How to get the most of your Data & Analytcs

2 0 1 8 W H I T E PA P E R
A S I M P L E 3 - S T E P G U I D E
C O R S A I R ’ S V E N T U R E S
Trademarks & Copyrights: Corsair’s Analytic Survey™, Corsair’s BEACON™, & Corsair’s Compass™ by Corsair’s Ventures, LLC

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How To Get the Most from
Your Data & Analytics
AWHITEPAPER:A SIMPLETHREE STEPGUIDE
Section I: Introduction 3
The Promise of Data
The Data Divide
Section II: Real Needs & Real Solutions 9
Hiring: Do you have the right people?
Training: The allure of illusions in false solutions…
Section III: The MAT Process: Map, Assess, Train 18
(M) Map Your Path – Corsair’s AnalyticSurvey
(A) Assess Great Talent – Corsair’s Beacon
(T) Train Teams – Corsair’s Compass
Exposing Real Solutions in the End 35
About Corsair’s Ventures, LLC

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How To Get the Most from Your Data & Analytics
AWHITEPAPER: A SIMPLETHREE STEP GUIDE
Corsair’s Ventures
SECTION I:
INTRODUCTION
• The Promise of Data
• The Data Divide

The Promise of Data
Businesses today have more data than ever before.
They also have a myriad of new tools, new techniques, new
promises, and new expectations. It is a complicated
landscape. A landscape filled with uncertainty, hype, and
expensive technology.
The information age promised more than any age prior. Data
at your finger tips. Facts. Figures. Tracking and reports.
Augmented intelligence and deep learning. This age is
supposed to have it all. Data to understand your customers.
Data to understand your business. Data to target, to design,
to learn.
And yet despite this seemingly
limitless potential, this boundless
access to massive amounts of data,
there still seems to be only one
constant -
NO ONE
is happy with
the value they're
getting from
their data.
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The Struggle is Real
5
Companies
struggle to
collect the
data needed
Some
struggle
to find the
data they
have
Many struggle
with data
management
Some even struggle to recognize just how poorly they do use
it.
Even using
data is a
struggle
Understanding
data is a
struggle

It’s Complicated
Many companies are lost in the ever expanding set of new
tools, technologies, and techniques. The list of terms is
immense already and getting longer with each day.
Big Data. Data Science. Deep Learning. Machine
Learning. Artificial Intelligence. Neural Networks. Natural
Language Processing.
The acronyms are even more confusing. DAAS. MDM.
OLAP. SSRS. DDL. AIDC. And we haven’t touched on the
growing array of NoSQL databases or concepts coming
from the Internet of Things (IoT). There is a nearly endless
array of regression algorithms, cognitive biases, and tests
using single letters (many Greek).
The world of data and analytics gets more
complicated with each passing day.
6
It is easier to become
lost today than ever before.

It Is Only Getting Worse
7
The industry is fueled
by this growth.
Companies that are
frustrated with their
data are paying up.
They know they need to
fix it, but aren’t sure
where to start or even
what needs to be fixed.
$122.0
$130.1
$150.8
$168.7
$188.8
$210.0
$0
$50
$100
$150
$200
$250
2015 (A) 2016 (A) 2017 (A) 2018 (P) 2019 (P) 2020 (P)
Revenue from Big Data & Business Analytics
Worldwide from 2015 to 2020 (in Billions)
(Actual & Projected)
Source: IDC
Data is growing so fast that it will
soon be a $200 Billion industry.
At 14% projected CAGR, it shows no signs of
slowing down in the next decade.
The solutions pipeline
is filled with new
iterations that
promise of finally
address the issues
created by the last. It
is an expensive and
daunting problem for
any companies.

