and data mesh architectures. Datactics received Investors in People Gold accreditation in March 2022, having propelled from Bronze. Twelve months later, they secured additional recognition in the Diversity Mark Bronze Award.

About Diversity Mark:

The Diversity Mark was the first accreditation of its kind and was developed with the support of businesses that were committed to building more diverse and inclusive workplaces. The accreditation was officially launched in September 2017. Within 3 years, over 80 progressive companies from all business sectors had signed the Charter and are committed to transforming workplace culture and attitudes for good.

Diversity Mark offers accreditation, expert support, and guidance to organisations that are navigating the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) landscape. It is the only accreditation where award applications and annual reports are assessed independently by assessors. Their assessment process is highly robust and, as such, is held in high regard as a mark of progress for DEI. 

For more from Datactics, find us on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook.

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Datactics is taking part in the Belfast Winter Series of Business Fives Football Tournament to raise funds for a local charity!

The corporate charity five-a-side football events at Stormont Pavilion offer the opportunity to boost our company culture and develop new and existing relationships whilst supporting charity and you can find out more here.

Datactics will be raising money for the chosen charity: Storehouse Belfast

Storehouse freely provides food, clothing, furniture and basic household goods, to families and individuals throughout Belfast, who are experiencing extreme financial difficulty.

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Yesterday (Thursday 16^th December) Team Datactics travelled across the road to Castlecourt shopping centre to help wrap Christmas presents. With around 7,500 children keen to meet the big man himself by the time Christmas week arrives, there are production targets to be met! Unfortunately, poor Santa was a bit behind on said production targets and hadn’t managed to wrap all the presents to give out to the children. Castlecourt enlisted the help of Ian Campbell, from Ten Foundations, to help wrap the presents in exchange for a donation to charity. Michael Lynch from Datactics has known Ian for years and is passionate about the work that Ten Foundations does with the livelihood programme. More context to Ten Foundations can be found here. 

Michael and Jill Wilson coordinated to rally the finest professional elves from Datactics to head across and assist in providing wrapping skills to this worthy cause. Overall, a team of 11 from Datactics was able to make a strong contribution to the 7,500 target and do our bit to save Christmas! 

We feel passionate at Datactics about helping out and this cause felt particularly significant as it was not only close to Michael’s heart, but we knew it would provide for the many children keen to visit Santa in this important season amid tricky times for all of us. And of course, support the splendid work that Ten Foundations is doing! 

Thanks, Ian, for letting us help and thanks to all the team at Datactics. 

And for more from Datactics, find us on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook.

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Hot on the heels of Datactics’ recent announcement concerning new funding from Invest Northern Ireland, Matt Flenley, Head of Marketing, writes about the company’s exciting plans for expansion.

We were delighted to share the news from Invest NI, as it demonstrates both their commitment to home-grown tech companies and our own story of business success. The latter comes from the kinds of client we’ve been working with over the last few years – major international blue-chip organisations, some of the biggest firms in financial services and information management, and with a cornerstone programme for policing in the UK, NDQIS.

All of this has been secured through the hard work and energy of 60 talented and innovative people, getting the firm from a small 15-person office behind Victoria Square when I joined in 2017, to its current HQ near Belfast’s iconic Waterfront Hall. The new roles we’re now advertising, supported by Invest NI, are designed to keep the foot down on that growth story, take us to the next stage and deliver even more to our loyal clients.

The variety of technical and client-facing roles should appeal to a wide range of people. We’ve always said we want to work with great people, and if potential employees are reading this, thinking they might well be passionate about a career in data, they should absolutely get in touch with us. On our website can be found stories from a number of our team, spanning technology, delivery, project management, and more, which should help encourage people to take the plunge and explore a career with Datactics.

You can check out the brand new, exciting roles here.

If you would like to hear more from Datactics, find us on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook.

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The UK skills shortage is being felt across every sector, region and nation of the UK. In Northern Ireland, 69 percent of employers report a skills shortage in their organisation, with nearly half (46%) saying their biggest challenge over the next five years will be their ability to find staff with the right skills. These findings are taken from The Open University’s (OU) latest Business Barometer report, published in partnership with The Institute of Directors (IoD).

The report, which analyses the UK’s skills landscape on an annual basis, found that a significant number of employers in Northern Ireland are taking a proactive approach to addressing skills gaps. Almost half (46%) have introduced training in the past 12 months in order to bolster employees’ skills.

One such company is Datactics. Based in Belfast, the 60-person company provides business user-focused data quality and matching technology for international clients. But, like many other businesses, it has struggled to recruit experienced people with software development skills. As a result, Matt Flenley, Head of Marketing at Datactics, said the organisation decided to address recruitment challenges by taking a proactive approach. It is focusing on building a strong internal talent pipeline and using training to build employee loyalty and improve retention rates. “Over the last year and a half, we identified the problem that recruits and graduates are available but are not the exact perfect fit, so we wanted to be better at training. This gives us faster access to a workforce that can deliver for our clients.”

