Hello,

Business intelligence has become on of, if not the most, critical aspect for success.  Markets are more competitive than ever, and businesses have unparalleled access to data; both internally and externally.  Therefore, you have to constantly ask yourself the following question: "Does my business have both the right business intelligence tools and IT personnel necessary to be successful?"

I'd like to present you with a case study that demonstrates how The Astir Family of Companies helps clients address this question.

As a trusted technology staffing partner, we provided a client with an IT consultant who was an analytics expert in order to solve their complex data analysis and reporting problem.  The client collected and housed data across various internal departments over a period of years without any standardization.  This led to a fragmented data repository, and left the client with the inability to pull data together and create a holistic view of their environments.  As the market evolved, the need to capitalize on the data they had compiled (and would continue to collect) became more critical.

The IT consultant we placed with this client was selected due to his expertise and track record with data analytics and intelligence reporting tools.  After implementing a standardization process to cleanse and reformat both existing data and incoming data sources, a series of detailed dashboards were developed.  These dashboards provided the client with complex analysis across their Human Resources, Finance, and Accounts Payable/Receivable departments.  The complex metrics and reporting resulted in the client gaining real-time, holistic views of their internal organizations, which ultimately led to the ability to make quicker and more informed business decisions.

This is just one specific example of the types of services and solutions The Astir Family of Companies can provide your business.  We have comprehensive application development and staff augmentation services that can solve your unique business problems.  We have a long, successful history custom building business intelligence software applications and placing expert IT personnel at businesses just like yours.  We want to help you understand your technology needs, and custom design a solution that helps boost your bottom line.

Best Regards,

Adam Moltisanti

Head of Marketing and Business Analysis

application development, Business Intelligence, Dashboards, Data Analysis Astir, Astir IT, Astir Analytics, Business Intelligence, IT staffing, IT consulting, staff augmentation

Hello,

This is the first article in a series focusing on the wonderful work our IT consultants do for our clients.  Here at Astir, we are proud of our expert IT resources, and understand that they are the reason for our success.  We invest heavily in our people so our clients can reap the benefits.  Each article in this series will focus on a specific case study where one of our IT consultants had a great, positive impact in their client project.  You can read more about these case studies HERE.

One of the many issues that faces large organizations is the ability to properly manage their technology environment.  With the sheer volume of technologies our business uses on a daily basis, it can be quite difficult to keep them all operating efficiently and synced.  There are a wide range of issues that can be throwing your IT environment out of line... it could be a matter of application versioning, broken APIs, inadequate support, etc.  Over time, organizations will accrue a number of different applications, databases, intranets, etc.; and rather than investing the time and effort to maintain them, they will invariably replace them when issues surface.

Usually this is a very expensive proposition, since proper release/change management efforts could have avoided any and all problems faced.

Then there is the added problem of training.  Often times a large organization will have multiple subject matter experts (SMEs) who specialize in a subset of their technologies.  As soon as a new person is brought on board and needs to learn multiple systems, they are forced to meet with multiple people over the course of days (if not weeks) to be brought up to speed.  This is just another example of the inefficiencies we create by not having the proper support in place.  The addition of a change/release expert to your IT team could easily answer these problems, and save your organization time, effort, (and most importantly) money.

As a real-world example, Astir IT Solutions, Inc. has a client who faced these exact issues.  They had a portfolio of over 150 applications... and lacked the expertise and manpower to properly manage, assess, and train personnel in such a vast pool of technology.  By bringing on one of our seasoned release/change management IT consultants, they were able to finally get a handle on such a huge tech portfolio.  This saved the client a tremendous amount of time, effort, and money, as this individual was able to provide impact analyses to identify what applications to utilize in what capacity, manage versions, and train users and stakeholders.  You can read more about our Release/Change Management Case Study HERE.

If you or your organization has a need for highly trained IT consultants, please feel free to email me today at contact@astirit.com.

Best Regards,

Adam Moltisanti

Manager, Marketing and Vendor Relations

Project Placement, Recent Posts astir, astir it, astir analytics, release management, change management

Hello,

Mobile technology has revolutionized the way we conduct business.  Each one of us now has at least one device on our person that can enable us to do at least part of our job from anywhere, at any time.  This technology has connected us to our businesses in a way that was never possible before, and allows us to take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way.  The only thing that stands between us and taking full advantage of this technology is the compatibility of our current technology environment with the ever changing mobile device landscape.

Over the past few years, the number of available mobile devices, and their usage among the greater populace, has skyrocketed.  Whether it is a smartphone, tablet, convertible laptop, netbook, etc., we all carry at least one of these devices on our person at all times.  As professionals, it is critical for us to take advantage of this new freedom to work wherever we want... because if we don't, our competition will.  Therefore, it is critical that our business intelligence software applications are optimized for each mobile platform.  

