Large organisations’ reliance on data and analytics is becoming increasingly visible in the workspace and the skillsets required to analyse data through innovative methods are vitally important. Unfortunately, many charities and social programmes don’t have access to these types of skillsets.
comparethemarket.com (CtM) is acutely aware of this, and as such, many of our data analysts partake in Meerkat Your Skills — part of our CSR programme, aimed at using our skills to support good causes. The CtM Data team has many capabilities such as engineering, Business Intelligence, analytics, insights, optimisation, and data science. These teams work together to provide many data solutions to the business. CtM prides itself in using data to make better decisions. Modern technologies such as PowerBI and Databricks are entrenched in the business.
Our most recent event was held in December, where different teams from around the business including Data, Tech and Marketing supported a couple of charities and shared their expertise. CtM teams made the training and upskilling for each charity bespoke — to ensure it was relevant and actionable.
The Data team engaged with a charity called The Kite Trust, which supports the wellbeing of LGBTQ+ young people within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The ambassadors scoped out the requirements and completed project briefs. We learned that The Kite Trust needed help with understanding their geographic footprint and where there was opportunity for more group sessions.
The workday was successful and consisted of an initial meeting with the Data team volunteers and members of The Kite Trust to ensure the volunteers had enough context and understanding of the charity. After getting a good grasp on the data available and the project briefs, the volunteers set off working on their projects.
The team of analysts used mapping algorithms and spatial analytics to determine where access to community support groups was limited. These insights, using tools such as Databricks would have been difficult to gauge without a team of analysts. The Kite Trust will use these actionable recommendations to determine where support groups need to be enhanced or expanded to.
It’s not news that companies engage with community outreach programs. Holding events such as Meerkat Your Skills is very rewarding and leads to positive gains for both the charities and employees. This was a great opportunity to enhance the teams’ skills — working on a new dataset, completing different types of projects, and collaborating with members of various teams within Data. We enjoyed the experience and learned from the charity and are excited to do this again in the future.
Whatever your specialist area, wherever you are in your journey, we’d love to hear from you.