The Data Divide
The Data Divide is the widening gap
between access to data and the
understanding of how to use it.
The situation is so extreme that it
has a name — The Data Divide.
Most companies are actually inundated with data, yet
they feel powerless to properly use it. Data access does
not feel so special when there are no tangible outcomes.
The data divide might be better labeled the Data
Science and Analytic Divide. It is not so much about
obtaining data as having the knowledge, understanding,
and ability to use it. Most companies feel as if they have
fallen far short of that objective. Others do not worry
enough (or at all).
We can draw a few lessons from
companies that have crossed the
divide with some success. You
have likely heard of them;
Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix
and Google.
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SECTION II:
SIMPLE LESSONS &
REAL SOLUTIONS
• GreatTalent
• The Right People
• SkillsGap
• Training
• The Wrong Answer

Great talent can win. Few people would debate that.
Finding, hiring, and retaining great talent is not
always easy.
Hiring almost anyone is complicated. Browse the
headlines and you will be inundated with statistics
and dollar signs about just how bad it really is. Well,
good news everyone! Hiring analysts is even
harder… If you are hiring an analyst anywhere short
of a silicon valley giant, world bank, or big
pharma… you are likely chasing unicorns.
Analysts bridge the gap between your data
infrastructure and your business decision-makers.
That is no small task—even when you try your best
to keep it one.
Finding the right talent to help you takes a
tremendous amount of trial and error.
It is dangerous & costly.
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Lesson #1: You Need Great
Talent

Hiring By The Numbers
According to the
Association for Talent Development:
56% of talent development professionals say the
skills of the current workforce do not match
changes in company strategy, goals, markets or
business models.
48% of the time when promoting internal candidates,
there is a lack of requisite skills
45% of the time for certain types of jobs, there are
too few qualified candidates.
35% of respondents believed investments had been
cut or senior leadership lacked commitment to
talent development
92% of executives believe there is a serious gap in
workforce skills, and nearly 50% are struggling
to fill jobs.
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Lesson #2: Know You Have
The Right People
Analyst’s resumes rarely talk at any great length about
the quality of the data they had. They list tools but with
only the roughest clue as to the depth of knowledge the
candidate attained with them. The best that most hiring
managers can do is sift through for matching business
goals. This can be very limiting as you are only likely to
find matched goals among workers from your competitors
(the organizations most likely to have similar goals and
vocabulary).
So what you need to do is deftly translate goals from
other contexts into your own vernacular. This is a hard
enough task for a candidate, so most managers won’t be
able to do this unless they have quite a wealth of
experience. Having other analysts around can certainly
make this feel easier. Keyword—feel. Even other
analysts get overwhelmed by this process. They also get
opinionated, defensive, and stubborn.
Hiring an analyst is not so much about acquiring a
person with a great pedigree, personality, or
portfolio. It is about aligning the specific data needs
of your company to the right set of data skills
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Lesson #3: Identify Your
Analytics Skills Gap
Identifying The Skills Your Team Already
Possesses Requires An Assessment
Testing services are nothing new, but data & analytics
testing has proven to be a bit of a niche or even an
under-served market. The only way to truly know what
your existing team is capable of—is to test them.
This may seem tedious—and it will be—if you rely on
off-the-shelf tools. You want an assessment tailored
specifically to the needs of your organization. This will
be most effective, affordable, and expedient. Anything
short is likely to bore or frighten people.
It is as simple as connecting the dots. Well at least, it
should be.
To bridge the skills gap you need to first assess
what you have, and then invest in targeted,
tailored training.
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Lesson #4: The Need For
Training
Bad training abounds. The good news—it is cheaper
than ever. Unless you build a proper ROI model which
accounts for time investments, poor outcomes, and
lower employee satisfaction. In which case—bad
training is more expensive than ever, it is just harder
to tell.
If you know where you stand, if you know where you
need to go, and if you know the specific talent you
have to address it… training should be faster, better,
and more satisfying than ever.
Finding an effective way to train and educate your
team has left more people and companies lost
than before they started. Bad training is boring,
costly, and ineffective.
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Training By The Numbers
1 of 2
According to IBM’s The Value of Training:
71% of CEOs identified human capital as a key
source of sustained economic value
New employees are 42% more likely to stay
when receiving adequate training they need to do
their job properly
Most research on retention suggests nearly
30% loss of skill annually for skills that are not
routinely reinforced
75-80% of managers believe effective
training is critical to project success
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Training by the Numbers
2 of 2
The Benefits of a Better Trained Workforce:
Estimated 16% increase in customer satisfaction
22% faster rollouts of products and processes
$70,000 in annual savings and 10%
increase in productivity when teams are well trained.
The Cost Of Failure:
30% of first year salary in cost to replace a poor
or poorly trained employee
$13,500 per employee in lost productivity
and time from poor training
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Lesson #5: Don’t Fall For
The Wrong Answers
Sales people will try to convince your organization to
invest in initiatives like data re-platforming. They will
convince you to move to a new business intelligence
solution. It is how they earn their living, but it is not
necessarily the best thing for you.
The sad thing is that no matter how much is spent,
almost no one is truly happy with their level of data and
analytic support. This leads many companies to invest
more in the newest Business Intelligence software, the
newest data infrastructure, the newest cloud-based
system.
Your company does not need a world class data
environment or BI system to be data-driven. You don’t
need to spend $10 million on a data re-platforming
effort or even $2 million on a data-lite effort. This is
not about the toys. It is about the players.
Great Training Beats Good Technology. It is
faster, cheaper, and more reliable.
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SECTION III:
The MAT Process
• Map
• Assess
• Train

