The SCCE’s Compliance Perspectives podcast recently released a fantastic episode on data stewardship.

As Dean Gonsowski, Chief Revenue Officer at Active Navigation, explains, organizations for the last 20 years have been “consumed with collecting as much data as they could,” but there are downsides to massive data collection. Large data repositories are difficult to manage and protect. There’s a “definitive liability associated with retaining, storing, and protecting information,” and with privacy laws like GDPR now in place, the consequences for data leaks can be serious.

There’s a “definitive liability associated with retaining, storing, and protecting information,” and with privacy laws like GDPR now in place, the consequences for data leaks can be serious.

Meanwhile, it’s a challenge for companies to gain useful insights from their data. “It’s very difficult technologically to just point machine learning at a big mass of data and say, ‘Tell us something interesting,’” Gonsowski says. So while the risks and liability have increased, the “potential benefit hasn’t really materialized.”

It’s time for a more thoughtful approach. Gonsowski recommends starting with the “why.” Companies should ask themselves: Why are we collecting this data? What’s the right amount of information to collect? The ever-increasing risks require an intentional and minimal approach to data collection.

Companies should ask themselves: Why are we collecting this data? What’s the right amount of information to collect?

Great minds, as they say, think alike. We were hearing exactly these concerns from our clients and colleagues in compliance as we developed our Drive Analytics^TM solution.

Clients wanted to know: "What's the point of collecting all this data? What will it tell us?" In some cases, they had been told, "Well, let's just collect it and see what story it tells us," and that just didn't ring true to them. They were looking for a more thoughtful — and thought-through — approach than "let's try it and see what happens."

When we took a look at the existing tools in the marketplace, we noticed the same unsettling trend: Too many “solutions” collect data without thinking critically about the “why.” They dump numbers and graphs into a dashboard but leave you and your compliance team to sift through massive amounts of data, some of which you have no use for and didn’t want to collect in the first place. All the risk without the insights.

It was important to us that any analytics solution we offer take a more purposeful approach. As Kirsten and Patti share in our latest Zoom chat, “we didn’t want it to just be data for data’s sake.”

“We kept saying, we can collect lots of things, and already training courses collect lots of information,” Patti says. “But what is useful about that information?”

With Rethink’s Drive Analytics solution, we start with the “why.” We get to know you and your company, and dig into what information, if known, might help move the needle in your program. Then we work backwards to figure out the best way to collect and analyze that data.

But it doesn’t stop with data collection. As Patti explains, we decided early on, “Let’s not just give back data to our clients. Let’s give them insights.”

If you’re ready for a thoughtful approach to analytics, we’d love to show you what our Drive Analytics^TM solution can do. Learn more about our service here, or reach out to us for a free demo.

Free Webinar: Putting Analytics to Work for Your Compliance Program

We've taken some time to rethink where valuable program insights can come from. Join us for a free webinar on Wednesday, September 9, to learn:

• Why measurement and analytics matter: The updated DOJ requirements build on a longtime goal of good compliance practice — the ability to demonstrate impact in your program and have an ongoing measurement of your organizational culture of compliance.
• A brief history of analytics: How do industries outside of compliance use analytics in meaningful ways? What can we learn from them?
• Putting analytics to work in your program: We’ll cover straightforward and practical ways you can start using analytics and measurement in your program today, from collecting the right data to turning raw data into actionable insights that can improve your program.

Register for free here.

We hope to see you there!