Flenley took part in a recent OU webinar called Creating a sustainable skills strategy to attract future talent . Alongside Laura Burley, Apprenticeships Ambassador at the OU, and Dr Roger Barker, Director of Policy and Corporate Governance at the IoD, he talked about the importance of ongoing skills development to plug internal skills gaps and to help boost local skills and the local economy. “Upskilling our employees and upskilling our capabilities just increases our competitive edge on an international stage,” he says.

All full time Datactics employees are offered the opportunity to take a training day once a month. That training can be job-related or it can be something an employee chooses to do for personal fulfillment. Like many other local businesses, the company has also gone down the apprenticeship route. It currently has two apprentices in fields of software development and security.

Datactics has a history of working with the OU. Impressed by the distance learning model, the company recruits people who are taking business and computer science degrees with the OU. “We have always been blown away by the fact that people can balance study and work,” says Flenley. “Because we have a strong tie with The Open University locally in Belfast, we have been able to fill certain positions in Datactics with Open University students quickly, and then continue to train them up.”

The company is now creating a data academy in partnership with the OU and other education providers. The data academy will run one-year programmes aimed at people who want to work in IT. Candidates who go through the programmes will be eligible to take up full time employment with Datactics, as well as gaining certification. “We see this training programme as being beneficial to us and our business community as a whole,” says Flenley.

To read the Business Barometer 2020 report visit.

To watch the webinar visit here.

To get in touch with The Open University to discuss skills challenges, please email business@open.ac.uk

And for more from Datactics, find us on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook.

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Edele Copeland joined Datactics just under 6 months ago to work in our Software Development team.  We have loved getting to know her and wanted to take the time to ask her about how she is settling in; what her favourite part of being in the team is; and how she sees her role developing into the future. 

Hi Edele, how are you settling into the role? 

Brilliantly! I was delighted to immediately feel part of the team. From the first day, I was able to take the time to get my head around the job and am now proud to be working on really meaningful, exciting, and challenging projects. One of the great things about Datactics is the team. I have a brilliant manager in Martin Downey and my colleagues I work with day in/day out with are massively supportive, knowledgeable, and talented. Another aspect I enjoy is the flexibility; being in a development role, we ensure that the parameters of the project are set and then we can go work on the project at our own pace.  

What sort of workplace is Datactics? 

Datactics is the epitome of diversity, the team has a strong mix of genders and nationalities which is an important aspect to the company. Working in a team with such talented females has pushed me to want to progress in my career further. As a woman in technology, I am proud to see the trajectory of females in technology increase. Datactics is a wonderful place to work and from the first day, I remember thinking this – from the support, the social aspects, the career progression, the friendly team, and the growth of the company – it really is an exciting place to be! 

What are your goals? 

I am focusing on developing my skills as much as possible right now. In the past, I have had the opportunity to work with many different coding languages which has helped me to grasp the skills needed to do this job. I would hope to utilise the mentors around me to help me grow in both skill, acumen and professionalism. I am proud to be in a company that is going from strength to strength in terms of the talent and the technology. As time goes on, I want to be able to become even more confident in my ability, continually challenge myself to always be learning. I would love to go back to my old school and speak to the young girls about what a career in STEM can look like and to encourage them to pursue it as a career. 

We are currently advertising for the role of Senior Software Engineer. As you are 6 months into your own role at Datactics, what would you say to anyone considering applying for the post? 

You will be working closely with me! I would say that for anyone wishing to apply that you are guaranteed to learn huge amounts in a very short space of time, and I think if you are willing to work hard and buy into the company ethos here you will thrive. For any females thinking of applying, the company is keen to continually give women an opportunity in the technology field and are huge advocates of diversity and inclusion. All in all, 6-ish months in, I am very happy with my choice to come and join the amazing team here. I am looking forward to progressing in my career and I hope I will be able to always add value to the amazing work the company is doing! 

Thanks, Edele! If you would like to speak further with Edele about what it is like working in such a fast-paced, exciting team – you can reach out to her here. If you would like more information about the role itself, that information can be found here on our website.  

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The Runners and Riders club started the challenge to help get people more active in the better weather of April, with the aim of reaching Milan, Helsinki and Vilnius (where some of our colleagues are based) in just 4 weeks. We managed to complete that challenge with some amazing distances being racked up by participants; aiming for 3,471km overall, we accumulated a combined total of 4713.58km! 

The challenge was open to cyclists, walkers, and runners taking part, all setting themselves different targets to achieve through the month. Leading the cyclists was Marcus with a grand total of 815.93km, leading the walkers was Paul with 287.14km and topping the charts for the runners was Daiva with 125.01km. 

