Case Study: Nonprofit organization AACSB international launches its first data product Analytics Hub and reaches 50% of its target user base within one month of launch
Who is AACSB?
AACSB International (AACSB) is a global nonprofit association that connects educators, students, and business to achieve a common goal: to create the next generation of great leaders. In addition to providing certifications and a community of professionals, AACSB also provides benchmarking insights for their customers so that they can make informed salary and continuous improvement decisions.
What We Heard?
Data Accessibility and Search Difficulty: Users encountered difficulties accessing and finding the data they needed within AACSB's database. The access and search processes were not user-friendly, causing frustration.
Complex Data Utilization: Even when users found the data they sought, it was often challenging to use effectively. The complexity of the database made it a costly and time-consuming task to extract the necessary information.
Manual Insights Extraction: Users were required to manually mine insights from the data they obtained. This iterative process was expensive and time-intensive.
What We Did & What the Outcomes Were?
We initiated in-depth research by conducting over 30 one-on-one, hour-long sessions with AACSB users to understand their specific needs and challenges. The insights gathered from these sessions enabled us to identify the key needs of the users and design tailored solutions to address those needs.
We undertook a comprehensive review of AACSB's database, reorganizing the data to better serve the identified user needs. We also designed modern user interfaces that reduced friction in the data access and search processes, allowing users to iterate and ask new questions quickly. To enhance the user experience, we created clear visualizations and interactive dashboards, enabling users to view insights and generate reports within seconds.
We developed a production-ready application and seamlessly launched it within the user community, ensuring a smooth transition with no operational issues. All of the above improvements were delivered within a record six-month timeframe. Within just three weeks after the product's launch, 50% of the target user base engaged with the application, indicating a significant improvement in user adoption and satisfaction.
We actively collected user feedback and closely monitored user engagement. This feedback guided our ongoing efforts to refine and enhance the most important features, such as onboarding, NLP-assisted database search, and content sharing.
The transformation of AACSB's data accessibility and insights extraction processes had a profound impact on the organization and its user community. Users now enjoy quick and efficient access to data, user-friendly interfaces, and the ability to extract insights without the prohibitive costs and time investments that were previously required.
If you are interested in unlocking the potential of your current data and creating more business values for your customers and company, please contact us.