This, however, is no easy task.

Applications may need to have multiple versions; each customized to the exact specifications of a device's operating system and/or physical dimensions.  And although many off-the-shelf software tools are already have fully functional mobile versions for the most popular devices... how many of us really rely on store bought business intelligence software?

Our daily operations are contingent upon multiple pieces of technology, including intranets, applications, databases, etc. Much of this technology is completely custom since off-the-shelf software tools often will not satiate our business requirements.  Therefore, in order to take advantage of the mobile technology our workforce and customer base employs, we need to have custom mobile versions for our custom business intelligence software applications.  Because, again, if we don't we can bet dollars to donuts that our competition will.  Astir Analytics has custom mobile development services that can take your technology environment and optimize it for use on any mobile device.  

Having the right access to reliable mobile versions of your applications will ensure that your personnel never miss an opportunity... and will allow you to get a leg up on the competition.  Whether your workforce employs Android or iOS devices, contact Astir Analytics today in order to take your business mobile.

Best Regards,

Adam Moltisanti

Manager, Marketing and Vendor Relations 

application development mobile development, application development, astir analytics

Business intelligence software applications are the foundation for most daily business activities.  Basically, the success or failure of our businesses hinge upon the design and reliability of our technology.  That notion can either be comforting or frightening, depending on how much you trust your applications.

Therefore, in order for your business to thrive, you need reliable, easy to use business intelligence applications that fit your specific business requirements.

Yet... many of you are using out of the box products; meaning that you are gambling with your success!  Most off the shelf applications are designed with EVERYONE in mind, so they will not fit your specific business needs.  This will force you to adapt your workflows and processes to the capabilities and features of these generic tools.  Ultimately, this will leave some of your tasks without any much needed automation.  Therefore, in order for your daily business operations to function correctly, you need a custom solution that mirrors all the processes you employ.

Astir Analytics specializes in developing custom business intelligence software applications.  We employ a combination of proven discovery techniques and unique development processes in order to identify technology needs, rapidly develop custom solutions, and implement quickly so clients can reap the benefits.  It is this unique marriage of traditional and cutting edged workflows that differentiate Astir Analytics from the competition; and ensure that we exceed your every expectation.\

Understanding your technology needs:  The first step in the road to your custom designed business intelligence software application is the discovery process.  Astir Analytics follows proven discovery methodologies in order to help you understand your technology needs.  We work closely with our clients to explore their IT environments, outline their specific business requirements, and custom design a solution that solves their unique business problems.

Keeping you close to the development process:  In contrast to the usual development practices of our competitors, Astir Analytics is incredibly agile.  Most development organizations will compile your business requirements and go off to develop them without further input.  Therefore, the next time you see the development vendor, it's when they hand you a complete application.  Although this is common practice, it removes you from the often lengthy development phase.  By the time the product is delivered, all your business requirements, processes, and workflows may have changed... making your purchase outdated and unusable.  

Astir Analytics keeps you close to the development process so you not only see progress, but can implement change as your organization, processes, workflows, and requirements evolve.  Astir Analytics employs an agile development methodology that can accommodate these changes rapidly, ensuring that the end result is an application that keeps in line with your current needs.

Working closely with clients and keeping them involved at all steps of the development phases allows our custom designed solutions to always match client needs perfectly.  This saves our clients time and resources, as they aren't forced into costly revisions that take even more time after a lengthy development process.  We take pride in delivering cutting edge solutions that exceed client expectations.

Our clients have benefited tremendously from our unique development methodologies.  Our solutions enable clients to benefit from the advanced use of technology by streamlining processes, automating workflows, and boosting bottom lines.  Additionally, not only have our solutions won us industry accolades, but have won awards for our clients too!

If you are interested in learning more, or have the need for a custom business intelligence software application, visit us at www.astiranalytics.com.

Business Intelligence, application development astir analytics, business intelligence, bi, business intelligence software applications, software applications, application development, technology development

Hello,

A few months ago, Astir Analytics posted a brief whitepaper on account based marketing.  Since then, we have received many inquiries regarding our unique approach to marketing campaign measurement.  Many organizations are now trying to shift away from contact focused measurement; which is part of a greater paradigm shift within the marketing community.

The main theme of our previous article (which you can read Here) is a study of how we worked with a client in order to capture "decisions made by committee."  This is only one portion of the reasons to incorporate account level statistics into your marketing measurement.  As technology becomes ever present in all business functions, every individual, department, organization, and corporation now has a robust digital footprint.  The combination of the data made available by a marketer, and the digital engagement within a target account now necessitates a broader measurement criteria. 

