By integrating the data visualisation capabilities of Power BI into the Publish Interactive platform, Risk Leadership Network has created a suite of benchmarking dashboards and a more compelling membership proposition.
Risk Leadership Network is a global corporate membership network for risk leaders and their teams. They enable practical knowledge sharing and collaboration between peers, which empowers risk leaders to drive progressive risk management in their organisations.
Business intelligence and data visualisation in one place
A Risk Manager deals with the analysis, assessment, and control of risk. To do their job effectively, they need up-to-date information for benchmarking and developing new approaches to risk management.
However, gathering this information is a time-consuming manual job. A Risk Manager can spend hours poring over reports, disclosures, and other documents.
Risk Leadership Network wanted to use technology to help members save time gathering the required intelligence. They needed help developing and integrating data-led benchmarking tools using Power BI within their instance of the Publish Interactive system.
Members can currently access three dashboards depending on their subscription package. These collate information that would otherwise take members a long time to put together and present it in an accessible, easy-to-understand format. Members can then use Power BI tools to scan relevant data or drill down further into the detail.
A Power BI exhibit in Risk Leadership Network’s Publish Interactive-powered Intelligence Platform
Tangible Member Benefits
Tom Byford is Head of Product at Risk Leadership Network. He says having data tools on the same system as intelligence and analysis creates a better user experience for the organisation and its members.
“At the front-end, it’s very usable for our members. In the back-end, it’s very easy for us to administer and create iterations of tools.” It’s also a fairly easy concept to market, as most risk managers can see how the tools will fit into their day-to-day work and where it will save them time.
The new dashboards have also created a more compelling membership proposition. One of the challenges for the organisation is that its core concept is networking, which can be a difficult sell. “As a concept, it’s not very tangible, which can make it challenging for people to justify funding,” Tom explains.
“If you can present to your superiors that as part of this package you get access to tools that will save time and money, it’s a far more tangible benefit. Although it’s a relatively small part of what we do, in terms of the pitch, it adds an element that makes it easier for people to justify membership.”
Feedback from members has so far been positive. They’ve generally felt that the tools are an accessible way of seeing the information and that the platform is intuitive to use. “Although we could have presented it in a different way, I don’t think we could have made it as easy to use and navigate in Power BI,” adds Tom.
“I’m not sure we could deliver it in such a seamless way as Publish Interactive does. What they have done well in our experience is made it painless for the end-user to set up.”
Head of Product
Risk Leadership Network
Making the business case
Tom recommends first building a prototype in Power BI to gather customer feedback and make a business case. “It’s really easy – a couple of hours work or so – to build a prototype in Power BI using dummy data (or some real, some dummy), and you should be able to see very quickly if the product has value once you’ve done a couple of demos.”
The ease of use from both the user’s perspective and the data provider’s makes this “very compelling”, adds Tom. “Having that relatively pain-free experience of delivering quite a complex tech-based product is rare, and I’ve been really impressed by how easy Publish Interactive has made it.”
He says building the tools within the Publish Interactive system was simpler and more cost-effective than developing their own Power BI solution.
“I’m not sure we could deliver it in such a seamless way as Publish Interactive does. What they’ve done is impressive. Putting together your own Power BI solution is possible but complex. What Publish Interactive has done well in our experience is made it painless for the end-user to set up.”
Watch Tom run through a short demo of Risk Leadership Network’s Power BI-powered TCFD Comparison Tool here.
For more information about Publish Interactive’s new Microsoft Power BI integration, click here.
