Data Driven Guernsey Week highlights new data practices for local entrepreneurs

During the month of March, Data Driven Guernsey Week returned to the Digital Greenhouse for its second year. Kindly sponsored by Blenheim Chalcot, this week focused on the opportunities, uses and considerations of Data.

The week saw over 350 people attending both in person and virtually, a range of talks, panels and seminars that brought new data practices in a range of Guernsey's sectors to light. Throughout the week experts shared their knowledge and offered attendees the opportunity to broaden their understanding of how data is being used and as well as being given action points to take back to their own workplaces.

The week started with ‘Measuring what matters: using metrics to supercharge your business' which was led by Louise Allen, People Partner at Blenheim Chalcot, taking a look into the power of developing OKRs for your organisation and how to foster the team culture necessary to make it a success. OKRs can be much more than a goal-setting system, as they serve as a layer of communication that holds the company together and elevates its productivity at the same time. Louise's top tip: "Don't make your OKRs too easy to achieve! This will dampen your team's ambition."

Tuesday's virtual panel discussion was joined by, Blenheim Chalcot, KPMG, Guernsey Finance and ID Register to look at on and off-island perspectives on what innovation in Financial Services means for Guernsey. "The insights that can be found from the challenges faced by our local and global clients creates a unique insight, and when we know what the challenges are we can begin to solve them using technology." Henry Freeman from Guernsey Finance commented as we delved into examples of innovation in action from the ID Registry.

For those looking to discover what those involved in the crypto-space think of it as a concept joined us for Tuesday's second session, 'DeFining Guernsey: journeys to a safe and sustainable Crypto Future.' where we explored the rise and boom of Cryptocurrency and the trends that followed including NFTs - the possible real-world applications of this software and the ideas behind the ownership of digital assets.

Wednesday welcomed the 'Project Professionals & Career Switchers' panel discussion held at the Old Government House Hotel, led by the Association for Project Management (APM) exploring the upskilling opportunities on offer for all local project professionals. The Second event on Wednesday was 'Data Warehousing 101' with Marc Beavan, Co-Founder of Cortex, on how to get more from your data. We kicked off the event by running through the core aspects and practices of data warehousing that allow your workflow to be more agile and flexible, boosting the productivity of your organisation and ended the session with a live showcase of Bragi, Cortex's data warehousing productivity tool that visualises the data in your warehouse, highlighting dependencies in your models and helping users respond swiftly to requirements such as data extracts, audits and GDPR.

Learning and developing data skills play a vital role in both career and organisational progress and so we were joined by Lianne Hartley and Carl Sargeson, from Avado who took us on Lianne's upskilling journey as a Business Intelligence Analyst, completing her Data Analyst Apprenticeship and now working as an LDC for Avado. And Carl shared the initiatives with Avado that are available in Guernsey specifically around the data apprenticeships and the upcoming Leading with Data workshop in June.

Connecting local entrepreneurs to share ideas and network was also core to the week, with another well-attended Techmex event sponsored by Prosperity 24/7, which saw Guernsey's tech community come together to meet and network. The week was drawn to a close with 'Zero Energy Buildings' with Renew Guernsey, a twice sold-out event on buildings that produce as much energy as they use through renewable energy and energy conservation. Paul and Jack Fletcher talked our attendees through how zero energy buildings, renewable energy and data can help reverse climate change, by using devices that don't drain the planets natural resources and help buildings become zero energy by creating their own energy and counteract their footprint.

Watch and read our in-depth coverage on these events below,