This challenge not only brought everyone together but created friendly competitiveness each week, with everyone that took part measuring progress on Strava against their own personal goal. We were thrilled that nearly half the company joined in on the challenge and that we smashed through our target with a week to spare! 

To mark the end of the challenge, the cyclist leaders Matt, Dave and Marcus organised a Prize Giving ceremony. Prize categories ranged from Daiva’s ‘Forrest Gump award for Keeping on Running’, to Daire the ‘Consistency Queen and Chief Encourager of Others’, to a prize for ‘Puntastic Captions to each Strava walk, run and ride’ (and won by Jamie). 

The challenge was welcomed by everyone that joined as it came at a time when lockdown restrictions were still more strict and it allowed people to get out, get at it and get active. It was also a brilliant way to welcome new people to the team – big shoutout to Roisin, Michael, and Brendan, the latter two who ranked highly in the leader boards despite only joining a month ago. 

Thanks again to the organisers Matt, Dave and Marcus, and a huge congratulations to everyone who took part. There is now talk already for a new challenge that is happening in June of this year – so watch this space, keep on your bike, keep those runners and protein bars handy! 

Huge thank you to our sponsors and suppliers for providing us with goodies to supply our goodie bags- See Sense, Slane Cycles, Bicycle Coffee Shop, 4imprint, and SiS . 

No ceremony could be complete without a socially distanced photo on the Datactics balcony in some glorious sunshine. Well done everyone! 

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“One of the main things I want to put across is that I was willing to move from a big company and a sport I was passionate about to come to work in Belfast” 

Martin Vance joined our team 15 months ago as a Data Management Consultant, helping our clients solve real-world data management problems. As someone who is passionate about data, he enjoys applying his analytical mind to solving problems and curating innovative solutions; in this interview, we took some time to find out why he relocated to Belfast from the fast-paced world of F1, and see what he’s planning to do next

How did you come across Datactics? 

I can’t remember what the event was, but I remember a listed Data Management event that included Datactics. If it hadn’t been for that event, I don’t think I would’ve heard of the company. I then applied for the role and got it! Datactics instantly stood out to me as a company that has reputation, one which had experience within it, and ultimately one that was leading discussions within the technology space. 

How did you get into Data? 

When I was 18, I went to America on a Soccer Scholarship as a student athlete. I quickly realised that I wanted to study further, which led me to study human performance (Sports Science) at university in England. I then did a Master’s in Clinical Exercise Physiology at Northumbria. 

Straight after University, my first role was within data with F1, and although my degrees were not directly related to technology, I was able to demonstrate my scientific and analytical mindset to land the role. 

How have you found the transition into a scale up company from a larger organisation? 

For me, I have loved getting to understand the different functions of the business. In larger organisations you tend to know your team and that’s it. At Datactics, being able to work with others from a wide range of backgrounds with a vast array of skills has been enlightening. On another note, it’s been brilliant to work in a gender diverse environment. Datactics is doing a great job of encouraging women to enter the technology sphere. Also, there is great age diversity within the company – I enjoy working with experienced eyes and working with those that are fresh into their career in equal measure. 

You are planning to undertake another master’s, could you tell me a bit about that? 

For me, it’s about gaining a more holistic view of data. I have done the data analysis role and then the data management role. I now feel like the gap in my knowledge base is understanding machine learning and artificial intelligence. Working closely with the Head of AI, Fiona Browne has been very inspiring to me, so I felt I would look into a Masters in Data Science in Ulster. I think this Masters will help me improve my knowledge and allow me to give more to my role at Datactics. I start the master’s time from September and am delighted to be able to study alongside working. The goal would be that my dissertation would tie well into something we are working on within the company, making it mutually beneficial for both myself and the company.  

You previously worked in England; how did you find coming over to Northern Ireland? 

One of the main things I want to put across is that I was willing to move from a big company and a sport I was passionate about to come to work in Belfast. The move was 100% worth it. Moving back to Northern Ireland has given me great work life balance and I feel particularly excited to be working for a company that is growing hugely. In the next 10-15 years I think Northern Ireland will continue to go from strength to strength as a hub for technology and opportunity. 

Thanks, Martin, for taking the time to chat with us. It was great to be able to hear about your passions and your career journey to date.  We look forward to hearing more from you soon and good luck with the master’s! 

Click here for more by the author, or find us on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook for the latest news. 

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Gaye Lightbody – Senior Developer 

Gaye decided to chat to us a bit about the transition she experienced between working within education and moving into the technology industry. 

How have you found the transition between working within education and industry?

