Case study: Data Insights Bring New Operational Efficiencies to a UK Finance Company

Ryan Horsnall is a First Response Finance Project Lead and a Level 4 Data Analyst Apprentice. Data underpins his team's ability to achieve continuous improvement goals and live the core values of their company.  

First Response Finance is a vehicle finance company with a team of aprox. 280 located across 3 UK offices. They provide personal loans and hire purchase agreements for people buying cars, vans and motorbikes. They also provide vehicle dealerships with finance solutions for their customers.

Customer service and employee satisfaction is at the heart of First Response' core values; so they've invested time and resources into data to look at ways of making improvements in these areas.

“The results have been clear to see.” says Ryan Horsnall, a First Response Finance Level 4 Data Analyst Apprentice. “We wanted to work with some data sets to extract insight from them about our people and use the insights to create better conversation and understanding around how our people work. We know that customer retention, through great customer service, is only possible because we have a fantastic team of employees. Most of them have been with the business for a long time.”

We’ve built a large and loyal customer base over the years and we work with data so we can better anticipate their needs. We know from feedback surveys that brand loyalty is down to a personalised customer service and we know that customer retention, through great customer service, is only possible because our dedicated team of employees.”

Ryan Horsnall, Finance Project Lead

Working with large data sets from departments such as sales, operations and HR can sometimes be too advanced for excel. The Cambridge Spark Level 4 Data Analyst Apprenticeship teaches how to use Python programming instead. Apprentices learn through live lectures and assignments. They are supported by a technical mentor, a coach and feedback from EDUKATE.AI, Cambridge Spark’s online learning platform which is where they access learning content and assignments.

In depth data analysis using coding and automation can reveal patterns relating to buying behaviour and recruitment cycles that can be easily missed by a human using manual processes, especially if someone isn’t looking for it. Learning Python programming brings deep transparency and visibility into a business. Just one of the ways that a Data Analyst apprenticeship can deliver immediate and impactful results.

The ability to work with data in this way is critical to our company. The beauty of the course is learning which tool to use for which particular problem. For example, visualisation through a software like power bi or using Pandas versus Excel. That discernment helped me immediately ”

Ryan Horsnall, Finance Project Lead

Ryan works with data relating to people and operations. HR insights relate to tenure, leavers, joiners and sickness but he also manages data relating to motor dealerships and resources. He explains; “if we want the business to survive in this competitive market, and grow, we must understand how our customers behave so we can anticipate as opposed to just react. We want to know how we service a growing customer base, if our staff are trained in the right way and if they are happy. Staff retention and employee satisfaction is key to providing the levels of customer service we need”.

“In the future, we plan to analyse sickness data to understand the types of sickness within the business and any prevention steps we can take to support it. We also want to monitor time taken off during the pandemic to see how this affected our services. Data science gives us everything we need to keep headcount at a level that is best optimised for our business.”

In the future, we plan to analyse sickness data so we can understand the types of sickness within the business and take any prevention steps that we can to support it. We also want to monitor the time taken off during the pandemic to see how this affected our services. Data science gives us everything we need to keep headcount at a level that is best optimised for our business.”

Ryan Horsnall, Finance Project Lead

The Cambridge Spark Data Science Apprenticeship is delivered virtually over a 14 month period. Learners join live workshops for each module that combine lectures with practical assignments. “The beauty of the course {explains Ryan} is learning which tool to use for each particular problem. For example, visualisation through a software like Power BI or using Pandas versus Excel depending on the end user. That discernment has helped me immediately.”

“If a business doesn’t harness all of its data in the next 5-10 years, that business won’t be here. Our goal is continuous improvement and data underpins all of that. In order to provide our staff and our customers with the best service possible, we have to know what they want; not what we think they want. The insights from data analysis means we can identify changes and anticipate them coming again in the future.”

Cambridge Spark are currently enrolling for the next cohort of the Level 4 Data Analyst Apprenticeship. Get in touch with the team using the form below to find out how we can help your organisation build data analytics capability.