Foodies from across the borough and beyond will be delighted to learn that a new guided food tour, Taste of Comber, will take place on Thursday 31 October.

Taste of Comber, hosted by Ards and North Down Borough Council, is the third in a series of tasting tours this autumn, taking in some of the finest dining establishments in historic Comber. This foodie experience celebrates the abundance of flavours autumn has to offer with a distinctly local twist. 

The tour begins with a starter of local seafood at the award-winning Indie FÜde – experts at sourcing the finest artisan Irish produce. Next you will move on to enjoy a main course with wine at the luxury Georgian House followed by a delicious seasonal dessert at the multi-award-winning Sugarcane Bistro.  The tour ends at McBrides on the Square, where guests will enjoy the finest local artisan cheese paired with a tasting flight of local beers.

It’s a truly mouth-watering prospect and as the dark nights start to close in, treating yourself to an exquisite guided food tour in the historic town of Comber where you can hear about the culinary heritage and enjoy delicious food, never seemed like a better idea!

Pre booking is essential. Tickets cost £47 and are available from www.ticketsource.co.uk/ardsandnorthdown.

For more information, including a full menu, go to visitardsandnorthdown.com.

Organisations of all sizes, and across all sectors, possess a powerful asset that can help them to gain competitive advantage, offer unique insights into their organisational performance, and enable them to ‘level up’ by making smarter and more informed decisions.

Although all organisations have access to this asset, many are not able to fully exploit it and leverage the opportunities that can flow from it.

According to Geoff McGimpsey, Marketing Communications Manager at Belfast-based data analytics specialists, Analytics Engines: “Every organisation produces and holds data. This can include transactional information, logistics records, staff timesheets, machine performance, product warranties, and more. When this data is appropriately captured, transitioned into a digital format, and analysed correctly, the organisation gains tremendous insights into its operations, its customers, and its external environment.”

Data can be a powerful and persuasive tool that can help decision-makers in organisations, as well as informing business strategy and reducing risk. Geoff provides the perfect example of the power of data – a data solution called ‘Precision for Pharmacy’ which is currently deployed for the Western Health and Social Care Trust at Altnagelvin Hospital.

Geoff explained: “We helped the clinical pharmacy team move away from paper-based record systems by co-designing a digital solution that enabled greater transparency and improved reporting methodology. The bottom-line was that the teams felt more empowered and they collaborated more effectively. Managers were also able to evidence the impact of the work they carried out.”

The Challenges of Digital Transformation

Organisational change is inherently difficult to accomplish. However, it remains the only constant in today’s dynamic business environment, and the powerful results of a well-developed and strategic change management plan should not be underestimated. 

Analytics Engines has a wealth of hands-on experience in helping organisations develop their digital roadmap. He said: “I’ve found that quite often the biggest challenge businesses face when starting their data journey is properly understanding and correctly mapping out the problem they are seeking to solve. Organisations are aware that they have data, and they understand that it can help but they don’t always understand how. We work closely with businesses to help them understand their problem and to deliver a solution that properly meets their needs.”

For many businesses, there are some hurdles to overcome when implementing a digital transformation strategy, such as getting access to the right data at the right volume, managing it effectively, and getting buy-in from different functions across the organisation.

“Working with an expert partner such as Analytics Engines helps to demystify the process for organisations and gives them the confidence that their digital transformation roadmap is one that will be effective, with useful and positive outcomes that can have a significant impact on the organisation,” he said. 

“We collaborate with a wide range of businesses and offer advice on a variety of areas, such as how to best source and present the raw data, how to cleanse it, and how to draw down those all-important insights.” 

Increased Potential from Digital Transformation Opportunities

Digital transformation presents exciting opportunities for a range of business functions in organisations of every size and sector.

“Some organisations may feel that digital transformation is for more technically matured businesses only, or that it is only suitable to certain industries and sectors,” said Geoff, adding: “Digital transformation is so much more than an online presence. We guide and assist organisations to realise the value of their data assets and to identify where they could be missing out on real business opportunities.”

Often, it is in an organisation’s best interest to be receptive to new data and information.

“Many can combine their owned data with open datasets which can be incredibly enlightening and identify key trends and indicators that the organisation would otherwise have missed,” said Geoff.

