Video: REBA Innovation Day 2016: How data analytics is driving innovation in HR

Organisations need to use and understand their data to better improve their own businesses and drive change, according to Heidi Allan, head of insights and engagement at Neyber.

Watch Heidi Allan and Kenny Graves' presentation in full.

Speaking at the REBA Innovation Day 2016 Allan said that organisations need to better use data to understand influences within their business and to better deliver messages. She cited Neyber’s three recent employee trends surveys which have shown rising concerns about financial wellbeing amongst employees.

But she said organisations needed to understand how to get value out of their data. “Data itself can provide some massively valuable insights, especially when it comes to topics such as finances where people are generally naturally guarded,” she said.

However she said that businesses needed to understand the objectives of data gathering first. “It’s really important you understand what your objectives are and what you are trying to achieve,” she said.

Speaking with Allan, Kenny Graves, head of HR for Police Mutual – a company that provides financial services to the police force and military – agreed that data was important. But he said accuracy of data is most important. “Expectations are really high and understanding the numbers for me is critical but it’s about getting the data right,” he said.

And data also needs to be related at the local level, said Graves. “The wisdom is what happens after the meeting – ie looking at the data is fine but what does it cause? We are constantly trying to monitor disparate sets of data to make a difference at a local level as part of a broader narrative. You’ve got to be wise about how you do that and not just worship the data,” he said.

This video was recorded at the REBA Innovation Day 2016.