As the country was going into its first lock-down in March 2020 I was stepping out of an academic job and moving into Datactics as a senior software developer. The excitement of making this switch was only slightly overshadowed by the growing pandemic. Despite the challenges of working from home as a new-start, I was moved by the collegiate ethos within the company and the sense of belonging it instilled in me. Deepening my technical skills during this time has given me great job satisfaction and has galvanised my existing knowledge base. With still a lot to learn about the technologies and products, I am kept pleasantly challenged and fulfilled. Although circumstances have not been easy at times due to the pandemic, it has been a rewarding experience, and I am delighted that I stepped out of my comfort zone last year and embraced this new opportunity. I look forward to a time, hopefully in the not so distant future, when I will be able to sit with my team in a bustling meeting room, drinking coffee while sharing ideas and biscuits!

Daire McCotter – Client Services Support Consultant  

Daire decided to chat to us about her degree background, why she decided to join Datactics and what she most enjoyed about her placement within the company. 

What did you study? 

I studied a bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology including Professional Experience. I chose this course as I have always been interested in IT and enjoyed studying it in school and therefore wanted to further develop my IT Skills. I also understood the growing reliance businesses had on technology and therefore this course helped greaten my understanding on the application of IT in businesses. Additionally, I enjoyed the balance between the IT and Business modules as it entailed both practical work and therotical studying. 

Why did you join Datactics? 

In my second-year studies I really enjoyed a module called Data and Statistics which involved analysing data and presenting it in certain formats. The role at Datactics that I applied for as a Data Engineer was very appealing to me as it involved this degree of analytics and interpretation. Additionally, when I joined in 2018, Datactics was half the size it is now, and it had a great sense of community with everyone being so welcoming and friendly. To this day, Datactics still holds this great culture which is such a lovely aspect at work. 

What did you enjoy the most about placement? 

An element of my placement that I enjoyed was taking on my own Internal Project. This project was designed to create a solution that would automatically create documentation for my colleague’s work. Also, I loved working with other members in the different teams whether it was for internal projects, support etc. Lastly, applying my own experience and knowledge from using our software tools enabled me to answer our Client support issues and help them resolve any difficulties they were facing. 

Daiva Vencevičiūtė – Data Engineer

Daiva decided to chat to us about how she came across the company, how she joined the company and why she joined! 

How did you come across Datactics?  

It’s a very interesting story! I have an awesome professor (who always has suggestions for students) that told me about a role in the UK. After reading a job description, I thought, why not get in touch? I then proceeded to apply and then an interview was scheduled with Elspeth, Stuart, Ruta, and Josh. I was very nervous, and I was not speaking in my native language! The interview was sometime in October (in Vilnius!) and by the beginning of February, I was in Belfast.   

What did you study?   

I studied a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. My educational background wasn’t related to Data directly and I have found in my role as a Data Engineer that I have had to learn from the beginning. Having the background knowledge of economics does help but you can learn on the job. I felt incredibly lucky to secure a placement in Belfast.   

Why did you join Datactics?  What attracted you to the role? 

I was keen to travel, and I thought why not go for different opportunities (I knew that one Lithuanian girl was working in Datactics which made me feel more at home.). Stephen and I joined on the same day, so we embarked on learning the capabilities of Flow Designer and DQM together. I remember one of the projects I worked on involved helping Mattias who was working on a LEI based project, and he needed help with manual review. Settling in took a while, but I loved the patience that was ingrained within the team. I was able to learn at my own pace, and I was supported in doing so.   

Helen Long – Finance Manager 

Helen decided to chat to us about what she has most enjoyed about her career at Datactics so far and what her advice would be for those starting out in their career. 

Helen, you’ve been at Datactics for 12 years, what do you enjoy most about it?  

The continually evolving nature of the role is great but also increasingly challenging. The ‘small company’ feel has also been maintained despite substantial growth over the past number of years since I joined. One of the best points of working for a Fintech such as Datactics is that your efforts are noticed, whereas in a larger firm you can often feel like a small cog in a big wheel. It’s been great to watch people join and gradually become managers over time.  

I also enjoy the flexibility the company gives particularly with work/life/family balance. I have a young son, as well as a slightly older daughter so for me having that flexibility at times is necessary to allow me to meet the needs of my children as well as my job.  

What would your biggest advice be for someone who is starting out in their career?  

I would say the most important thing is to feel valued within the company you work in. That has been my experience at Datactics.  Whether you want to move your career along at a fast speed or you want to stay at the level you are at, I think feeling valued in the work you are doing makes the world of difference. 

Thanks so much to Gaye, Daire, Daiva and Helen for sharing with us today. We are proud to have such talented women within our organisation and today we thought we would pull together a piece to celebrate them! Happy International Women’s Day!

Read more ‘Meet our team’ pieces on our DataBlog here.  We also have spoken at length with Helen and Daiva, allowing us to unpack even more.

Tomorrow, Dr Fiona Browne, Head of AI will be contributing to a fantastic panel discussing AI and Ethics, which will be moderated by Ramesh Dontha, Data Transformers. You can register for free here.

Click here for more by Datactics, or find us on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook for the latest news. 

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It’s Friday…this week was a phenomenally busy one! 

