How we leverage data at Stylight – Part 1
The amount of data available for organizations to optimize business operations is increasing substantially. Never before we had so much information at our fingertips and at Stylight we practice data-informed decision-making to back up our decisions every day. From daily reporting within teams to using A/B-testing to evaluate new features, we analyze data in order to improve as a company.
However, Stylighters face some challenges when navigating the data landscape:
- It is difficult to find appropriate data resources.
- Not everyone is a SQL expert and can write queries on their own.
- Knowledge about data, and how to create value from it, is often siloed within teams.
- It is hard to leverage cross-team benefits.
This is not surprising as we evolve quickly as an organization and the complexity of systems is growing every day. Nevertheless, for creating insights from data we were sure we can do better and we are ready to accept the challenge.
We want to foster a better understanding of data topics throughout Stylight. That’s why each team, like Performance Marketing or Finance and Legal, has a dedicated Data Hero, tackling the most challenging data topics of the team and being the first point of contact for arising questions within the team. We come together every other week to discuss challenges and next steps to move forward.
At Stylight we are using Objectives and Key Results, known as OKRs to align our goals across the company. What we do as data heroes is closely connected to the team’s OKRs to ensure that we focus on the most business relevant-topics. That’s how Data Heroes bridge the gap between Head-level communication, OKRs and daily business within the teams. We offer a platform for sharing ideas, analyzing topics and improving daily routines. This is knowledge work at its best.
Let’s hear what our Data Hero Masha has to say:
Tell us about your position at Stylight
I joined Stylight more than 2 years ago as a Junior SEA manager in the Performance Marketing department. Our main goal is to help Stylight grow by acquiring and monetizing quality, paid-traffic. We create & manage ads across several channels in order to reach everyone who might be interested in visiting Stylight.
Now I’m a SEA Manager, overseeing campaigns for several countries and channels. In addition, I’m responsible for Data related topics in my team.
What is your background in data?
0 background 😀 I didn’t even know what SQL was before I joined the Data Hero Session.
What is your biggest struggle when you work with data?
The biggest struggle is when it’s missing – or you don’t even know if it is available. Also, any kind of manual effort involved in reporting is a big headache.
How does Data Heroes help you to overcome these problems?
Data Heroes help to keep the ongoing exchange of knowledge, to understand what is available in other teams, and if we can implement something similar in our team.
Another point is that Data Heroes help to automate tasks or when I’m stuck on more complex SQL, other Heroes can help me with advice 😊.
How did you decide to become a data hero?
Our data team announced that they are looking for Data Heroes in each team, at the Weekly presentation, using the superhero images. And I decided to volunteer 😊. Of course, in the beginning, I just thought that it would be great to learn something new, I didn’t even realize how helpful to the team this knowledge can be.
This was the first post of our data hero blog post series. Next up is Michael from the Finance and Legal team to share his ideas.
Get in touch with us – How do you ensure data insights within your organization?
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By Masha Borok – SEA Manager and Stefan Tippelt – Lead Analytics
