Disseminating statistical information on economic development

UNECE Training Workshop “Short-term statistics and seasonal adjustment”

Astana, 14 – 17 March 2011

Petteri Baer, Marketing Manager, Statistics Finland

Information services usually provided on economic development

 Opinion surveys (e.g., business and consumer surveys, purchasing managers surveys, bank lending survey): at least monthly with a high timeliness  Market data (e.g. stock market data, exchange rates, yields): at least daily, frequently “tick-by-tick”  Short-term statistics (e.g. Harmonised CPI (HICP), unemployment rate, leading indicators): monthly  Monetary and financial statistics sheets & interest rates, securities, balance of payments): monthly (e.g. MFI (bank) balance – mainly by central banks  National accounts and annually (e.g. GDP, sector accounts): quarterly Petteri Baer 14 - 17 March 2011 2

Operational environment of services on economic statistics

 Growing demand for fresh and timely statistical information on the economic development  Highlighted by the financial and economic crisis  But existing in all phases of the economic cycle  Strong influence of rapid communication tools  Growing information overflow  Importance of quality issues  For the service products themselves  For building up the reputation of official statistics Petteri Baer 14 - 17 March 2011 3

To develop better interaction with users we need to be proactive

 Who are our present users of economic statistics?

 Who are our present users of short-term economic statistics?

 Who are our POTENTIAL users of short-term economic statistics?

14 - 17 March 2011

Nota bene! Users are different: Tourists, Farmers, Miners…

 We will most likely have to define

different ways to approach different users

, if we wish to have efficient communication

Courtesy to Armin Grossenbacher

Petteri Baer 14 - 17 March 2011 5

So – Who are in need of information on STS? (1)

 The easy reply  Policy makers  Business community  Media and  General public  But note: Policy makers are much more than only ministries  Central Bank  High level advisory groups  The district (oblast) level   The local level Trade unions, lobbies, NGOs… 14 - 17 March 2011

So – Who are in need of information on STS? (2)

 The business community is a much broader target group than often believed  Banks  Insurance companies  Big corporations  Medium sized enterprises  Chambers of commerce  Branch organizations  Employers organizations  Foreign companies  Etc.

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So – Who are in need of information on STS? (3)

 And numerous target groups mentioned above usually employ  Business analysts, researchers, economists  Or make use of    Information brokers Business intelligence systems or Knowledge managements systems  Do we provide sufficient information services to them? In proper forms?

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To disseminate economic statistics efficiently: Database services!

 We produce quite a lot of statistical information  Different users have different need structures, they want information  By industries, By enterprise sizes  By regions  Comparisons over different time periods  International comparisons  And numerous other aspects…  PC-Axis, PX Web… User friendly services!

Petteri Baer 14 - 17 March 2011 9

The importance of good contact information

 User lists  Existing customers and contacts  Regular and heavy users of economical statistics  Contact directories  Feedback contacts   Contact / Customer database   Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 14 - 17 March 2011

To improve user interaction we will at least need a Customer Database

 For contacting  For surveys on satisfaction or dissatisfaction  For presenting new targeted services  For other forms of interaction 14 - 17 March 2011

Customers Mana gement Adminis tration

Customer Database

F

unctions

I

nformation providers

I

nformation users Customer service Development projects Customer intelligence Contact intelligence Lead intelligence Campaign intelligence Product development Information retrievals Quote intelligence Project intelligence Sales Project Marketing 14 - 17 March 2011 12

We will profit much from active feedback

 Having more feedback will help us to develop our services  Interaction with critical customers will help us in having

a positive pressure on performing better

 A demanding customer is like a grain of sand within the mussel. It doesn’t feel good but the result may be a beautiful pearl!

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Publicity may sometimes be tough!

 Statistics often tends to attract hostile media coverage…  “Why does it take so long?”  “My own perception is different!”  “Lies, Big lies, Statistics!” 14 - 17 March 2011

But - is there an alternative Any votes for the Census?

to providing better publicity?

Questions to be raised

 The importance of good and timely statistical information  How can resources be allocated if basic information on the economic development is based on guesses or too old information?

 Attracting investments, doing good business, developing economic activities needs good infrastructure – reliable official statistics is fundamental  If the denominators of such as population statistics, GDP etc. are wrong, no real information is reliable Petteri Baer 14 - 17 March 2011 15

Take publicity seriously

 Develop useful statistical service products  Make a good plan of what will be published  Publication calendar  Provide regular Media/Press releases  Make use of your agency’s Press Officer   Press Conferences from time to time …but not too often!

 Also critical media should always be invited!

 Cost plan and budget for publicity activities  Follow up on media appearance – both quantities and attitudes Petteri Baer 14 - 17 March 2011 16

The media is your partner

 In disseminating the main results of all your hard work on statistics  In making problematic issues known  Help the media to be well informed!

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Statistical literacy

 Beyond students or school pupils  Special information seminars, breakfast sessions or other kinds of light information meetings for selected target groups would be advisable  The web site of the International Statistical Literacy Project of IASE could be helpful in planning  http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/islp/countries Petteri Baer 14 - 17 March 2011 18

Presentation of statistical information on Short-term statistics

 KISS – Keep It Short and Simple  Storytelling approach  UNECE’s “Making Data Meaningful” materials 1 - 3  Available on the web, also in Russian, so far only 1 – 2  Focus on turning points  Omit accidental events and “noise”  The importance of seasonal adjustment Petteri Baer 14 - 17 March 2011 19

Conclusions – Five items of great importance

 Existence of good STS services  Packaging the STS services into for the different user categories relevant service products  Maintaining good accessibility on the web  Obtaining, updating and increasing contact information on users  Meeting and discussing with and learning from main users Petteri Baer 14 - 17 March 2011 20

The efforts you will make will be rewarded, because…



Only used statistical information is useful statistical information!

 Thank you for your attention!

 [email protected]

14 - 17 March 2011