We attended the Global InsurTech Summit 2021, which took place this week from Tuesday to Thursday.

Throughout the 3-day summit, we got to engage with many keynotes, talks and presentations delivered and hosted by experts within the InsurTech industry. It was interesting to unpack what the pain points are within the industry and how processes are changing. 

The virtual summit began with an outlook for insurance technology, followed by presentations on top technologies disrupting the insurance industry, innovations in insurance, and then an exploration into customer expectations. 

On that point, anyone wanting to learn about Datactics’ capabilities within the insurance market feel free to get in touch with Kieran Buchanan.

He will be more than happy to explore how we can be of assistance with our award-winning technology especially in the areas of Data Quality and Matching. One key takeaway of the summit was that “Data quality is imperative within the insurance world, with an increase in fraud across the industry, a shift towards prioritising the end customers’ needs and carriers being forced to reimagine business processes.” We at Datactics provide the technology and the know-how to help bring full confidence to your data quality. Datactics won the Data Quality Analysis Tool award from A-Team Group for the second year running in 2020, adding three major Tier 1 financial clients in New York, Amsterdam and London last year. 

3 ideas to get your people excited about your data! 

This week we also have released a new blog post entitled ‘3 ideas to get your people excited about your data’. We found a great stat that 59 zetabytes of data has been captured, created, copied and consumed worldwide since 2010 (according to Statista) and as result it’s easy to see the problems that arise when even a fraction of that data is incorrect. We curated a blog post designed to help energise, excite and encourage your data people in not one, not two but three ways that are highly easy-to-implement and are guaranteed to help deliver your next data management programme (and truly change your data culture). The tips we established are: 

1. You don’t need to rip and replace your expensive data stack 
2. Boil a kettle, not an ocean 
3. Unleash the power of a fully self-service system 

Do you want to read more and find out exactly what we mean? Read our full blog post here. 

If you would like to continue on the thought thread of rethinking your data quality and make a huge difference to your organisation, you can reach out to the author of this blog post, Matt Flenley on LinkedIn. He would be delighted to continue this conversation. 

To learn more about how how Self-Service Data Quality is the best approach to developing a next-gen data management strategy, check out our webinar from 2020 with key input from CTO, Alex Brown (or read a blog post version here). 

A Trip down memory lane: Video Game Edition 

We thought we would wrap up this blog post with a bit of nostalgia. We recently asked our entire team to name a video game that reminded them of their youth! We received a plethora of responses… with some solid favourites. We would love to get your involved in our DatacticsChat, tell us, what was your favourite video game when you were younger? Will you admit to playing it, or can you even remember it?! 

For more on The Global InsurTech Summit, Data Quality or just a trip down memory lane, find us on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook for the latest news. 

The post Weekly round-up: from Global InsurTech Summit to getting your people excited about data! appeared first on Datactics.

Matt Flenley, Marketing and Partnerships Manager at Datactics will be speaking this week at The Open University, delivering a talk on Business Ethics.

The talk is going to cover four things:

1. The impact of unintended and cultural bias in machine learning 
2. What to do if your business loses or has no soul
3. Corporate Social Responsibility – Looking after people when the world is upside down
4. The benefits and pitfalls of big corporate machines and rapid growth start-ups when it comes to doing charitable work and being a force for good. 

You can also read Matt’s blogs here such as a piece on AI Ethics he has written about or find out about our people here, explore our open vacancies. If you’re curious about working at Datactics please drop Matt a line on LinkedIn for a chat. 

The post The Open University talk: Business Ethics | 17/02 appeared first on Datactics.

Matt Flenley, Marketing and Partnerships Manager at Datactics will be speaking this week at The Open University, delivering a talk on Business Ethics.

Prior to The Open University, we thought it would be a good idea to have a chat and find out why this topic, what other views he hopes to talk about, and the importance of business ethics, especially from a data perspective.

 Hi Matt, what can you tell us about the talk you are giving at The Open University?

I am really excited to give this talk as this is an area I am passionate about. The talk is going to cover four things:

1. The impact of unintended and cultural bias in machine learning 
2. What to do if your business loses or has no soul
3. Corporate Social Responsibility – Looking after people when the world is upside down
4. The benefits and pitfalls of big corporate machines and rapid growth start-ups when it comes to doing charitable work and being a force for good. 

How important do you think ethics is within the data industry? 

I think ethics are important. People very often think about algorithms and automated rules as being the critical part to measure, but before all of that, there’s data. You must involve data in the process, to be able to understand whether the sample you are measuring is right. The quality of the information you use depends on whether the information is complete and whether you sought out the correct data, to begin with. 

Do you think that an understanding of ethics and data has increased in importance in recent years? 

