The programming for the 2018 PRSA Southeast District Conference will help public relations and communications professionals stay on top of emerging trends.

We’ve all heard of “Big Data” and the power it can have in every industry to help drive better decisions. During the Friday breakout sessions, Matt Illuzi of Icimo, LLC, show powerful, real-life examples where data made a difference. He’ll also talk about tools communicators can use right now to keep them started on being data-centric.

Illluzzi is an analytical, forward-­thinking leader in Operations and Finance with experience involving multi-­departmental oversight and capability to drive teams to achieve operational excellence. Building on experience in growth stage companies, Matt offers practical and innovative solutions in the areas of strategic planning, operational effectiveness, accounting compliance and marketing communications.

Matt talked to us about the topic and what to expect from his session:

If you’re not already data-driven, where should you begin?

I’d argue everyone is data-driven.  It is one of the foundations on how everyone makes decisions.  The other being gut/feeling.  In the workplace, the collection, availability and access to data has exploded in the past decade.  If you are not currently working in a data-driven environment, my advice is to start small.  Pick something that you know you can get all of the data points around and measure it, track it and use the results to make the next round of decisions.  I’ll show real world examples of clients of ours getting started – with the misconceptions that they had around their own organizations and changes that they made once they started using data.

Where can I go learn how to be data-driven?

There are resources all over the internet for learning about the various tools that are in the Business Intelligence space.  There are local user-groups focused on using data to make better decisions.  These are great places to go with questions and to see what others are doing in the market.

Where can data have the most immediate impact?

My background is as a CPA and I have run operations at a number of companies.  I believe that if you cannot measure it, you should not do it.  Data has an impact on everything we do as a company – from who to chase as a prospect, to which customers drive the most revenue/profitability, why some customers continue on vs those that churn, etc.  Data can have an impact in any department.  If you don’t think it applies to you, I can guarantee someone else is tracking/measuring/doing it.

Which tools do you recommend to get people started?

I am biased because I am a Tableau partner, but there are a number of tools in the market to get started.  Tableau & Power BI from Microsoft are the two leaders in the visualization space.  Visualizing and sharing data is a key component to become data-driven and is part of the focus of my presentation.  I can provide a list of other tools if you’d like.

What can conference attendees expect to learn from your presentation?

1. 1. The importance of data to drive decisions
   2. Don’t eat the elephant whole – get started with small wins. Lather, rinse, repeat
   3. Avoid the noise.  Opinions are often represented as facts in the current environment.  Know the difference.

The PRSA Southeast District Conference takes place April 18-20, 2018, in Raleigh, N.C. For more information or to register, visit prsasummit.org.