Data Strategy Archives

Why effective project prioritisation in consultancy is crucial

Posted on: 10 October 2024

When it comes to consultancy, project prioritisation is critical so that customers receive urgent or important work first before less vital items. In straightforward projects with one product owner and a finite backlog, you can approach this issue by working through the backlog and asking them to label them using MoSCoW, the prioritisation technique used in project management and business analysis to help stakeholders understand the importance of various requirements, for example. It’s when you move to a project with multiple product owners and an ever– extending backlog that the problems appear, however.

So, what are the common project prioritisation challenges arising in consultancy nowadays and what solutions are available to consultants to solve them?

Common challenges in consultancy around project prioritisation

Within each project, each stakeholder (this could be from multiple products, multiple product owners or stakeholders without a product owner) will bring their own backlog, each believing that their demands are the most important and that all your resources are theirs to use. Negotiating between these product owners can be difficult, especially as they may have their own deadlines that they’ve committed to, perhaps only needing your resources for part of their project and a delay could cause their entire project not being delivered on time. 

While earlier and clearer communication would undoubtedly help with these issues in the long run, where do consultants start in the meantime? 

How consultants can improve project prioritisation

Consultants that refer to a categorical prioritisation list for each project (such as the example below) will notice immediate and significant improvements. By scoring each project against a list of categories, with the resulting score used to order the backlog and any incoming items, their respective priority and importance will be illustrated to the wider business.  The category list is: 

Once a project has been scored on each of these points, the total score is calculated. This is then used to rank projects against each other. It’s important to reassess the time rating approximately every three months, as this rating will need to be increased to reflect the real-world situation. 

Benefits of this approach

The advantage of adopting this approach is that it enables you to provide an explanation as to why certain projects are higher priority than others rather than using a more subjective approach. It’s possible to add a higher rating to categories so that the calculation better represents the company’s priorities. 

Potential difficulties of this approach

Some of the issues we’ve noticed so far are that these categories don’t necessarily work as well for enabling items such as a pilot, which won’t deliver any benefit to the system on its own but is required before the new feature can be started. To bolster this, we had to consider the ultimate deliverable being enabled, otherwise, the supporting item would score too low. 

 Technical debt is another type of work that doesn’t quite fit into these categories, which is why we ultimately decided to remove it and prioritise it separately. 

 Despite all the categorisation and discussions, you can end up with a list that doesn’t quite correspond with your gut feeling based on market trends. To mitigate this, a review was organised every few months to monitor scoring accuracy. 

Conclusion 

For projects without a finite backlog where upfront prioritisation isn’t possible, this approach allows you to prioritise against existing work in flight. However, it’s important to account for the amount of time, effort and morale downturn it takes to pause and restart. 

This method of prioritisation is ultimately particularly a useful tool for prioritising the constant stream of incoming projects from multiple product owners. The conversations that come out of the prioritisation are also of substantial value, and to some extent, enable the prediction of what will be delivered in the near future. 

To learn more about project prioritisation in consultancy, speak to one of CACI’s experts today.

Adopting AI into organisations: carrying past lessons into the future

Posted on: 11 July 2024

Reflecting on projects and organisations I’ve worked with in the customer strategy and marketing technology space, there are new challenges daily, but how organisations harness data feels like Groundhog Day. From changes of funding models and head counts to the centralisation and decentralisation of teams, it feels like the value of the Data and & Analytics (D&A) functions is still in a phase of being scrutinised heavily, with some businesses unable to unlock the magic that was promised many years ago.

In 2024, AI is everywhere, creating both excitement and fear. The big question I often hear is: “How do we use AI to stay ahead of the curve?”. The lack of knowledge around the limitations has created a sense of infinite opportunity. The rate of change is rapid and big players are getting involved. It’s easy to see how organisations can feel like a deer in the headlights on what to do, afraid to be left behind.

The risk is empty promises, money wasted and no results. There are lessons to take from the D&A revolution to help guide us in the AI era, however. Some of the key themes from successful D&A transformations I’ve been part of at CACI that are relevant for AI adoption by analytics and data professionals in the customer space have been:

Establishing value
Data literacy
Data modernisation
Evolving the process

Establishing value

Establishing value is pivotal to getting the business along the journey by helping stakeholders understand how data and analytics helps their bottom line. Stakeholders don’t want a handful of numbers, they want the capability to make better decisions, execute more efficiently and deliver greater impact. Therefore, if a predictive model has been created to determine when is best to target a customer sale, the job is not done. The next steps are to substantiate what this can mean for the business in terms of opportunity, followed by activating it to drive and prove that the sale has happened.