A Simple Strategy
THREE IMPORTANT STEPS
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1. Map Your Needs
2. Assess Your Team
3. Train Your People
Survey your business and create a customized
map of assets, goals, and gaps. To understand
what is most important, model the business,
customer, product, and P&L. This is not just
about data—it is about decision-making,
accountability, and learning.
Measure the knowledge of your teams. Be
certain to assess them for the skills that are
most important for your company and its
success. Relevant testing is critical for both
planning and educating your team.
Benchmark what you have against what you
need and train accordingly. Off-the-shelf
solutions are going to be a lot of what
everybody already knows. Boredom and the
belief that management is clueless are not the
messages you want to deliver.
Rather than risk changing infrastructure, consider assessing the needs
and skills of the team, and provide the proper training to drive results.

Step #1: Map Your Needs
QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ANSWER
Do you know your
CUSTOMERS?
Do you track each of
your top REVENUE
& EXPENSE drivers?
Do you know exactly
how your PRODUCT,
PLATFORM, or
PORTFOLIO is
performing?
Most companies know who their
product was built for, but not
who is using it. They know who
the platform was created for, but
don’t think of all the potential
customers who could benefit
from it.
Many companies can only track
a small portion of their product
performance. Even those that
launch their own platforms
struggle with key metrics,
forecasts, and insight.
What are your largest revenue
drivers? Your largest expense
drivers? Have you taken the
steps to analyze, measure, and
optimize them? Are you clear
what those are?
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More Questions
Do you know what
your major DECISIONS
are and who is
ACCOUNTABLE?
Do you understand
the DATA you have?
The DATA that you
store? The DATA
that you need?
Do you have the
right SKILLS
onboard to assure
success?
Few companies actually
visualize their decision tree
and yet they are startled to
learn that major decisions and
accountability are unclear to
their employees and
managers.
Do you have a list of skills
required to keep your
business running smoothly?
Are your people getting better
at understanding their jobs?
And finally, very few companies
have a comprehensive map of
their data, data environment, or
tool set. Fewer still have a
strong sense of the data they
want and need.
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Corsair’s Analytic Survey
Your Company Needs A Map.
Your map may be more of a
storyboard or a business canvas. It is
a simple visual, a simple set of call-
outs to help guide your decision-
making, your investments, and your
story. It provides answers to your
highest priority questions. This kind of
work is incredibly empowering and
massively cost effective.
Creating Your
Business Storyboard:
• The Customer
Journey
• A Product Vision
• Financial Statements
• Decision &
Accountability Tree
• Skills Assessment
Maps
• Data Blueprint
It is a highly visual,
elegant and proprietary
story built for you. 22

Analytic Survey:
THE COMPONENTS (Part 1)
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The Customer Journey
The Product Vision
Financial Statement
They call it your customers journey. It is a
simple storyboard that talks to who they are,
how they found you, and how they use your
product.
Whether your business has a product, a
platform, or a portfolio, it has a story of its
own. From the steps of development or
design, to the steps of delivery or execution –
it is a view that offers plenty of learning.
How do you make your money? How do you
lose it? It is both staggering and depressing
how many companies can’t articulate this.
Fewer still have laid out their story in an easy
and leverageable fashion.

