To achieve this, and in-keeping with Accenture’s approach to digitalisation, Maunsell says both parties place the person consuming the data at the heart of the experience, presenting statistical stack loads in a way that can be immediately interpreted and acted upon.
Speaking as the leader tasked with driving Accenture’s digital go-to-market activities across both Australia and New Zealand, Maunsell however is quick to remind that this is not simply arts and crafts - for data artistry is a challenging profession requiring the most comprehensive of skill sets.
“If sports teams or organisations are going to do this well,” he reminds, “the data artistry cannot be an after thought. It needs to be baked into the process of the decision to get the data to a point where the fans, captain or coach can say… ‘Yes, that means that and I’m going to do this as a result’.”
Digital demands of enterprise
Away from the high seas and high drama of competitive sport however, and back in the boardroom of large enterprise organisations across Australia and New Zealand, Maunsell understands that simply having more information does not always lead to better decision making.
The knock on effect being that the significant increase in the amount of data generated from the rising levels of applications being deployed across enterprises means simple business analytics solutions of yesteryear no longer cut it at a business level.
Consequently, Maunsell’s voice is one of many experienced industry figures shouting from the rooftops that business and technology are converging, transforming every aspect of organisations meaning that for enterprises to compete effectively, they must become a digital business.
Utilising the expertise of around 4,000 local Accenture staff across Australia and New Zealand, of which the digital division accounts for roughly 10 percent of the headcount, Maunsell’s team helps organisations harness social, mobile, analytics, and cloud technologies.
The result? Enabling greater interactions with digital customers, channels and markets that create new value and galvanise higher performance across entire organisations.
“Our advice is enterprises will need to be in charge of their data to compete in the future,” adds Maunsell, who before joining Accenture, worked at equities exchanges in Australia and the UK.
“There is data pouring off the public right now, what customers think, what competition thinks etc. Organisations must access these insights because they are going to inform some important perspectives for marketing teams in particular when the time comes to surprise and delight customers.”
Then, of course, is operation. “The more digital assets businesses place in the wild,” he explains, “the more things that generate data can connect to an organisation’s operation.
“It means companies are going to be generating a lot of data that they should be able to ingest and analyse, meaning they can tune their products and experience to the customer.”
But for those organisations questioning the relevance of it all, looking at the hype and thinking it’s best to wait for the Internet of Things to explode - if it hasn’t already - and assess the aftermath, Maunsell shakes his head; “don’t wait.”
“There’s enough things out in the market now to capitalise on, and in some respects, embracing the digital age is similar to embracing cloud,” he speculates.
“Businesses should start to develop their capabilities now because believe it or not but already customers are generating a tonne of data out in the wild, it’s pouring out of their devices.”
On the flip side, the region’s early adopters and fast followers are taking Accenture true to their word, initiating practical approaches to digital that are growing their businesses in entirely new ways.