If a marketer only ties marketing campaign success (via sales funnel dollars) to a single contact, they are leaving behind valuable data on how their efforts are influencing the greater account.  Traditional measures make the HUGE assumption that a single contact is the sole decision maker, and the sole point of contact for a sale.  This ignores the more likely scenario that an individual contact is only one of many avenues that lead to a single sales opportunity.  Contacts within an account are sharing marketing materials with the committee; and unless your sales person manually ties the final decision maker to your marketing campaign, you lose credit.

You can, however, measure broader influence by looking at an account holistically.  By combining marketing interaction data with sales funnel data at an account level, you can gain a more accurate view of marketing campaign effectiveness.  Inferences can be made based upon the digital footprint of an account; and campaigns can become hyper targeted based upon the digital footprints of individual account contacts.

The practice of account based marketing is still, for lack of a better term, in its' infancy.  Although the concept has been around as long as there have been marketing organizations, the associated logistics and business rules make it difficult to execute.  Astir Analytics has been working with clients in order to navigate through these muddy waters and provide actionable intelligence on an account level.  We have worked closely with clients throughout the years to develop applications that incorporate complex business rules for the combination and analysis of account level marketing campaign and sales funnel data.

Ultimately, it is our goal to provide the means for our clients to tie marketing efforts to real sales dollars... and justify their existence.

If you would like to learn more about our account based marketing solutions, please feel free to give me a call at 908-279-8670 ext. 716.

Best Regards,

Adam Moltisanti

Manager, Marketing and Vendor Relations

Business Intelligence, Dashboards, Data Analysis astir, astir analytics, account based marketing, marketing analytics, sales analytics

Hello,

There is a tremendous amount of data available to your organization.  Every action you, your team, your customers, your prospects, etc. take generates data that can be invaluable for your business strategies.  This information can be influential to your processes and workflows, as well as how you market your brand and interact with customers.  Your organization needs to take full advantage of this data; because your competition definitely is.

There are multiple roadblocks that can keep you from accessing this information.  For some organizations, the problem is a matter of collecting and housing that data.  Knowing that there is data available to you, and even knowing how to use that data, is meaningless until you are able to properly gather, cleanse, and house it.  This step may not be very easy, as collection methods can range depending on your target audience and the types of information needed.  Additionally, as the volume of information increases, the likelihood of redundancies, incomplete, and bad data increase; making it abundantly necessary to perform both initial cleansing and routine maintenance.  This is compounded by the need for a system to store, manipulate, and retrieve this information easily and efficiently.

Then there is the problem of what to do with your data.  The knowledge of how to slice apart, massage, and interpret data is not always readily accessible.  Sometimes the problem is as simple as where to start.  you may have access to a ton of data, but have no clue what types of measurements you need to fully leverage this information.  Other times, it is a matter of not knowing how to perform the measurements. Certain types of data analysis, such as median and average measurement are simple; but when you need to look at intervening and mediating variables through the use of regression analysis, you may not have the knowledge or tools.  

Finally, there is the problem of visualization and demonstration.  In order to demonstrate the conclusions and insights drawn from your data to stakeholders, you need the right visuals.  You need to understand how exactly to show data in the correct formats in order for your audiences to easily understand and digest your findings.  Again, the difficulties in this area can be both knowledge share and access to tools.  Either way, unless you have the best charts, graphs, and tables, you may not be able to properly convey impact.

Astir understands these business problems, and specializes in custom designing data solutions.  We have products and services that can help you gather, cleanse, house, retrieve, analyze, and display your data.  We work closely with clients in order to understand their data and reporting needs, and custom design solutions that help leverage data in order to improve businesses.

Give me a call today (908)279-8670 x716 and we can discuss how Astir can help you make the most of your data.

Thanks!

Adam Moltisanti

Manager, Marketing and Vendor Relations

Business Intelligence, Dashboards, Data Analysis Astir Analytics, Data Warehousing, Database Management, Data Analysis, Dashboard, Reporting

Business Intelligence, Data Analysis, Recent Posts, Web Design Marketing Campaign Measurement, Custom Application Development, Astir Analytics

Astir Analytics has a slew of list management services that can improve your marketing and sales.  List management is one of those tasks that is often overlooked by many businesses.  Having the proper contact database in place can save your organization time and resources; and help you build your business.

Astir Analytics has list management services that can help your business create a single, centralized repository for your contact data.  From there, we can design a solution that combines and cleanses your data so you and your employees have easy access to your contact database.  

If you have fragmented contact data and need help with optimization, send me an email (amoltisanti@astiranalytics.com) so we can discuss how Astir can improve your business.

Best Regards,

Adam Moltisanti

Manager, Marketing and Vendor Relations

Data Analysis, Recent Posts, Reporting Astir, Astir Analytics, List Management