I do, due to the increased understanding of the importance of AI. For example, there are images on the internet, that some specific algorithms can learn from, to be able to generate people that don’t actually exist. As a result of this, images are created that are recognisable to you or me, but these people don’t exist – it’s a clever piece of AI. A problem that has been increasingly recognised with the source material is that it doesn’t contain enough images of older women. This has meant that as the algorithm generated people, the AI’s conclusions were that as they age, everyone becomes an old man! Due to the fact that there is an absence of older women images, an inaccurate representation of society becomes prevalent. If you don’t have the right data going into an algorithm, you won’t have accurate data coming out of it. People are increasingly understanding the importance of data, and examples like this shine a light on bias and how damaging it can be to society. 

How important it is to share this knowledge with the leaders of tomorrow at The Open University? 

It is absolutely critical! I believe it’s vital for business people as well as technologists to be ethicists. The more people there is that are ethicists in the discussion, the more you are going to end up with less bias in the room which will fundamentally lead to fairer outcomes. 

How important is The Open University and Datactics partnership? When did it begin? 

The relationship has been longstanding. We have a number of staff members that are studying at The Open University alongside working and indeed one working as a lecturer at the institution. One of the best parts of working with The Open University is the access to talent in unexpected places. There are a number of students that are pursuing careers in technology, who have not gone about it in a conventional way, like immediately heading to a red-brick university for a computer science degree. Some of them are further down the line in different careers and have decided to make a career change, and some have decided to retrain while working. It’s a real mix and a really encouraging, affirming environment for people to pursue their education and career. 

Thank you Matt! We will be sharing soundbites from this talk, so make sure to keep an eye out for those. 

You can also read Matt’s blogs here such as a piece on AI Ethics he has written about. Or find out about our people here, explore our open vacancies, or if you’re curious about working at Datactics please drop Matt a line on LinkedIn for a chat. 

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We sat down and chatted to them all about their experience in technology so far, their apprenticeship, the skills they have been acquiring and of course, their experience working within the team at Datactics. 

We really enjoyed getting to know our apprentices more and we are thrilled they are with us! 

Hi both, I’d be really keen to hear how you both found your feet in your course; how did you get into technology? 

Natalie: I began in a completely different industry! I was working in Insurance and I decided that I wanted to change the direction of my career. Shortly after this, I saw an ad on social media for an IT Belfast Met apprenticeship split between Networking, Infrastructure and Software Development; I still wasn’t sure which path I wanted to take but I knew that I had a passion for tech support, so I applied. Upon passing, I was then able to apply for various companies that were taking part in the Apprentice scheme; this led me to Datactics. I am now thrilled to be a part of the team! 

Victoria: My story is similar to Natalie. I completed my degree in Counselling and was working in a call centre. I wanted to initially gain experience in my degree field with the intention of pursuing a career in Mental Health. Due to the pandemic, I decided to change my career direction as I wanted to pursue a career in technology. I then came across the application for the apprenticeship and the rest is history! 

What excites you about a career in IT? 

Natalie: I find technology a constantly evolving sector, I think now more than ever there is a strong need for vigilance within the sector. Game development has always sparked an interest for me, and I would love to pursue this on the side. 

Victoria: I think Technology has always been so interesting and seeing the changes in past number of years has made it even more exciting. It has become a central part of life, as everybody runs some sort of operating system on a device! In school I wasn’t as engaged with IT, but when I saw the apprenticeship that will equate to A Levels without having to sit through school, I jumped at the chance. 

Could you tell me more about the course itself? 

Victoria: Our course is Level 3 Networking and Infrastructure; it is an OCR qualification that is equivalent to two A Levels. At the minute we are focusing on the basics of networking, we have just completed a 6-week bootcamp and now we have started our course. We have had been getting great experience so far within Datactics in areas like user support and administration. 

Natalie: I agree with Victoria, we have had the opportunity to do hands-on work here at Datactics, the theory is interesting but being able to put it into practice has helped me develop my skills a lot faster. 

Brilliant! How have you guys found settling into Datactics so far? 

Victoria: Datactics is a great company. The people really make it! The workload is also really fair and there are a lot of opportunities to ask questions which is vital for us as apprentices! I also think Datactics is great for allowing you to take the time to undertake your own learning and the management team is always on hand to answer any queries! 

Natalie: During the hiring process I was told that Datactics goes out of its way to ensure they are hiring people from all walks of life. I too  think Datactics really pushes women to the front, they have forward-thinking approaches to progression and they have created a very supportive working environment.  

Amazing! So how long does the apprenticeship go on for? What’s the timescale? 

Natalie: The apprenticeship lasts for just over a year and a half. We do all our class units, then we have work-based learning units. Our assessor meets with us monthly to talk through progression, target deadlines and performance.  

Would you both say that, prior to starting this apprenticeship, you didn’t have any Tech experience? 

Victoria: I had virtually zero real-life tech experience. It’s been a real drop in the deep end, but I have been given great support, so I am not floundering! Dave (Brown) and Paddy (Donnelly) have been brilliant mentors. 