This will be similar with AI. It is key to start by defining the use cases and business challenges to be addressed. Once this is understood, AI initiatives can have buy-in and be driven more easily. It doesn’t require a large roadmap, a series of proof points and steps to prove value is more than enough. Establishing what value is and demonstrating it unlocks the licence to move forwards with smaller, incremental steps.

Data literacy

Increasing data literacy is key to establishing a two-way conversation between stakeholders and D&A ambassadors. For stakeholders, it allows them to define their ambition and utilise D&A outputs to deliver to that ambition. For D&A ambassadors, it’s talking the language of the business, contextualising the day-to-day impact. Interestingly, working on this in the past has ended up with stakeholders mentioning “data” less.

For example, I worked with marketers who wanted to understand the opportunity in terms of how many customers they were going to reach. “What about the data?” was banded around, which can mean different things to different people. After helping educate them on the role of understanding counts and what that means for volumes, the language shifted to “volumes of unique eligible customers who will receive the campaign”. The less the conversation becomes about “data” and more what it means for customers while knowing the considerations with respect to data, the more effectively the business can reach its outcomes with less confusion and at a greater pace.

With AI, the role of ambassadors for data, analytics and AI is to always be translators, empowering users to understand and carry the conversation in all directions. That means fostering a culture where there is specific training for different stakeholders, tailoring how you talk to the stakeholder’s world and keeping at the forefront of developments to help people understand what AI means for both their day-to-day and future.

Data modernisation

I’ve often seen organisations leapfrogging with their technology capabilities or implementing data science models only to realise that the integrations were not set correctly and the data itself was not fit for purpose. There is the assumption of quality of data and that all tools are fit for purpose, however, data management and governance practices that have not evolved to meet requirements risk creating low quality data, which will affect outputs and create a lack of trust in the data and models. Furthermore, low data accessibility, exasperated by poor data management, can increase latency and make the speed to value slow and painful. These areas are typically not what stakeholders are thinking about and often results in large-scale data transformations becoming dead in the water.

Data modernisation requires reviewing infrastructure and governance so that processing and storage happens closer to where decision-making happens, improving speed, reducing cost and closing silos. Focusing on access, quality and efficiency will enable AI to be integrated in a way that is usable and scalable. Moreover, as AI application increases, AI-focused data management practices will significantly improve accuracy and performance of the models, which is crucial when productionising AI.

Although it may not be pretty or exciting for the end users, addressing data modernisation must be a key priority for D&A and AI ambassadors. There will be challenges in helping organisations understand the ramifications of substandard data management and governance practices. Tackling these issues head on will improve the time to value for AI and mitigate issues with quality, cost and output. Beyond this, modernisation of data governance must venture further– with a strict focus on ethics and compliance– by assuming the role of PII within the organisation and how that is used with AI, if using external technology.

Evolving the process

Once there is buy-in and a return on the D&A initiatives is recognised, interest and further investment will then be generated from the organisation. The next part, scaling, is sometimes the hardest step. In my experience, those who reach this point likely had smaller, autonomous teams tackling the D&A transformation. Moving forwards requires ongoing attention and adaptation, with the trend being to create specific roles and departments. While this can make sense, the risks include siloing teams and shifting focus from business outcomes to becoming more about delivering tasks.

The same will apply to AI, where it’s tempting to have an ‘AI department’. The balance that must be struck is the ability to deliver business outcomes versus the need to nurture specialisms to ensure that there is growth for the individuals, a combined view on the future and enforcement of best practice. This will emulate cyclical trends of centralisation and decentralisation of teams. This is not a bad thing– it’s okay to constantly evolve and adapt operating models around business needs. AI is unique in that it will become more pervasive in the day-to-day, so while AI technology may be centralised, its use will seep through the whole of an organisation.

How CACI can help?

Despite AI feeling like the next revolution, for some, it’s an evolution of data and analytics. We are in a period where D&A is being scrutinised in terms of its value, but the question is not being asked of AI just yet. It will be, and the themes above will gear you towards being able to drive ROI.

