Strategy and roadmap: Data

Keith Collins
Principal Consultant

"Having worked with non-profit organisations of every conceivable type - and in a number of different countries - since I started in the sector in 1992, I always find something about a client that makes working with them rewarding. Naturally, working with clients to use my experience and knowledge to help them improve is always a good feeling. However, beyond that there is always something else with any organisation that is appealing, either on an intellectual or an emotional level. Sometimes that may of course be a personal connection to the field of work that they are operating in – but sometimes it may be more of an intellectual challenge, grappling with what makes them unique in terms of complexities and needs."

Keith specialises in helping organisations identify, select, adopt and use technology to improve their relationships with all stakeholders. With some clients, this may involve helping identify and select technology solutions to support a new organisational strategy - for others, incremental improvements and new options within the tools that they already have. With experience from every perspective – as a non-profit client, as a supplier of specific technology solutions, and as an independent consultant – Keith can help non-profits ensure that their technology decisions fit organisational strategy, and that the 'softer' side of these initiatives – cultural fit, change management, stakeholder needs – are also factored in. Since 1992, Keith has worked within a number of roles in the non-profit sector. At Christian Aid, Keith oversaw the implementation of a new CRM solution, before moving to Sue Ryder Care to undertake a similar project and to set up their first Supporter Services team, including new business processes to support Gift Aid, Direct Debits and an internal IT helpdesk. Keith then moved to the supplier side, working at Blackbaud Europe to help non-profits implement The Raiser's Edge, The Information Edge and NetSolutions. With a desire to move into independent consulting, Keith then established the technology consulting division within Purple Vision, developing and delivering consultancy offerings including CRM selection, strategic technology reviews, and business process improvement. Following Purple Vision's re-positioning as a Salesforce.org partner, Keith then worked to develop and deliver consultancy and implementation solutions within the Salesforce platform, including engagements with customers and projects across Europe – with a particular focus on German-speaking countries. In the summer of 2017, Keith decided to move back into a more independent consulting role as a Senior Consultant with Adapta, since when he has worked with clients including Shelterbox, Islamic Relief UK, the British Horse Society, the National Children's Bureau, Scope and The Pony Club, on projects as varied as holistic reviews of the IT function; training and advice on GDPR compliance, and the specification and selection of new CRM systems. Credentials and Qualifications Keith is a qualified PRINCE2 project manager, and in his spare time is a volunteer football coach and manager for St Albans City Youth FC.

Mark Luckins
Principal Consultant

Mark advises senior leadership teams to help them navigate the world of digital technology. He helps charities and third sector organisations determine the right digital, data and technology strategies to enable their mission. In his career, Mark has held various technology leadership roles and has achieved numerous certifications (ITIL, CISSP, PRINCE2, MCSE); academically, he holds a degree in “Operations Research” (better known today as ‘data science’). He helps charities grow the right organisational capabilities to support their current strategic priorities as well as generate value in the longer term. He advises on the specialist staffing and suppliers required to deliver as well as staff and SLT skills more widely. Mark often acts as a fractional “digital technology director” advising senior leaders on digital transformation agendas, major technology investments or simply how to make data and technology provide more value. Mark also regularly helps our clients to kickstart innovation or major new projects, or conversely to turn around stalling or failing change processes. Mark has extensive experiencing working across third sector organisations including marketing, fundraising, beneficiary/member service provision and corporate (finance, HR, IT/facilities). Mark has worked in large international charities (Plan International); the public sector (Houses of Parliament); small international charities (Marine Stewardship Council); UK charities (Crisis) and the education sector (ICAN). He managed teams of over 30 and has built teams from scratch. He has delivered major multi-million projects (CRM, website and data architecture) as well as smaller projects; and he is regularly involved in innovation and helping to save money and reduce overheads. He prides himself on providing commercially realistic, rightsized advice appropriate to the maturity of the organisation.

Jo
Data Strategy Associate

Jo has worked with data in the not-for-profit sector for over 25 years and has been an independent consultant supporting organisations with data strategy, data governance and data quality since 2018. Jo is passionate about helping organisations of all sizes and causes overcome their frustrations with poor quality data so they can deliver their mission efficiently, with reliable information, and with confidence that they are GDPR compliant. Jo started off in supporter care and subsequently database fundraising for Christian Aid. She then ran the individual giving programme and managed the Raiser 's Edge database at Notting Hill Housing Trust. A long stint at the Advertising Standards Authority gave Jo extensive exposure to Microsoft Dynamics CRM through her work as a business analyst and project manager to deliver process, system and data improvements. Jo was also a school governor for 5 years, supporting the governing body and leadership team in particular with data literacy. Specialisms include: • Data governance frameworks and implementation • Root cause analysis of data quality issues and their resolution • Scoping and requirements for data migrations and integrations • Designing and implementing business process improvements • Landscape analysis including data lifecycles and conceptual data models • Creating business data glossaries • Data fluency Jo 's work is underpinned by her interest and enthusiasm for making improvements, helping people understand the reliance on data to deliver their vision, and then guiding them on that journey. Jo is comfortable working with people at all levels and in both technical and non-technical roles. Jo can advise on strategic aspects of data as well as getting involved in day-to-day detail. Jo is a Certified Data Management Professional (DAMA) and has formal qualifications from the BCS in Requirements Engineering, Business Process Modelling, Business Analysis Practice and Commercial Awareness. She also holds the Foundation certificate for PRINCE2 and the Open University's Certificate in Winning Resources and Support. Jo has also undertaken training in the Ten Steps™ process, an internationally-recognised framework for improving Data Quality in organisations.

Nicole
Data Governance Associate

Nicole has worked in data governance for over 10 years and more recently she has been working independently as an associate. She has extensive experience of implementing data governance frameworks (defining policies, processes and roles/responsibilities) and also working with data owners to define requirements for master data management systems (namely SAP MDG and S4 HANA) to support data governance processes. Nicole also has experience and a keen interest in all aspects of data quality and helping organisations to identify their pain points and turn these around to achieve value from their data - so much so that she was a technical reviewer for a Data Quality book recently. Nicole started out her career as a Business Analyst in various industries (pharma, health and fitness and telecoms), helping to drive business process improvements and acting as an intermediary between business and IT teams. She subsequently transitioned into the field of data governance where she worked on a large business transformation programme and she played a key role in implementing data governance on a global level. This was a long-term programme of work where the data governance elements evolved over time, guided by business changes and technical advances. Nicole recognises the importance of developing a strong data culture in order for data governance initiatives to be successful and her business analysis background has helped provide the people skills needed to liaise with stakeholders at all levels and to be able to work with both business and technical resources. One of Nicole’s key strengths is being able to act as an advisor to people who may or may not be data focussed and helping to them to identify their data vision and guide them on how they can apply data governance to achieve value from their data.