With experts in data science, graph and text analytics, location analytics, data visualisation, artificial intelligence, advanced record linkage, legacy system integration, and custom business processes, Analytics Engines have helped organisations – from very varied backgrounds – to embed digital transformation with great success. 

“We recently worked with The National Gallery in London as part of their digital transformation process. We pulled in a range of datasets to create a ‘single source of truth’ reporting methodology,” said Geoff. “The custom dashboard was rapidly adopted across the organisation, putting everyone in every department on the same page in terms of their reporting methods and their understanding of how visitors interacted with their exhibitions. We put the user at the centre of the solution – reducing system complexity and ensuring they could draw the greatest possible insights from their data to optimise organisational performance.”

Experienced in working with healthcare organisations, local and regional government bodies, biomedical science centres, the entertainment and media industries, the hospitality and tourism sector, and education and higher education establishments, there are few industries Analytics Engines have not worked with.

“We have the agility to design business intelligence solutions that provide our partners and clients with comprehensive insight that is capable of enabling change and quickly providing a return on their investment,” said Geoff.

Analytics Engines is also organising a major conference – Big Data Belfast – featuring business use cases and data analytics thought leaders drawn from local domain experts and multi-national organisations. The event takes place at the ICC Belfast on Thursday October 24 2019, and is sponsored this year by EY, as well as Dell, CME Group, Allstate Northern Ireland, SmashFly, SpotX, Altra Executives, Invest Northern Ireland and Signifyd. Find out more about Big Data Belfast and register to attend the conference by going to: https://www.bigdatabelfast.com

To find out more about Analytics Engines and how they can help your business, log on to: https://analyticsengines.com.

Join us this Halloween at The Market Place Theatre in Armagh, if you dare, for the mother of all horror movies.

Phoenix office worker Marion Crane, seeking a new life, leaves town with $40,000 stolen from her employer, and heads towards her lover Sam’s store. Travelling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly-strung proprietor Norman Bates, a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother. Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock’s best films and praised as a major work of cinematic art by international film critics and scholars. Tickets are priced £9 which includes a Green Lady cocktail.

Celtic Soul, the definitive tribute to Van Morrison, comes to The Market Place on Saturday 2 November, with a memorable journey through the songbook of our very own musical legend! Receiving critical acclaim from devout Vanatics wherever they perform, they have continued their success with shows across Ireland.

With years of playing in blues, folk, trad and jazz bands, the seven-piece band have the ingredients to deliver Van’s music authentically. They are Clarke Wilson on vocals and saxophone, Ray McEvoy (electric guitar), Marcus McAuley (acoustic guitar), Rik Gay (drums), Keith Ward (piano and keyboards), Gerry McClurg (trumpet) and Mark Crockard (electric and double bass). Expect to hear songs from right across Van’s musical history including the big hits as well as stand out album tracks.

Tickets are available from the Theatre Box Office on [028] 3752 1821, or online at www.visitarmagh.com/marketplacetheatre. To keep up-to-date with the latest news at the Market Place Theatre, you can follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/marketplacearmagh) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/mptarmagh) where you will find all the latest information, special offers and video previews.

-ENDS-

On Friday 25 October, North Down Museum, Bangor is bracing itself for some intergalactic visitors when ‘Invasion from Planet X’ takes place in its historic building.

Find out of if you could survive an alien invasion at this fun event which is part of a series of after dark happenings across Northern Ireland, to encourage over 18s to try a different kind of night out at their local museum. 

On the night, museum visitors can expect storm trooper performances, escape rooms, alien walkabouts, live music and more!

The event is adults-only with an on-site bar, food, live music and a DJ, all the ingredients for a great night out.

Speaking about the event, North Down Museum’s Manager, Heather McGuicken said: “After the success of last year’s Zombie event, we are thrilled to host Invasion from Planet X. We do hope people will come along and enjoy this unique experience – something different for Halloween!”

Students from South Eastern Regional College are involved in the night and will be showcasing their artistic and theatrical skills with a fantastic programme of alien-themed antics.

‘Invasion From Planet X’ will take place on Friday 25 October in North Down Museum, from 8.00pm to 11.00pm. Tickets for this strictly over-18s event are £10 and available to book online:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/invasion-from-planet-x-tickets-70136537271

The event is part of ‘The Late Shift’ – a series of after-dark, adults-only happenings in museums across Northern Ireland this autumn. The project is supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund, Tourism NI, and Department for Communities.