To learn more about how CACI can drive value with AI in driving value from your customers, contact us today.

New Year, New me? Reset, face out to the market, connect, and engage

Posted on: 3 January 2024

There has been a lot written in the past 18 months about how the pandemic realigned the way we were living. A moment in time that stretched into a phase that was different for literally everyone, affecting us all in different ways; young and old, key workers through to shop staff, blue collar workers and office employees. Just think for a moment about how different life is now, how you think it might have affected the above groups and how such a seismic shift defines who we are today, what we want from our lives, our relationships, our jobs and our future.

Key reflections in the new year

As we move into a New Year, even if we don’t make wholesale changes, I always find it to be a good time to reflect on where you are at, force a change – even a small one – and move into the New Year in a new gear.

In the last few years, those changes for me have been about reflecting on how we are conducting ourselves on a day-to-day basis and resetting into what is needed in the year ahead rather than drifting along with an adopted behaviour that you inherited post-Covid. I have been very keen to try to get colleagues to do the same.

Go out and see clients face to face, walk around the places we work on and have delivery meetings on client sites rather than on the dreaded Teams. While I’m fully aware of the benefits in time and travel that Teams has brought, I think it is incumbent on us all to ensure we use the channel in the right way, not just because it is the easiest thing to do. There will always be instances where face to face does make a lot more sense – think about it and make the effort!

Understanding the impact of consumers’ changing values and priorities

Working in consumer understanding at CACI, I’ve found myself reflecting a lot over the past 18 months, not just about the behavioural changes the pandemic has instilled in us, but how it has altered our values. In general, we have become much more particular about what we choose to do with our time away from home. Some groups, because of what home is to them (singles in smaller shared accommodation versus families in larger, out-of-town homes for instance), will have wildly different values based on that home set up, their life stage, affluence, etc. which maybe, or may not, be like their pre pandemic selves. However, how they value their time, effort and disposable income has definitely shifted.

The impact of the Cost of Living crisis has further evolved everyone’s position, with disturbing situations becoming everyday concerns. Simple things such as keeping warm, having a hot shower, or saving on electricity bills are driving the younger cohorts back to the office now more than the Boomer generation. That, and the realisation that without real face time with their peers and seniors, their careers may be stunted.

Gen Z Millennial Boomer office stats — CACI Cost of Living tracker 2023

Applying these learnings in real time: Revo takeaways

Beyond this change in ourselves, we have seen huge changes in the businesses and organisations we work with.

In this last year, I became a board member of the industry body, Revo – an organisation that has gone through wholesale change, not because of Covid per se, but because of what the market needs out of such industry groups. In the past, it was famed for a large-scale conference, held over three days in a regional city, overlapping with many other similar events and organisations. Today, it is very much reset as a not-for-profit organisation, run by the members, for the members.

It is focused on providing a community platform to connect next generation Revo Hub members with those who have a few years under their belts. Instead of a huge annual conference, we now provide smaller events, including the very recent Revo Awards ceremony at Control Room A in Battersea Power Station. On this night, we celebrated the achievements of the best in the business across marketing, asset management, regeneration and leasing. As Revo evolves, those members who contribute will do the same, with a focus on getting out into the market to explore and learn from these winning best practice examples.

Predictions for the future of our working world

So, thinking about the future changes; in our work world, 2023 was centered around the birth of generative AI, albeit over thirty years after the business world started using all forms of AI (under a different name). I no longer struggle to answer the question ‘What do you do for a living?’. While our world at CACI isn’t as straightforward as saying you work in Finance or Retail, with Generative AI for the masses now, I can (relatively) easily explain that I work in consumer data to support businesses like banks, using natural language in AI to categorise large volumes of calls data to better direct enquiries. Or, using AI on satellite imagery to create spatial wealth distribution indices for far flung places. Or, put more simply, use behavioural data (like GAI can) to enable better actions and interactions with customers and prospects.

My biggest goal moving into 2024, and one I would encourage colleagues and friends alike to adopt, is to just get out there and see places again. Make sure you are putting a value on that travel and time, but also make a concerted effort to get away from your screen (office or home), force a new experience, and share that. In a world where AI will take away the mundane tasks, it is even more important to enjoy the new experiences that these new repurposed places bring.

