In early October, a new edition of the Digital Analytics Summit took place in Amsterdam. In this blog you will find an overview of the key insights from the Digital Analytics Summit 2024, including valuable lessons on the latest trends, innovative data analytics techniques and inspiring stories shared during the event. For this third edition, the DDMA committee again put together a strong program, with renowned speakers from home and abroad. Big names such as Simo Ahava and Lea Pica were present to inspire the gathered data and analytics enthusiasts. This year, by the way, the event did not take place at the familiar Pakhuis de Zwijger, but at a new location: B.Amsterdam.

A fun (data) fact: this place used to be used by IBM for their typewriter factory. Since then, the location has been a bustling start-up hub for several years, home to some 200 companies.

Source : Digital Analytics Summit 2024

Below is a summary with key insights from the most interesting sessions I attended at ‘The Louis,’ the plenary hall in the B.3 building.

STATE OF DATA ANALYTICS IN 2024 AND BEYOND
Simo Ahava (Simmer)

Source : Digital Analytics Summit 2024

Simo's session, titled Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire, was about pain: enduring and enduring it, as well as possible relief and hope for the future. It was a sharp, critical reflection on the state of the data & analytics industry anno 2024. Fine early morning fare for the average data specialist. Simo had a clear message: we've all had to endure a lot because of all those demands from Big Tech (like Google and Apple). Now it's time to look beyond.

Key insights:

• Techniques such as first-party data, consent mode and server-side tagging have their value, but they also present significant challenges, for example in the area of user privacy. It's certainly not all roses.
• While GA4 is a powerful tool, it may pay to look at alternatives as well. There are plenty of good options in the market that may better support organizations and professionals like us.
• Users of GA4 are sometimes (too) quick to accept limitations, such as the ambiguity around updates from Google and the legal and privacy risks.

FROM TRADITIONAL ANALYTICS TO AI-DRIVEN INSIGHTS
Brenda van den Berg (KPN)

Source : Digital Analytics Summit 2024

Brenda's talk was about gaining insights with AI compared to traditional analytics. Rather than the results themselves, the focus was mainly on how to approach an AI project-a practical and enlightening approach, although unfortunately the final insights could not be shared. She discussed how qualitative sales leads were estimated using AI. This AI case used the CRISP-DM methodology, a proven method consisting of six phases, which helps you develop AI use cases. This was tackled as an innovative project within KPN, with support from experts from the AI Excellence Center.

Key insights:

• AI is only as valuable as the quality of the input it receives; make sure your data is robust.
• Take the time to build a solid foundation for an AI project. This preparatory work often takes more time than building the AI model itself, but ultimately delivers more.
• Keep asking questions, dig deeper and take a curious attitude during the project.
• AI can help discover and leverage fresh, innovative insights.

CONQUERING GA4 SETUP IN BIGQUERY
Timo Rietveld (HEMA)

Source : Digital Analytics Summit 2024

Timo managed to grab immediate attention with his slogan: “Cut query costs up to 25x and boost data quality.” A promise that every data lover can relate to! In my opinion, his presentation was the most practical and valuable of the day. An Analytics Engineer at HEMA, Timo shared how he has been working within BigQuery to both improve data quality and significantly reduce costs.

Key insights:

• In BigQuery, raw tables are often used only for data transformation, resulting in high cost and low performance. Due to Google's Dataform use, the database can be redesigned to reverse this very thing-low cost and high performance.
• Use techniques such as table partitioning, table clustering and table flattening to greatly improve query performance. Combining these methods can greatly reduce the size of a query. In Timo's example, the query size dropped from 14.27 GB to only 36 MB!

Lights, Camera...No Action? 
Lea Pica (Story-Driven Data)

Source : Digital Analytics Summit 2024

Lea Pica is a “data analyst turned Data Storytelling Advocate” and recently released a book on the subject. Today she is in Amsterdam to talk more about this because the life of an average data professional has long since ceased to be about the data alone. It's also about the story and she does so with examples from an industry where they have mastered this to perfection. With “5 Hollywood Storytelling Secrets Missing from your Data Presentations” Lea shows that we can still learn a lot from Hollywood where our (business) communications are concerned, so I would say “Lights, Camera...Action!”.

Key insights:

• Use an ‘Irresistible hook. For example, think of the various movie posters when you walk out of the theater. Then think of your own slide deck. Couldn't that be a poster?
• Create expectations and anticipation with exciting ‘previews’ and ‘trailers. The really good stories don't use boring summaries. 
• Good stories offer a clear path to action with concrete, SMART-formulated goals and conclude with a powerful message.

HOW POPULAR IS MY HOUSE?
Naomi Smulders (Funda)

Source : Digital Analytics Summit 2024

Funda has the largest selection of properties for sale and rent in the Netherlands and, with its platform of 4.5 million visitors per month, serves not only buyers and renters, but also more than ten thousand brokers. But how do you ensure that the performance of a property for sale is clear and insightful? Naomi Smulders (formerly data scientist at Online Dialogue) explained how Funda works with a thoughtful data strategy to offer high-quality personalized data products. Like building a house, the process starts with the foundation: for example, with clear tracking protocols, a structured data layer for cleansing and enriching data, and strong integration with a data warehouse (DWH).

However, the approach at Funda also has its challenges, such as inconsistencies between data about a property on the website and the information a broker sees in his system about the property. Other complex issues include authentication, PII and GDPR compliance. In addition, data must not only be available quickly and accurately, but also remain understandable to end users so that it does not actually raise additional questions. All so that we can continue to answer that one question well: how popular is my home really?

Key insights:

• Consistency is crucial to building trust with users.
• Funda uses an iframe with open-source software Superset, allowing (visual) updates to be made quickly and efficiently on pages.
• Feedback from users and customers is golden and leads to faster and targeted improvements.

Even more inspiration

Like last year, the day ended with a big dose of inspiration. In 2023, we got another impressive insight into how data and analytics can contribute to a better world. This year's closing was also about a world, the world of soccer.

Rogier Noordman, Football Data Scientist at PSV Eindhoven

Rogier Noordman of PSV gave an impressive presentation (the best/funniest of the day in my opinion) in which he took us into the world of data analysis at the Eindhoven club, which just this year became national champions. It was fascinating to see how not only a stadium, but also players can be filled with technology to accurately monitor their performance. At PSV, every effort is truly being made to provide the club and coach with data that allows them to make more informed decisions about player effectiveness, both on and off the field.

Like other sports such as Formula 1, the game of soccer is full of situations in which switching gears quickly can make the difference between winning or losing, and thus between winning the championship or not. “The devil is in the details, as they say, and you want to tackle them as quickly as possible.

Closing

All in all, Digital Analytics Summit 2024 was another day full of inspiring insights and practical tips on generative AI and exciting storytelling on the one hand and the more technical tips on cost savings, tracking & privacy on the other.
Thank you DDMA committee, all speakers and participants for all the insights and inspiration. See you next year!

Left:

• Link to slides by Simo Ahava
• Link to report (Digital Analytics Summit 2023):
• Training Dates Storytelling for CRO through OD Academy:  
• Photo report DAS 202