Data Rich, Insight Poor: Fixing University Decision-Making

Show notes

Universities hold more data than ever, yet little of it reaches the decisions that matter. I explain the three problems behind that and what I did about them at Newcastle University.

• Start with the five decisions that most need better evidence, not with the data.
• Agree common definitions so an enquiry or applicant means the same everywhere.
• Open executive meetings with a one-page summary and automate routine reporting.

Read the article: Universities are data rich and insight poor. Here's how to fix it.

Full transcript

Hello, and welcome to Marketing Greats in Higher Education. I'm Jonathan Sabarre, your host, and this is where we explore the ideas shaping how universities are seen, chosen and trusted around the world. Everything I share on this show is my own personal view.

Universities hold more data than ever about their students, their markets and their reputation. And very little of it reaches the decisions that matter. I took an MBA in Big Data Analytics because, even in hospitality, I could see the winners were the organisations turning information into decisions fastest. In higher education, I found institutions sitting on extraordinary amounts of data, and using remarkably little of it!

Think about what a typical university collects: student records, CRM data, web analytics, surveys, rankings data, research metrics, application funnels. What it often lacks is a way of bringing it together, so leaders can see what's happening and act on it. The problem is rarely the technology. It's usually three things, and the first is the most familiar. Data lives in silos.

Admissions, marketing, planning, research and student services each hold part of the picture, in different systems, with different definitions. Nobody has the whole view. Picture three teams bringing three different numbers for the same intake, and the whole hour going on whose is right. That leads to the second problem: reporting replaces insight. Teams spend hours producing reports that describe what happened, and almost no time explaining why, or recommending what to do next.

The third problem quietly undoes everything else. Decisions aren't designed around data. If key decisions are made in committees that never see the evidence, or see it months late, even the best analysis changes nothing. Reporting describes what happened. Insight tells you what to do next. And insight only matters if it arrives in the room before the decision does.

At Newcastle University, we implemented HubSpot with stronger governance and introduced Google Analytics three sixty. The bigger change was cultural. We built a data-driven segmentation and content strategy and created processes to share insight across teams, rather than keeping it locked inside marketing. When colleagues saw how their activity connected to enquiries and applications, the conversations changed. Data became something the whole institution could use.

At the Students' Union, I saw the same thing on a smaller scale. Personalisation based on better data increased email engagement by more than three hundred per cent. The data had always been there. We'd simply never used it properly. Personalisation simply means paying attention to people, at scale. Most institutions don't need more data. They need to do something with what they already have.

My first piece of advice is to start with the questions, not the data. Ask senior leaders which five decisions most need better evidence, and build from there. Then agree common definitions. An enquiry, an applicant or a conversion should mean the same thing in every team. It's unglamorous, but it underpins everything else. And automate routine reporting, so your analysts can explain, test and recommend.

Put insight directly in front of decision makers. A one-page summary at the start of an executive meeting is worth more than a hundred-page report nobody reads. Invest in data literacy, because short, practical training for managers pays back quickly. And use AI carefully, and early. It's already good at summarising data and spotting patterns. With clear governance, it can shorten the time from data to decision.

The universities that close the gap between data and decisions will recruit more effectively, spend more wisely and understand their reputation in far greater depth. Those that don't will keep producing reports while their competitors act. The technology is affordable. What's needed is leadership: the willingness to make evidence part of how the institution thinks, every single day. The data is already there, waiting for you. Let it change what you do next!

Thank you for spending this time with me. If this episode sparked something for you, hit subscribe, so you never miss the next one. And our full season, with guests from leading universities around the world, is coming very soon. Head to Jonathan Sabarre dot com and sign up, so you're the first to know when it launches. Until next time, keep building something great.