How Transport for Greater Manchester increased value from data to understand the people behind travel patterns

Posted on: 19 September 2023

The challenge

Increase the proportion of journeys made by active travel and public transport
Understand variations in the customer profile across different modes of travel, and specific Bus, Metrolink, and cycle routes
Understand barriers to take-up for different user groups (e.g. geographic location, affordability)
Identify appropriate ways to engage with existing customers and target new users

The solution

To overcome these challenges, Transport for Greater Manchester partnered with CACI on the following solutions:

Use Acorn Postcode, Workforce Acorn, Paycheck, and Retail Footprint to enhance their own datasets, including survey data (at the sampling, weighting and analysis stages)
Use with GIS systems to identify spatial patterns and trends
Postcode-level analysis provides a granular understanding that allows for targeted intervention

The benefits

“CACI’s Acorn, Acorn knowledge base and supporting products (Paycheck, Retail Footprint), used in combination with our own datasets, increase the value we can get from our data and help us to understand in more depth the people behind the travel patterns.”

Rosalind O’Driscoll, Head of Policy Insight and Public Affairs – Transport for Greater Manchester

Read the case study

You can access and download the full case study here. If you have any questions or want to learn more about CACI’s solutions, please get in touch with us.

What is InView?

Posted on: 26 July 2023

InView is CACI’s data platform that is specifically designed for the NHS. It is modular by design with over 30 modules out of the box, and makes data sharing for ICS simple and efficient through its standardisation and safety in data management. The flexibility, maintenance and content provided by a standard data platform built in-house can only go so far. Considering the many pressures faced by NHS Trusts daily, they need a data platform that supports—rather than hinders– them.

InView empowers NHS Trusts nationwide to enhance their reporting and unlock the potential of their data by ensuring that all data reporting is correct, consistent and complete within a singular integrated solution that will transform patient care outcomes.

But how exactly does InView work? And what makes it so beneficial for the NHS? This blog will dive into everything you need to know about InView so you can make informed decisions about your own data platform.

How does InView work?

To meet the high volume of mandated statutory changes and local reporting requirements, your Trust should be equipped with a solid data platform that is easy to use and fully maintained. InView is risk-free*, robust and easily maintained, ensuring that you and your Trust can meet these requirements by providing all key statutory outputs and fully maintaining them in line with NHS change notifications as part of core product releases.

Designed and built in a way that promotes rapid implementation of a solution within a Trust, InView secures you with plenty of pre-built content from all disparate data sources in one unified, trustworthy solution. Each of InView’s 30 modules is built from a sophisticated, layered design that will keep future maintenance costs down and future proofing up. Its layers include:

Acquisition Layer: This layer accepts the data from incoming data sources and is designed to accept data in a raw format prior to any data checking.
Integration Layer: As the middle ground between the Acquisition layer and the upcoming Translation layer, this layer moves data from one source to the other and performs matching between data sources. Trust-specific business rules are implemented and dictate how incoming data affects the information stored in the data warehouse.
Translation Area: Data quality and integrity checking are carried out during this layer. This part of the processing also restructures data into a “star schema” model.
Data Model: The aforementioned “star-schema” model is created at this layer, which is optimised for ad-hoc querying and historical data storage. It supports the historical storage of fact data, manages changes to dimensional data and hierarchical structures and ensures historical reporting is conducted effectively.
Serving Layer: This layer interacts with the InView user graphical user interface (GUI) to simplify configuration. Database views can be created at this layer to support reporting with minimal effort required from the end user. Real time data can also be presented at this layer, and non-InView data can also be combined to supplement any data you need to report on.
Compliance Layer: This layer is where all statutory outputs are maintained and released to the Trust.

Where can InView be deployed?

InView can be deployed either on premise, in the Cloud, or hosted in CACI’s HSCN environment. Once deployed, our highly skilled technical experts forming the Managed Services team will work alongside you to ensure that you and your Trust are constantly supported after InView goes live. We will support you throughout the entire project implementation through fully transferring the necessary skills that will help you and your Trust feel more self-sufficient when using InView.

