Data Driven transformation at FD Media Group

Sjoerd Wolthers, CIO at FD Media Group

FD Media Group is in the middle of a digital and data-driven transformation. Data strategy, cloud, analytics, and organizational structure are part of the transformation. In Mid 2021, FD Media Group became a Crystalloids client. FD Media Group is the media company behind brands such as Het Financieele Dagblad, BNR and Company.Info. FD Media Group informs entrepreneurs, professionals, and directors on important news and insights in the financial and economic field.

The mission is to help decision-makers make the best decisions by offering an overview, insight, and prospects. In this interview, Sjoerd Wolthers tells us why the organisation is in a digital change process and how they develop their data strategy.

Data collection: an area of attention 

Within FD Media Group, data plays an important role. Collecting data is important, but it also creates areas of attention. There are increasing concerns associated with the collection of data within the organisation. Privacy is becoming even more important; not all data can be stored. On the other hand, smart data-driven decisions enhance digital products and customers' experience and generate new business. That’s why within FD Media Group there are several reasons to change the way data analytics and activation are handled.

Drivers for change

There are several drivers for change amongst which include:

1. Reduced visibility of customer interaction, accelerated by privacy legislation and browser limitations
2. Customer centricity of the readers, we want to offer our subscribers the content that they are looking for and what the models say that is relevant for them
3. Acquisition of subscribers; we want to target the right audiences at the right moment with the right offer via the channels they prefer
4. Sales to advertisers, we want to offer our advertisers the right audience segments in the right context and based on actual interests
5. Democratizing insights; we want to bring relevant insights to the fingertips of our teams to become as informed and as predictive as possible.

FD Media Group’s view on data processing

In the short term, we see concerns and limitations concerning data within the organisation.

For example, we think it’s important to be careful about what types of data and features are going to be used to run our business. We are increasingly limiting the processing of complex data that is not the main priority for running our business. This is related to data ethics and data minimisation. This means that we are becoming more independent of the user and prefer to use publicly accessible data.

For example, we prefer advertising based on the content's context rather than individual behaviour. This content is at our core where you can relate tags to and therefore ads. Sjoerd explains that we focus on avoiding cookie-related data and will only maintain this where it is crucial for delivering value.

The road to a transparent data strategy

We are improving our model to be even more predictable for us and for the user. Our strategy focuses more and more on combining internal expertise, customer research, and data insights.

The model has to stay transparent, be able to deliver growth and has to generate value. We want to make sure we can create more models that are independent of user information, user consent, and browser configurations.

How does Crystalloids contribute to FD Media Group’s data strategy?

Crystalloids started our cooperation by making sense of the ideas of all stakeholders by gathering, refining, and prioritising these ideas into a comprehensive backlog. Then, they developed the prioritised user stories by initially collecting, transforming, and storing the data in the first sprints—all to make smart and automated decisions.

Privacy and security by design and governance are integral parts of the deliverables that distinguish Crystalloids. One way of doing this is not collecting client-side data but using persistent server-side data instead and storing this centrally, thus contributing to the central customer view.

The collaboration with Crystalloids reached a good pace in the past year. The knowledge and expertise within Crystalloids and the transparency and control resulting from the SCRUM Agile principles contribute massively to the data strategy of FD Media Group.