AMEC Virtual Summit 2020 presented by Jamin Spitzer, Senior Director, Comms Insights, Microsoft

When Jamin Spitzer began his new role in the Microsoft communications team, he found the function well equipped with good measurement systems that were weighted down by complexity and not sufficiently nimble. The culture was orientated towards measurement for inspection, an affliction he describes as ‘inspect what you expect’ where big numbers and lots of activity reporting only serve to reinforce what is already known.

The new culture at Microsoft, introduced by a new CEO in 2014, turned attention towards using data to reach decisions and encouraged a growth mindset that supports curiosity and risk, embraces uncertainty, and recognises that it’s OK to ‘fail fast’ sometimes!

The journey that Jamin describes includes a few fast failures as well as an ongoing battle to unravel complexity in measurement and reporting, but overall it is a success story in changing the mindset around data and analytics ‘from taking credit to taking action’. He talks enthusiastically about insight being the use of backward-looking probabilities to define go-forward possibilities, and how data can create clarity so that stakeholders across different business functions and can better understand what is happening in communications.

Aligned with this focus on clarity and insight, he also describes the ‘outside-in methodology’, which doesn’t just measure products – it measures markets. Trust is measured in a similar way. Measurement data is generated by automated systems but then interpreted and explained by human curation. The resulting insight is presented in a single, clear visual to provide executives throughout the business with an understanding of market activity and comparisons against competitors.

To keep the insights function evolving and learning during changing times, he continually poses the question; how do we combine data that is meaningful – but not obvious – to provide new insight? Because data, Jamin firmly believes, is what gives communications a seat at the boardroom table.