Benefits of using InView

NHS Trusts need accurate, reliable and readily available data for critical reporting and decision making. While this is crucial, it can be one of the biggest challenges for data professionals across the NHS to overcome. InView’s range of benefits can help you and your Trust overcome these challenges through its:

Consistency: As a proven in-house solution that promotes a single version of the truth
Availability: As a maintained product that can supply end-to-end reporting and can be implemented with all local rules correctly applied to incoming data
Efficiency: As a partner that is committed to continuously enhancing its solution
Flexibility: As an easy-to-use, extendable solution that is tailored to your Trust’s requirements and ensures your Trust will adapt to changes quickly
Reliability: As a modern, interactive solution that allows for sharing not only within your organisation, but with ICS partners and NHSE too.
Volume: As a solution that reduces the onus of statutory changes on the Trust
Low cost of ownership: As a low total cost of ownership solution with maintained product content and changes that a Trust can action themselves.

InView use cases

InView produces a single, governed version of the truth that will drive consistent numbers that will enhance decision making, financial measurement, forecasting and information sharing across your Trust. By leveraging InView, you can present data for all purposes from one cohesive source to your Trust’s existing BI Toolset, which will simplify the reporting process and minimise the training needed for your Trust’s analysts.

To get a sense of just how streamlined these processes within your Trust can be, take a look at some our of client case studies:

CACI as your InView provider

CACI has been providing Trusts with a solution that evolves and meets the demands of NHS reporting for over 20 years. Our very own data platform, InView, integrates all disparate source systems to optimise reporting across your Trust. By removing the statutory maintenance burden and time-consuming running of mandated reporting datasets, you and your Trust can focus on achieving priorities while meeting requirements and responding to any ad-hoc or urgent changes as they arise. To top it off, you will gain access to a user community for collaborative content and idea generation and learn how you can further enhance your own InView experience through other users’ takeaways.

To learn more about InView and how our data warehouse solution could help your organisation, visit our InView page.

*Risk-free for mandated statutory requirements

Elevating Customer Experience with High-Quality Data: The Power of DataHub

Posted on: 7 February 2023

“Garbage In, Garbage Out” (GIGO) is a well-known adage that holds true across various industries, including sports nutrition, education, wine making, data science, and, most notably, customer experience.

Poor-quality data can undermine confidence in reports and impede the implementation of personalisation and other data-driven initiatives.

At CACI, we are dedicated to harnessing the power of data to deliver remarkable results.

High-quality customer data is critical to this mission. Data that is accurate, consistent, and free from duplicates will enable us to optimise customer loyalty, personalisation, AI/ML, conversion optimization, and regulatory compliance.

To ensure that our data is of the highest quality, we adhere to the following criteria:

Demographically rich: The data provides insights into the customer’s identity and lifestyle.
Standardized: The data is consistent across systems, allowing for quick and efficient processing.
Veracity: The data adheres to your standards for validity and consistency.
Free of duplicates: The data is resolved at the individual level to avoid double counting and over-communication.
Consistent identifier: The customer is identified consistently, regardless of the source.
Predictive: The data contains variables that enable modelling and prediction of customer interests and needs.
Compliant: The data adheres to relevant consent and permissions standards.
Understood within the organization: The data is accessible and understandable to stakeholders.

To address these challenges, CACI has developed DataHub, a solution that solves data quality issues faced by brands. DataHub was built on the experience of working with leading brands in retail, publishing, financial services, gaming, and utilities.

It processes and enriches data in real-time using a scale on demand cloud native architecture, engineered to work with your data, wherever it is stored. For CACI clients already using Acorn, Ocean, and Fresco, DataHub provides dynamic, real-time enrichment of data, enabling real-time personalization and optimization of the digital or call center experience.

To learn more about DataHub and its flexible integration options for all use cases and enterprise architecture needs, download our short brochure or reach out to us for more information.

Let’s work towards a future where data quality is no longer a concern.

A Customer Personalisation Platform to deliver change for financial services brands

Posted on: 3 January 2023

Change within the financial services sector is complex. There are multiple stakeholders, regulatory needs, and often a base of legacy data and technology to unpick.

From our work with major brands, we know that the change is achievable and worthwhile. Investing in customer centricity will pay dividends in the long-term by reducing competitive threats, winning new customers, and ensuring retention of base customers.

