The Hub-and-Spoke Method

The hub-and-spoke method can be broken down into a hub of central information that sends out crucial information to the surrounding spokes (or different business units) to keep operations running smoothly. The hub is created of important team members such as the senior analytics specialist, web analytics specialist, platforms manager, marketing analyst, and anyone else who reports directly to a CEO or director of analytics (Jackson, 2016).

From the example in section 1.5 of the book “Cult of Analytics” by Steve Jackson, the director of analytics at the company ACME used the senior analytics specialist to work with the marketing team four out of five days a week to find out what was prohibiting marketing campaigns from succeeding and provide insight to help the team meet their goals. Her information would be fed to the director of analytics and the CMO. This differed from her old position in which she provided insights and strategic direction to the marketing team without actually working in that department (Jackson, 2016). 

The director of analytics at ACME also used the web analytics specialist to focus on mining data, answering critical questions, and doing business optimization. He was also required to work with the marketing team four out of five days a week. Because he was with the marketing department physically, he was able to pull data and reports quickly using the analytics tools available. Previously, he would have had to prepare and provide reports to retrieve the necessary data or information, taking valuable time out of his work day (Jackson, 2016).

Finally, the director of analytics used the platforms manager who was an IT function partially responsible for marketing platforms to act as an intermediary to facilitate the IT requirements of the marketing team’s new plan to implement automated marketing tools that would allow operations to run smoother for the senior analytics specialist, web analytics specialist, and every other person in the hub and spoke (Jackson, 2016). 

The spoke (or the marketing team in this scenario) was represented by the head of customer relationship marketing who was responsible for email marketing. She worked under the senior analytics specialist and the web analytics specialist, so she would belong to the spoke along with the rest of the marketing team that would be affected by the new system put in place by the people in the hub (Jackson, 2016). 

The idea was a huge success, new sales skyrocketed in a period of six months, and the four major focus areas of the business saw extensive improvements (Jackson, 2016). 

The textbook shows a perfect example of the hub-and-spoke method in action, its key components, and how its interactions affect a company. Before this method was implemented, communication and project visualization was virtually non-existent at ACME. This real-world example proved how drastically a company’s outcomes can change for the better with structure, the involvement of multiple departments, and the appropriate sharing of important data and information.

Jackson, S. (2016). Cult of Analytics Data Analytics for marketing. London: Routledge.