Making Data Actionable
“68% of Data Available to Businesses Goes Unleveraged” — IDC Research
Most senior housing operators now have unprecedented access to powerful analytics and data visualizations. These can provide tremendous insights into the business, but many companies find it difficult to act on the data. A study of more than 1,500 global enterprise leaders by research firm IDC found that only 32% of available data is utilized, while 68% goes unused (Seagate, 2020). With the advent of business intelligence tools like Power BI, Qlik, Tableau, and others, many companies have created slick dashboards. Often, this falls into the 68% trap, and data isn’t driven into action to impact performance. Converting data to action requires not only interpreting data but also creating transparent action plans assigned to the right people and sharing best practices from other teams who have already solved the problem at another community, as well as assigning the right team, resources, and creating a project plan to respond.
Making data actionable can be a daunting task, but Watermark has created a framework through a proprietary system called the Engagement Center within the WatermarkConnect platform. Another key component of the Engagement Center is empowering individuals to own their data for them to share with their supervisor throughout the year. Recently, a sales director reviewed her portfolio with her executive director, who proudly noted how she had actively driven down her team’s Speed to Lead KPI to less than one hour. It wasn’t the ED “managing” her performance as much as it was the sales director driving her own team’s performance and the accessibility to share it with her supervisor through her own portfolio.
The company utilizes many best-of-breed systems, such as Salesforce, PointClickCare, and Ceridian to manage specific disciplines, but we also aggregate data from those systems into a data warehouse called the DataMart. WatermarkConnect pulls from the DataMart to display KPIs and other tracking metrics and information, enabling teams to monitor performance, create strategic plans, and track coordinated actions across multiple departments within the company. Monitoring results based on near-real-time information gives the company an agile and highly transparent platform from which to react quickly and monitor actions being taken to impact performance.
WatermarkConnect incorporates more than the typical metrics related to occupancy, sales, marketing, or financial performance. It also interacts directly with associates to track culture and satisfaction within departments and communities. This is accomplished through mechanisms including monthly “pulse surveys,” which inquire how they feel about specific key areas of their job. Quantifying associates' engagement and their emotional connection to the company provides metrics that can be monitored and enables us to take action, whether it be to celebrate or initiate interventions for improvement. In a recent article, David Barnes stated, “... by doing this and focusing on it, we’ve seen our associate turnover lowered.” (Christman, 2024).
The amount of information available today to senior housing operators can be overwhelming, and for companies such as Watermark. Well-designed dashboarding, KPIs, and data visualizations are critical, but Watermark is focused equally on using the data meaningfully. Decades in the making, the WatermarkConnect platform, as well as connected systems, give the company the framework to quickly, efficiently, and purposefully turn data into action.
References:
Seagate. (2020, July). Rethink Data: Put More of Your Business Data to Work — From Edge to Cloud.
Christman, A. (2024, May 17). How Watermark, Priority, Insight Use Data to Improve Senior Living Operations. Senior Housing News.
Most senior housing operators now have unprecedented access to powerful analytics and data visualizations. These can provide tremendous insights into the business, but many companies find it difficult to act on the data. A study of more than 1,500 global enterprise leaders by research firm IDC found that only 32% of available data is utilized, while 68% goes unused (Seagate, 2020). With the advent of business intelligence tools like Power BI, Qlik, Tableau, and others, many companies have created slick dashboards. Often, this falls into the 68% trap, and data isn’t driven into action to impact performance. Converting data to action requires not only interpreting data but also creating transparent action plans assigned to the right people and sharing best practices from other teams who have already solved the problem at another community, as well as assigning the right team, resources, and creating a project plan to respond.
Making data actionable can be a daunting task, but Watermark has created a framework through a proprietary system called the Engagement Center within the WatermarkConnect platform. Another key component of the Engagement Center is empowering individuals to own their data for them to share with their supervisor throughout the year. Recently, a sales director reviewed her portfolio with her executive director, who proudly noted how she had actively driven down her team’s Speed to Lead KPI to less than one hour. It wasn’t the ED “managing” her performance as much as it was the sales director driving her own team’s performance and the accessibility to share it with her supervisor through her own portfolio.
The company utilizes many best-of-breed systems, such as Salesforce, PointClickCare, and Ceridian to manage specific disciplines, but we also aggregate data from those systems into a data warehouse called the DataMart. WatermarkConnect pulls from the DataMart to display KPIs and other tracking metrics and information, enabling teams to monitor performance, create strategic plans, and track coordinated actions across multiple departments within the company. Monitoring results based on near-real-time information gives the company an agile and highly transparent platform from which to react quickly and monitor actions being taken to impact performance.
WatermarkConnect incorporates more than the typical metrics related to occupancy, sales, marketing, or financial performance. It also interacts directly with associates to track culture and satisfaction within departments and communities. This is accomplished through mechanisms including monthly “pulse surveys,” which inquire how they feel about specific key areas of their job. Quantifying associates' engagement and their emotional connection to the company provides metrics that can be monitored and enables us to take action, whether it be to celebrate or initiate interventions for improvement. In a recent article, David Barnes stated, “... by doing this and focusing on it, we’ve seen our associate turnover lowered.” (Christman, 2024).
The amount of information available today to senior housing operators can be overwhelming, and for companies such as Watermark. Well-designed dashboarding, KPIs, and data visualizations are critical, but Watermark is focused equally on using the data meaningfully. Decades in the making, the WatermarkConnect platform, as well as connected systems, give the company the framework to quickly, efficiently, and purposefully turn data into action.
References:
Seagate. (2020, July). Rethink Data: Put More of Your Business Data to Work — From Edge to Cloud.
Christman, A. (2024, May 17). How Watermark, Priority, Insight Use Data to Improve Senior Living Operations. Senior Housing News.