To succeed in an increasingly competitive market, financial services brands need to establish change that encompasses:

A coherent data-driven strategy – where customer data is of a high quality and securely democratised to enable meaningful messaging to the individual
Establishing the right business targets and success measures – moving from short-term outcomes to long-term value for the customer and the organisation
A focus on your customers and the market context – understanding the needs and behaviours of both customers and prospects to better engage them
Maximising data and tech ROI – having the right tools to deliver the outcomes the business needs and then sweating the technology assets to deliver long-term ROI
Measure and optimise what matters – ensuring accurate reporting is fed through the business and that teams are empowered to act on those insights to optimise performance

Our challenge to leaders within financial services is to create a vision and become an agent of change. We want to work with brands who care about their customers and are making changes to show it. Therefore, our catalogue of services is developed to do amazing things with data and connect your brand with the individual.

At CACI, we can improve marketing ROI through detailed attribution modelling. Our customer demographics and bespoke segmentations provide a more accurate profile of customer needs, market size, and even financial vulnerability. Technical decisions around investment in AI, decisioning or identity resolution are made by defining clear use cases for technology and designing future technical architectures.

This work led to CACI developing a framework for customer personalisation at scale. Working with leading vendors Tealium, Braze and Snowflake, we created a technology blueprint that can achieve full integration between enterprise data and the omnichannel experience.

To find out more about the CACI Customer Personalisation Platform or to discuss issues related to customer transformation, please get in touch.

You may also be interested in downloading this report which uncovers a surprising disconnect between what banks think and how customers feel about the customer experience, with statistics and insight gathered from 1,500 marketing leaders and 5,000 consumers.

You can also check out the previous parts of this blog series below:

Blog 1 – How the banking and financial services sector can lean into a changing market

Blog 2 – Creating human banking experiences through data-led marketing

Blog 3 – Three ways to stand out in a crowded insurance market

Blog 4 – Combining data and technology to deliver effective customer journeys in the financial services industry

The difference between reporting and insight

Posted on: 17 August 2022

Data is no use to NHS organisations without the expertise and tools to make it actionable

Data has become more and more significant in all industries and settings. The NHS is no exception. With a huge amount of patient, service and performance data at its disposal, there should be a wealth of insight available to help shape patient care and develop the best services in every community.

But there’s a very important caveat. Everyone knows that raw data doesn’t provide actionable information. That’s why it’s generally issued in the form of reports. But what do the reports tell you?

Reporting on data is not the same as generating meaningful and transformative insight from it.

It’s common for NHS organisations to produce reports that list statistics and objects without the context or perspective that could give them meaning as a basis for decisions. These reports can tell us what has happened and provide headline figures for costs, volumes and timeframes, but they don’t reveal insight.

Drawing insight from data means looking at it through a new lens. It could mean evaluating how past performance could influence future behaviours and decisions. It could mean modelling multiple hypothetical scenarios to decide the best approach from several options.

Data reporting is a valid exercise when you’re monitoring performance against fixed objectives. But it’s generally a historical, static activity. The data insight that NHS organisations need is about planning for the future and adjusting programmes in-flight to reflect the latest information and evolving patient needs. It’s about scenario modelling. It’s about bringing together different datasets, to gain more and more detailed and specific understanding of the causes of outcomes and what influences them. This kind of data insight is truly transformative because it allows NHS organisations to continually scrutinise, optimise and innovate in their services and care.

The impact of true insight on NHS services

Sarah Culkin, Interim Head of the Analytics Unit at NHSX, and Sukhmeet Panesar, Deputy Director within NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Data, Analysis and Intelligence Service describe the impact of data insight: “Knowledge is power. In healthcare, it is often life-saving. The NHS generates a huge amount of data which can be analysed and used to drive improvements in care and how services are run. Ultimately, data analysis results in improved patient outcomes and experience, as well as optimal use of NHS resources.”

Trusts and NHS service providers know that data is valuable. Many have already invested in data solutions and tools designed to store and analyse information. But not all are generating powerful and potentially life-saving insight. Digital insight for healthcare is a constantly evolving field, with new tools and technologies emerging to extract more relevant information. It can be hard to keep pace with the range of data resources on offer and to know how to prioritise system development and investment.

Acquiring and acting on insight demands data literacy in teams

Sarah Culkin and Sukhmeet Panesar highlight another key issue that affects many NHS organisations in their quest to use data to improve services: “In general, the NHS is failing to make the most of its data because there are not enough people with the right analytical skills to make sense of the information being collected.”

Data insight and analytics is a fast-evolving field. Without training, mentoring and support from specialists who understand the NHS environment as well as the potential of data, NHS managers and analysts cannot make informed decisions and harness the data they have to best effect. Education and skills are key – both for general data literacy in NHS clinical, management, operations and finance teams, and for analytics and technology in the data science teams who support them.

