Speed and accuracy are two of the most important traits in a successful communications team. A quick reaction to misinformation can nip false stories in the bud and potentially save a company millions in valuation. Leading brands have established centralized command centers to centralize data governance and streamline the time it takes for leaders to take action based on analytics. Here are five ways to make the most of a command center and create an agile communications team that can react to any issue in an instant.

1. Unite Multiple Teams in a Single Location

Placing multiple teams in front of the same dataset makes working together unavoidable. Cross-departmental questions can be tossed around the room instead of across a 20-message email chain. This workflow is best encapsulated during an event like a product launch, large conference or earnings day, where the time from analysis to action should be as close to instantaneous as possible.

2. Remove Data Redundancy to Increase Confidence

“My data says we should issue an apology based on the massive amount of negative feedback.” “Well, my data says the negative feedback comes from people who aren’t our target market, so we should stay silent and ride this out.” Multiple datasets for media data incite confusion, create tension and reduce confidence. Overcome this by using a single platform across the enterprise. This way, marketing, communications, government relations and any other department reliant on media data can compare data in a like-for-like manner. It’s also a much faster way to manage compared to cobbling disparate datasets together in a BI tool. What’s better than avoiding unnecessary conflict?

3. Normalize Metrics to Create Consensus

Stop trying to determine how to match metrics that measure the same thing. There’s no point in trying to fit an 11-point sentiment model into the 5-point scale used by another platform. Unify metrics across the enterprise, so everyone understands what data means, no matter their department or geography. Metrics are great because they compare past performance, competitors, products and almost anything under the sun. This only works, however, if you are comparing apples to apples.

4. Build Smart Visualizations that Tell a Story

The five V’s of Big Data (velocity, volume, value, variety and veracity) means so many different types of data have to be processed so quickly that it becomes impossible for humans to process it all in a timely manner. It would take a human years to do what a computer can do in seconds. The only way to make sense of it all is to use visualizations to interpret the masses of information a brand ingests on a daily basis. Intelligent visualizations make understanding data a less daunting ordeal while eliminating a need to intensely crunch numbers to find insights. Executives and other team members don’t need to dive into the data to get a snapshot of what’s happening with a quick glance. A bonus with an engaging command center setup is that it brings people interested in data together, creating a culture where data drives decisions within the organization.

5. Spread Insights Across the Enterprise to Build Trust

While visualizations make it easy for executives and other departments to understand brand perception, executives still have to be exposed to the data in a frictionless manner. A command center does this—they can walk past and instantly view visualizations on their way to a meeting. Another way to expose them to actionable data is to schedule customized reports that automatically go out to key figures on a daily basis, only showing metrics that concern them. This quick update takes only a couple of minutes to ingest.

 

Today’s digital world demands enterprises centralize data and react instantaneously to any issue that arises. With a command center, friction is removed from decision making and insights immediately turn into action. Communications have never been faster.

Learn more in our webinar recording: Build an Agile Communications Team with a Command Center.