Natalie: I have taken a few smaller courses in my own time in web design, HTML and Python but I had zero commercial experience in tech prior to entering this apprenticeship. 

Apprenticeships really are for everyone! Aren’t they? 

Natalie: Our class would have a big age-range within it. Recently we had a remote call with our classmates, and upon being asked, ‘Why have you opted for this apprenticeship?’, the majority of people stated it was due to wanting a career change.  

Victoria: There are so many apprenticeships available through Belfast Met, whatever age you are or whatever stage you are at in your career – it’s never too late to consider a change! 

That’s great. So, what happens after the apprenticeship? 

Natalie: Upon completion of the apprenticeship, the option is available for you to go on and complete a foundation degree, or else wrap up and take the qualification.  

Victoria: My plans are to continue working away and building my skills, but I would consider doing another Level 6 qualification. There is also the option to do another apprenticeship in another subject area.  

Thanks so much to both of our amazing apprentices for taking the time to sit down and discuss their apprenticeships to date and how they have been settling in! We hope you have enjoyed reading. 

Read more about our people here, explore our open vacancies, or if you’re curious about working at Datactics please drop me a line on LinkedIn for a chat. 

The post National Apprenticeship week appeared first on Datactics.

The heart of Datactics revolves around our people

This week at Datactics was Wellness Week, a week we set aside in our calendars to engage in wellness-based activities.

 We believe in the importance of taking care of your wellbeing at Datactics, and we understand that the past year has been extremely difficult and challenging due to COVID-19. At Datactics, the heart of the organisation revolves around the talented individuals we are delighted to call our team. We thought now, more than ever, would be a good time to dedicate some sessions away from work to invest in our amazing, resilient, and loyal people.  

The importance of emotional intelligence

The week kicked off with a session driven by Executive Coach, Ricky Drain – who is a firm friend of the company. His session explored the importance of emotional intelligence, the emotions of change, the phases of transition, and of course, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This session was underpinned by breakout groups, which allowed people in the company to engage with others working across different departments. Furthering this, the Monday session was concluded by Dr Noreen Tehrani, who unpacked the psychological impact of wellbeing in uncertain times. Her session focused on how to avoid burnout, the importance of monitoring what news and information we consume, and of managing our workload to ensure we have a separation between work and relaxation.  

Desk Yoga and Strava activities

On Wednesday, our Wellness Week activities continued with an hour being set aside for all employees to engage in an activity which relaxes them. We wanted to put into practice what we had been taught on Monday, gaining the balance between work and relaxation. We offered Desk Yoga to the team, hosted by the wonderful Sandra Daly. This activity was well attended, with 10+ team members participating. If, however, desk yoga wasn’t their thing we encouraged the team to spend the hour doing their own activities – some of the team had some impressive Strava action!  

A word from Stuart Harvey

To conclude the week, we had our final interactive session with Ricky Drain. This session meant that while the past number of months have felt very out of control for many of us, we could have a moment to focus on ‘taking back control’ of important areas of our work and life. Ricky delved into topics such as resilience, finding a purpose, recognising your values and beliefs, and prioritising your wellness. Through various breakout sessions, we were able to unpack our goals, openly share about our wellness journeys, and focus on development moving forward. The session came to close after a few words from our CEO, Stuart Harvey. This element of the session was brilliant, as Stuart opened up about the resilience and growth that the company has experienced in the last 12 months, but congratulated the team for their loyalty, dedication and hard work that has certainly not been unnoticed.  

Treat yourself to a takeaway

As a final treat to our team, we want to offer them each a free takeaway of their choice, on the company. We hope this takeaway will allow each and every team member to take a night off cooking, spend time with their loved ones, and truly relax. 

Thanks to our amazing HR Team for organising wellness week!

This Wellness Week was brought together by the fantastic HR Team, namely Elspeth Flenley and Laura Ellis. We want to thank them for bringing the vision to host a wellness week to life – for all the hard work that went on behind the scenes and the organisation that brought each speaker to the week.   

We had a brilliant week! To wrap up this round-up, we wanted to leave this thought with you: 

Check out last weeks round-up here, to find out all about our recent certifications!

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In January 2021, our very own Marketing Manager, Matt Flenley spoke to Georgia Halston of Halston Marketing, to unpack the power of collaboration and community. In this piece, Matt discusses the recent triumphs and the strategies that he deems as critical to remaining resilient, and relevant to both existing and new customers throughout 2021 and beyond.

I think the biggest thing we’ve noticed is a renewed focus on communication. This goes for how we’ve communicated and collaborated internally as a team, and how we’ve been keeping in touch with our community, customers, partners, and those lovely people who are almost customers but not quite yet! 

Keep in touch meetings were born!