With all the data you collect, are you making the most of it to support crucial trust or service decisions and to deliver responsive, patient-centric care that meets real-time needs?

If you’d like to find out more about CACI’s Data Maturity Assessment service, or our data and analytics training, please get in touch. It’s all part of our HISC (Healthcare Insight Success Cycle) data optimisation approach for NHS organisations. Find out more by downloading our brochure Spearheading your data journey to improve patient outcomes.

Is knowledge and skills a barriers to transformative insight for your NHS organisation? Working with a specialist NHS data transformation partner could help you achieve best value from your data and budgets.

Find out how CACI’s healthcare team can provide advice on developing and maintaining your technology and offer staff training for data literacy and skills, so you can sustain your data journey from within. For further information, visit or website or get in touch with our NHS client team.

Managing patient data to guide you in the new ICS landscape

Posted on: 1 August 2022

How NHS organisations can prepare to access and contribute to a powerful pool of insight that will help them meet local needs better than ever before

When the new ICS framework rolls out, predicted for summer 2022, it should enable healthcare providers and bodies across the NHS to collaborate better than ever before, with a shared goal of providing improved patient care across the board. By moving away from fragmentation and competition, NHS services should be able to consider patient needs and pathways holistically and offer the best locally targeted overall care from a range of specialisms and organisations in a more coordinated and efficient way.

We have a real opportunity with the formation of the ICSs to change how we use data to better coordinate care and re-design our service based on the needs of our citizens… It’s a really exciting time to work in the NHS.
Ayub Bhayat, Director of insight and data platform at NHS England and NHS Improvement

NHS leaders and healthcare teams are excited about the opportunity to smash silos and break through frustrating organisational barriers to work more effectively together in this new, collaborative culture. But they’ll need the right information and tools for shared decision-making. That means bringing together data that was formerly held separately and unleashing its full potential as part of a comprehensive system of healthcare insight.

What should NHS organisations do to make sure they’re playing their part and will have access to the data and analytics they need to deliver excellent outcomes as part of their ICS?

Trusts and healthcare bodies will need to be certain they can share data securely and effectively. They’ll need systems that can bring together disparate data in actionable formats, so it can be compared and analysed at patient and pathway level. They’ll need reporting tools and dashboards that reveal insight to underpin operational and investment decisions, as well as to track the success of initiatives. They’ll need to continuously augment data, so planning and collaboration keep pace with real-time community and service needs.

Every ICS will have its own priorities, reflecting what the local community needs in terms of NHS care across the board. Different data and analysis will be needed to plan the best collaborative service provision in every area.

The overall vision is exciting, but to achieve it, organisations must identify practical steps to move from where they are today with their own data to the collaborative ICS data ecosystem. There’s an opportunity to exploit new and proven technology that manages and harnesses data to produce advanced, relevant and detailed insight.

We recommend a systematic approach to assessing where your organisation currently stands and how you can evolve your data strategy to achieve the best outcomes in an ICS. In CACI’s digital healthcare knowledge model HISC (Healthcare Insight Success Cycle), we’ve developed Discovery tools and processes that help NHS organisations do exactly that:

Describe and assess your current data strategy, systems and approach
Define your future data direction and destination as part of an ICS
Review your data security, storage and infrastructure
Build a strategy and roadmap for data insight that will improve clinical and operational delivery and performance in the ICS framework
Build a business case to connect investment in insight with tangible outcomes

CEO of NHS Confederation Matthew Taylor said in March 2022 that the use of high quality, real-time population health data will help “to shift from a system that responds to demand to a system that genuinely responds to need”, and that the NHS’ implementation of Integrated Care Systems (ICS) has the potential to “help create that enabling environment” needed to leverage data effectively.

Ruth Holland, deputy chief information officer at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, went even further: “ICS’ will stand and fall on their data capability in ten years’ time. I would sternly encourage digital and data leaders to look at the costings you are putting into plans [for staff and skills] that will support the ambition.”

CACI’s specialist healthcare technology team has the experience and knowledge to support your organisation with planning and delivering an ICS data transformation programme, including training and skills transfer for your staff.

If you’d like to find out more about CACI’s HISC model for optimising NHS healthcare data, download our brochure Spearheading your data journey to improve patient outcomes. It describes in more detail how you can take action to activate data insight to reshape health and social care in an ICS.

