We've talked about the many great things that Comms and Corporate Affairs professionals bring to an organisation – clarity of message, bringing the outside in, creativity and so on. However, one area that still seems to defeat all our Comms and Corporate Affairs colleagues – inhouse or in the agency world – is to get actionable insight from data.

For some it's a case of swimming in the stuff and trying to make sense of what it's telling you. For others, it's lack of data and where to procure something that adds value to an organisation.

So, this Podcast is all about getting meaningful data that provides insight to inform decision making. Do we have all the answers? Of course we do. This is The Little Questions - probably the best podcast focused on the needs of communications professionals in the world!

Some of today's little questions include; has progress been made in the use of data and insights in Corporate Affairs? What are the challenges CADs face Why do these challenges persist and what can be done about it? To answer these and more are Little Questions regulars and Apella Advisors Partners Matt Young and Andrew Brown and fellow Apella Partner, Mike Granleese formerly of IPSOS.

You can get in touch by emailing [email protected] and please consider leaving us a review.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years' experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Mike Granleese; formerly the Deputy Managing Director of Ipsos Corporate Reputation, Mike has over 20 years' experience across roles in insights, consultancy and academia. He specialises in helping clients understand insights within the context of their organisation and advising on the actions needed to drive reputation growth and protect license to operate. Previous clients in financial services include Aviva, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and MasterCard. He has also worked closely with Coca-Cola, Heineken, EY, PwC and The World Bank. Mike holds a PhD in economics.

Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.