Hipsters welcome: Democratising analytics at M&S has many aims, including attracting top tech talent

Head of enterprise analytics Pete Williams explains why he's rolling out self-service analytics

Marks & Spencer's head of enterprise analytics, Pete Williams, is a man on a mission. That mission is to put data at the heart of decision-making across all departments at the retail chain.

Like any evangelist worth his salt he put a lot of effort into knowing his audience and working out how to put the message across. Get that wrong and the concept might seem irrelevant. It could even put people's backs up as a perceived criticism of their work.

"I find that people are pretty much the same everywhere," Williams said. "They want to do a good job, and they've all learned how to do their job in different ways. So I don't find anybody is resistant to change. What I find them resistant to is the message you give them to change by."

Rather than insisting that people change their ways, the secret is to understand how each individual works and why, and then to pitch data-driven decision-making as a means by which they can carry on doing much the same, but in ways that will be more efficient, more fun, or more likely to lead to new opportunities for them.

"When you're an expert in your field, you have some in-built knowledge. You have an internal radar that has helped you become successful. If I'm doing my job correctly I'm helping you tune your radar a bit better," Williams said.

Some analysts make the mistake of believing that what they see as fascinating insight will excite the guy in procurement or the woman in quality control in a similar fashion. The key thing with data-driven decision-making, Williams said, is to avoid "paralysis with analysis". You need to make sure people have the right information at the right time - and no more.

"It's when I try to flood them with all sorts of analysis they couldn't possibly do anything with or have time to look at - that's where I really start to struggle with selling the data-driven business idea. It has to be targeted, focused and useful, rather than just pretty or interesting to me," he said.

Painting by numbers

The promise of data-driven decision-making is that it allows strategic and day-to-day choices alike to be made on the basis of a stronger evidence base. With a self-service element it can also make the decision-making process a good deal more efficient. For example, if a group of managers in a meeting room can access all the information they need via a dashboard, they can make a decision there and then, rather than having to reconvene at a later date.

So, while tailoring the message is essential to propagating analytics, paying attention to the presentation of the information and ease of access are equally as important if the idea is to take root. Willams said the arrival of new visualisation tools has been a crucial turning point.

"For me this is one of the most significant advances in the last few years. The advent of data discovery and visualisation toolsets helps you take information out of tables of numbers and into something that can be visually compelling and easy to penetrate," he said.

These tools open up data and statistics to people who do not necessarily see the world in terms of probabilities, patterns, correlation and causation - as anaysts tend to.

"If you present this stuff right it doesn't become a data-driven decision it just becomes common sense. Not everybody sees the world in numbers, and a picture tells a thousand words. If I can structure the right visualisation then usually people will buy into it and understand what they need to do from it."

A home for the hipster

As well as using analytics to better understand customers, the supply chain and product placement, as one would expect from a retailer, Williams said there is also a strong focus on employees at M&S. One of the goals of the data-driven initiative is to open up new opportunities for them and to increase job satisfaction. The company also has its eye on the digital future and those who will drive it.

"Increasingly the world is moving towards those millennial characters, people who naturally respond to information very quickly, know the resources by which it can be gathered and shared. I think it's fair to say that in any business in the future those sort of people are going to be highly successful.

"Retail isn't always seen as the most sexy of industries to get into and most of the people who I want to attract are probably working in Shoreditch or Hoxton or somewhere like that - Silicon Roundabout. I need to bring them to a 130-year-old company and convince them that this is an exciting job."