Analytic Survey:
THE COMPONENTS (Part 2)
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Decision & Accountability Tree
Skills Assessment Map
Data Blueprint
Very few executive teams have visualized their
decision and accountability tree. When they
finally do, the impact is immediate and
meaningful. The story is often a surprise.
Skill assessments aren’t uncommon, but few
are this targeted. Fewer still build upon the
perspectives that emerge as we delve deeper
into the business’ story.
At the end of the journey is the data, but that is
not where it belongs. With the proper map in
place, data will lead your organization forward.
It is blueprint for learning, measurement, and
success.

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The Analytic Survey Process
1) Team Meetings to Build Consensus
2) Follow-Ups Through Email
3) Results in Two Weeks or Less!
“Fast, effective and efficient, George's team builds trust
through the insights they derive. I have witnessed time
and again this teams ability to identity, and solve,
complex business problems through data. “
S. Paige Cox Lisk
Chief People Officer, Catalyte.io

Step #2: Assess Your Team
Do You Understand Your
Company’s Data &
Analytic Needs?
Do You Have The
Right Job Listing?
Do You Know The Right
Questions To Ask
Potential Candidates?
Do You Know If They
Are The Right Fit For
Your Job?
What skills should you be
looking for and at what level
of experience? It helps to
consult experienced
analysts.
Complaints of poor job listings
are commonplace. Without
the right listing, how will you
attract the right talent?
Interviewing data and
analytic professionals
can be difficult especially
for smaller companies.
Heavy turnover in the DS&A
profession is often attributed
to poor hiring decisions and
bad employee fit.
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Corsair’s Beacon
Picture a lighthouse. It is a shining
beacon on a hill, a clear milestone in
the journey helping struggling mariners
to navigate rough waters.
In data & analytic terms, you need
assessment. A tool to help you discover
and avoid the pitfalls of complex hiring
and staffing challenges. A clear
milestone that allows you to evaluate
the fit and readiness of your teams and
new hires.
BEACON’s Value Add:
• Validate Job Listings
• Compare Resumes
• Assess Candidate Skills
• Close Skill Gaps with a
Developed Education
Plan
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BE CON

BEACON’S Value Adds:
DETAILS
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Validate Job Listings
Compare Resumes
Assess Candidate Skills
Be confident that your job listings match your
needs, speak to the right level, emphasize the
right skills, and aren’t too industry specific.
Be certain that the skills candidates list are
consistent with your company’s needs.
Be certain that the skills they have listed are
accurate. Rely on great experience, not best
intentions.
Close Skill Gaps
Recognize any remaining gaps and have a
strategy to close them in an efficient and
effective manner.

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The BEACON Process
1) Tailored to the Business
2) Personalized for Candidates
3) Confidence in Assessments
“Corsair is a team of problem solvers. They dig
in and get to the essence of complex issues
quickly. After jumping in and helping to define a
solution, they focus on knowledge transfer
thereby making your team stronger by being
better trained. They are humble experts that
want to solve problems and make your company
stronger.“
Larry Fiorino
President & Founder, G1440
BE CON

Step #3: Train Your People
Do you understand
your employee’s skill
gap?
Do you have engaging
content capable of
empowering your data-
driven professionals?
Do you have the
training materials
necessary to close it?
It is not a simple task to
compile an inventory of all the
skills you need and have. It is
however, a very rewarding
and helpful exercise.
Most companies don’t. They
are focused on the job at
hand. Education is often best
left for outside vendors. Just
be careful of off-the-shelf
solutions.
No one wins from boring
content. Content should be
engaging for all skill levels.
Training should apply to
more than just your data and
analytic team. Train all your
data-driven professionals.
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Corsair’s Compass
Often companies pass over solid
candidates because they fall short of
ideal by just a skill or two. Sometimes
they are forced to hire to supplement in-
house talent, when training might have
been a better solution. A better solution
would use tailored training to
supplement your employee’s skill sets. It
is an investment with low cost and
strong returns.
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Compass is the right solution:
• Modular Engaging Content
• Tailored to Actual Business
Needs
• Highly Efficient & Effective
Education Planning
• Designed to Empower All

