Our data tells us stories... 

... which we decode to drive our success.

We’re an insurance company with data at our core. It influences who we are and everything we do. 12^th-16^th June saw us share sensational data knowledge with our colleagues.  

Data mastery. Data ingenuity. Data interpretation. Data security. They infuse all our operations and enrich our experiences. Within First Central’s teams we’re lucky to have people who live and breathe tech and data. They’re self-confessed nerds and wizards and we’re super proud of our prowess; it’s allowed us to develop our own platforms rather than being bogged down by legacy systems. The data skills these colleagues bring to the table devise cunning solutions for us, help us visualise clear pictures and comprehend complicated stories. They’re awesome. 

But, understanding data’s powers and realising maximum value from it are so critical they can’t be restricted to the experts. Analytical skills and creative handling of information feed into our strategy. They’re that important. Which means all our people, whatever their role and current ability level can improve their decision making and widen their perspective by increasing their data awareness. So, we made life easy for them.

We designed our very first Data Learning at Work Week to appeal to everyone irrespective of their experience. We wanted to attract wide-ranging colleagues from diverse areas of the business. To make sure as many different people as possible could develop their appreciation, we offered various sessions covering assorted topics, including:

• Why Data? Why Now? This explained that we’re all data people no matter what our jobs
• Who doesn’t love a bit of jargon? ‘Data Science’, ‘Machine Learning’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’ are becoming part of common vocabulary, but what do they mean? Demystifying Data Science spilled the beans
• How to Tell Data Stories at Every Stage of the Analytical Journey defined the ‘descriptive’, ‘diagnostic’, ‘predictive’ and ‘prescriptive analytical’ stages of every process so people can communicate better and more clearly
• When Data goes Wrong: real world data disasters was an eye-opening spectacle of the truly catastrophic effects bad data can have on businesses  

Though data runs through First Central, it’s our talented people who give us the resourcefulness and competence we need to make sense of it all. The information that underpins our future, our success, is only as good as our colleagues’ knowledge and perception. That’s why we’re always keen to encourage their growth and learning. Our passion for development and satisfaction powered Data Learning at Work Week and the feedback we inspired told us we’re on the right track. 

"The (Demystifying Data Science) session overall was fantastic; it was clear and well presented. I think anybody who went into the session with little to no knowledge around data science would have left feeling a lot more knowledgeable about the subject and would have been surprised at how much they did know but weren’t aware of.”