Keeping in touch is quite a good phrase for this, actually, as we’ve had a stronger cross-company set of conversations over Zoom, branded as “Keep in Touch”, ensuring the whole team are aligned on business priorities from the newest team member to the CEO. These have been genuinely collaborative and supportive, making the internal marketing journey equally as important as the external one. We’ve worked hard on internal branding of newsletters, too, to help people feel more connected and involved. 

Communication is vital

 Of course, for a tech company usually spending its time across the northern hemisphere, actually being in countries has been made impossible since March of last year. We’d usually have people on the ground in New York one week, and Amsterdam the next, and so we’ve been talking to our event partners about how we can redistribute physical event spend into digital and virtual opportunities instead. Again, communication has been key here, looking to come up with mutually beneficial ways of keeping pre-Covid sponsorship monies assigned to events but ensuring that they return what we need in terms of market visibility, thought leadership, and lead generation.

Check out this virtual keynote delivered by Kieran Seaward, our Head of Sales, when previously we’d have settled for just an exhibition stand.  

Sustaining economic growth is crucial

In the same spirit we reached out to local event companies to offer our help in coordinating segments of agendas and bringing along people we knew could help build their audiences through keynote appearances, for example, contributing to AI Con 2020. We recognise that it’s a really challenging time to be working, but ultimately it’s about getting there together and sustaining economic growth through collaboration, and all of that can be kicked off with an email or a phone call to ask “how can we help both of us to get what we want?”

What have we, at Datactics, been doing at a community level?

At a community level, we have had a long-standing relationship with Rosetta Primary School, a half-hour’s walk up the road from us here in Belfast. We’d usually go in and help with one-to-one reading, or developing numeracy and relational language through play with Lego, but clearly that had to change for the Autumn term 2020.

Instead, we used our volunteer time in the Marketing team, working with the school to develop an online Nativity which premiered just before the Christmas holidays; one of our team, who is part-way through his final year of a Marketing degree, also put together a virtual tour of the school to help them with their admissions for 2021.

These have been fulfilling projects that have helped with morale just as much as they’ve supported practical needs in the community.

Video, podcasts, keynotes? All and more!

Lastly, we’ve said “yes please!” to an increasing number of opportunities to do video, podcast, keynotes – you name it. Our brand has grown significantly as our team has made themselves available for these opportunities, often at short notice, for example Dr. Fiona Browne, Head of AI’s contribution to an episode of FinTech Finance focussed on AML and tech.

Training, training, training

I say lastly – but alongside all of this, we’ve been working increasingly closely with our Sales team to better integrate all our campaign activity. We’ve taken on some external training on this front and not just assumed we can do it all ourselves! Sometimes you need someone else to hold your feet to the fire to really make critical business-growing decisions and grow.

Thanks again to Halston Marketing for reaching out to us – we have thoroughly enjoyed engaging with the wonderful team. We don’t want this conversation to stop here, so if you’d like to reach out to Matt Flenley to hear about all things marketing, our partnerships, or what Datactics can do for you, connect with him on LinkedIn.

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Welcome back to our round up. We thought we would take a bit of time to update you on what we have achieved and some important news about being accepted onto Government purchasing frameworks.

The first of which is G-Cloud. This framework enables suppliers of cloud-based solutions to be made available through a front-end catalogue called the Digital Marketplace.

In this round up, we are delighted that Datactics has once again maintained its place in the G-Cloud framework, alongside other highly prolific companies who are selling or thinking about selling their cloud-based solutions to the UK Government.   

Secondly, we have been included onto the Digital Outcomes and Specialist Framework, which sits alongside G-Cloud on the Digital Marketplace.

The DOS framework is for the procurement of digital teams or individuals, often alongside in-house delivery teams.  There are many benefits to being a supplier on this framework as DOS provides another route to market for suppliers looking to support digital transformation programmes across the whole of the public sector. 

Thirdly, Datactics has achieved the Cyber Essentials certification.

Cyber Essentials is a UK Government-backed scheme that aims to assist organisations with assessing and mitigating risks from common cybersecurity threats to their IT systems.

We are proud to have achieved this certification, as it demonstrates our commitment to helping identify security controls for an organisation to have in place with their IT systems.

The badge will ensure better identification of potential risks, that will help protect us against common cyber threats, illustrating how we have adopted the proper security controls to protect customer data and showcasing compliance with UK Government contracts. You can read more about it here and you can find us on the list of approved companies here.

In other news, we also are delighted thatthe development and delivery work we’ve been doing on Self-Service Data Quality saw us selected as winners by the A-Team Group of their Best Data Quality Analysis Tool. Additionally, we ranked #17 in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Ireland, which highlights our innovation and rapid growth in the region.  

These successes are an indicator of how much Datactics is growing. Our committed staff have worked hard to achieve these notable accolades. Particular thanks to those innovative folks who strive to put so many hours of development work into our Self-Service Data Quality platform. It has been a busy period, and certainly, 2021 has well and truly kicked off on a strong note! 

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