To find out more visit our website or speak to an NHS data consultant about the results we’ve helped other organisations achieve, please get in touch with our NHS client team.

Reshaping health and social care with data insight

Posted on: 14 July 2022

How data can help you improve patient outcomes in 7 priority areas

There’s constant pressure on NHS organisations to deliver better patient outcomes and value from public funding. Demand is high and service quality is under intense scrutiny.

NHS organisations have access to a wealth of organisational and patient data. But bringing it together to produce meaningful and trusted insight is a challenge. Decision-makers and clinicians must have access to analytics and reporting in clear formats. Data insight needs to be current and available in a timely manner. Data storage and usage must also be secure and compliant, to meet NHS and national standards for patient and citizen confidentiality.

Everyone’s talking about the fact that data insight is crucial to help your NHS organisation plan, operate and continually optimise resources, services, staffing and patient experiences. But what does that mean in practice? How do you unlock the insight to make a difference today? Amongst all the competing priorities for NHS managers, how specifically can data insight change the way your organisation operates, improve patient outcomes and tackle challenges like waiting lists and staff shortages?

Working with NHS Trusts and social care organisations, we’ve seen at first hand the difference that well managed data can make to efficiency and patient care. Actionable insight to influence real-time and future service design and planning is the holy grail for driving real value from your data to help improve the performance of your NHS organisation.

But to make it happen, where do you start? How can you achieve rapid and meaningful impact from an investment of time and budget in a data project?

We’ve identified seven high value activities that our NHS customers and partners have successfully optimised using data insight. By quantifying the benefits of one or more of these outcomes for your organisation, the case for prioritising your data project becomes clearer and easier to communicate with colleagues and stakeholders.

7 priority activities that NHS organisations can drive with data

1. Model and predict demand for services

Complete and accurate data and effective analytics tools give you the power to model and predict demand for services based on specific evidence relating to your patients and community. Produce relevant reports that decision-makers can scrutinise and understand with ease, so they can support your recommendations readily.

2. Put the right staff in the right place at the right time

Effective and accurate data about demand for services and availability of staff can help you roster more effectively – reducing wait times and giving patients better experiences in your clinical organisation. This has particular value when dealing with increased absence relating to Covid.

3. Review and respond immediately to current patient needs

If you have the capability to analyse patient data in real time, you can give clinicians the information they need to make fully informed decisions in the moment about care and treatment, to achieve the best patient outcomes.

4. Plan services effectively for better patient outcomes in critical areas

With a specialist NHS data platform like CACI’s InView, you can apply powerful analytics to dive deep into data and answer the most important questions for your organisation. Drive improved patient outcomes by tackling priority KPIs for your organisation – from waiting list monitoring, patient level costing and clinic usage to theatre utilisation and clinician availability.

5. Focus on frequent flyers

With a clear picture of frequent flyer characteristics and visit patterns from comprehensive and up-to-date reporting, you can proactively identify patients who need more support or information and help them to access the most appropriate services and treatments for their needs.

6. Integrate data to build a complete picture of demand for services

When you bring together local government and hospital data in a single, integrated data platform, you can access even richer insight into patients, services and demand. With one source of analytics and reporting, you can maximise the value of the information your organisation holds, including collaborating with other Trusts through data sharing within an ICS ecosystem.

7. Understand your patients more thoroughly and personally

Compliant data records and effective reporting gives your NHS organisation a clear picture of the demographic backgrounds of your patients. By understanding their backgrounds and lifestyles, you can shape your services and communications for better access and improved outcomes.

Every NHS organisation is different, with priorities and challenges that are unique to its community and resources. No matter where you are on your data journey or how you most urgently need to uncover and apply insight to your decision-making and planning, a tailored data transformation strategy can help you move forward. The most practical and effective approach is to outline a series of steps on that journey, making sure that you drive value from your data project as early as possible by accessing insight that supports your most pressing tactical requirements.

If you’d like to find out more about how data helps you deliver tangible improvements in key areas of your NHS organisation’s patient care, download our brochure Spearheading your data journey to improve patient outcomes. It describes in more detail how you can take action to activate data insight to reshape health and social care. It explains how CACI’s Health Insight Success Cycle is specifically designed to drive maximum value from data for NHS organisations.