Erin Flood Launches ‘The Go Do Project’ To Help Companies Use Big Data
New Brunswick’s Erin Flood is taking her passion for data to the next level with her latest career move.
Since leaving her position at COO of HotSpot in January, Flood has launched The Go Do Project, a consultancy business that helps organizations and companies understand and leverage the power of their data.
Flood says her departure from HotSpot was on good terms and it was a matter of taking her passion for data in a different direction.
“It was mostly me finding that my curiosities were being taken places that didn’t necessarily align with HotSpot Parking’s vision anymore,” she says. “I think for both the company and myself, it made the most sense to move on and it was a good four years, so that’s all positive.”
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Flood says it was starting Open Data Atlantic and working on the Pattern of Life Project with Enterprise Saint John (which she is still working on with HotSpot) that made her realize there was another opportunity.
The Pattern of Life Project, which includes partners T4G and Cisco, is analyzing vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the Uptown Saint John area. The data collected is being used to look at the impact of these movements on many sectors of the city-centre economy, and inform things like future infrastructure investments.
“I kind of took [Pattern of Life] as my little baby and carried it and started to find there was a lot of opportunity in the realm of data and understanding of how you can take different datasets for a community, for example, correlate them, and find ways to solve problems with that. That’s kind of where my interest was peaked and the transition made sense,” she says.
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The name “Go Do,” Flood says, comes from her personal philosophy of going out and trying things now, then asking questions later.
“I think what that stems from is people are risk-averse and we grew up in the world to be that way. We grew up in classrooms where you have to raise your hand and if you don’t have a good question or if you don’t have a good answer, you’re often ridiculed for that,” Flood says.
“I think the shift in our generation is we are asking questions and we’re not being afraid to ask questions anymore. With that, you’re seeing a generation of more socially conscious buyers, consumers and just people generally.”
Flood says its data that can help companies and organizations adapt to this new consumer mindset.
“Bridging that is data and the authenticity that data carries. I think people no longer accept status quo branding and marketing,” she says. “People do questions things and data actually has that ability to allow organizations or companies to stand out in the marketplace with that level of authenticity that some brands may not have.”
The Go Do Project will work with clients to leverage their data to help create things like compelling content, business plans, grant and proposals and everything in between. They will also help clients understand the data and what it means to their particular business or mission.
“I think data carries and really scary definition if it’s not given the proper context in somebody’s daily life or job. How do you empower people in their work or their day-to-day to understand how data affects their day-to-day that’s put into a context in which they apply to their life?” Flood says.
“It’s educating them on the value of their data, how to use it to maximize efficiency internally while keeping authenticity with their customers and their brand and what they’re trying to achieve as an organization or business.”
Right now, the Go Do Project is a one-woman show, but Flood says there are plans in the works to hire data and social scientists in the future. She says most of her clients so far are in New Brunswick and include non-profits, startups and businesses in the labour market insights industry. Her goal is to help show all businesses and organizations, not just tech ones, the power of data.
“You’re seeing this rise of interest in smart cities and I think that is space I certainly need to stay in,” she says. “But I think the opportunity there is helping different companies understand how maybe they’re not a tech company, but they actually do deserve a seat at the smart city table, because it’s not about being a tech-centric company. It’s about solving real citizen problems.”