The Guiding Compass
DETAILS
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Modular Engaging Content
Tailored to Actual Business Plans
Educational Planning
Content is king and boredom is hell. Our content
is designed to engage and educate. The modular
framework allows us to tailor fit curriculum to any
employee’s needs.
We only teach what your employees need to
deliver on goals and expectations. This is not an
off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all product.
The result is a level of efficiency and effectiveness
that is guaranteed to be ROI positive. Employees
will see it as a true differentiator and bottom line
will thank you, too.
Design to Empower All
The more your employees know, the better their
access and ability, the better your company will
perform. It is a great thing for decision-making
and investment as well.

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The Compass Process
1) Engaging Content
2) Face-to-face, Virtual, & Self-
serve classes
3) Hands-on learning
4) Tailored to Team & Budget
"Corsair’s is the trusted analytic partner that you
want to work with. They put their creativity,
resourcefulness and leading edge analytic tools and
technologies to work to quickly solve your business
problems. Their team is composed of world class
talent that is very effective at developing analytic
professionals.“
Carolyn Groobey
Angel Investor & Former VP, Product Development,
PayPal

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SECTION IV:
It IsTimeTo Act

Summing It All Up
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Train Your Team
BE CON
TOOLS
EDUCATE
VALUE
ASSESS
EXECUTE
GUIDEBUILD
LEAD INVEST
Great data and analytic teams make great decisions. They create great
value. They make strong investments. They fix problems. They find
solutions. Sometimes, they even request technology investments.
Regardless, they are ROI positive. That is something you can be
confident in.
To build a great team
you need to know
the tools you have
and the job you
need to do..
To build a great team
you need to hire
good people that
are the best fit for
your company.
You can try to build this on your own, or we can help:
• Map the tools and the jobs done.
• Assess your people and their fit.
• Plan & Execute the right training.

Contact Us Today:
Get Started Now
Process Time for Realizing Impact
Corsair’s processes are measured over
days and weeks, not months or years.
Savings without Sacrifice
Corsair’s will cost you thousands, not
hundreds of thousands or even millions.
Our Bottom Line:
The Data Divide gets wider everyday, and you won’t close the
gap simply by purchasing the next latest, greatest BI tool.
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929.267.4847 george@corsairs.ventures
Invest in your people, NOT in someone
else’s technology.

About the Author
George Earl
For more than two decades,
George Earl has been leading
advanced analytic teams known
for effective, innovative, and
reliable delivery of measurable
and impactful insights.
George has developed analytic
organizations, infrastructure,
and professionals at all levels.
He has deep knowledge of
analytic techniques, business
intelligence technologies, data
management best practices,
and educational processes.
His role as a leader at several of the world’s largest banks,
technology companies, and numerous successful start-ups
has provided George the opportunity to develop battle-
tested strategies and products. George knows analytic
excellence and he knows how to help you achieve it.
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About the Company
Corsair’sVentures
Corsair’s Ventures was founded to
raise the standard for analytics by
providing professional development
and teaching. All guided by the
wealth of experience in senior level
executives within the data science
industry. We invest in technologies
and teams that generate enthusiasm
for leveraging and enhancing
analytics.
Corsair’s Analytics
Our consulting group is
dedicated to provide better
understanding of data and data
analytic needs
Corsair’s Institute
Insisting on being at the forefront
of analytic education. Many of
the world’s top corporations and
universities have adopted our
certified content. Our institute
provides efficient, effective, and
highly targeted training that is
designed to empower teams to
advance in data science.

C O R S A I R ’ S V E N T U R E S

How to get the most of your Data & Analytcs

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