We’re proud to announce the launch of Zebulon’s central data hub for outfitters!
Thanks to our new central data hub, and the hard work of our team, Zebulon clients are gaining business and industry insights like they’ve never seen before.
Putting Data To Good Use
Here at Zebulon, we’re intimately familiar with both the sheer quantity of data that outfits already produce, as well as the elbow grease and expertise needed to utilize such data effectively.
Our central data hub consolidates data from multiple systems and platforms on a recurring basis (think: activities, retail, lodging, and more). We then produce stunning, industry-specific visuals that allow clients to clearly view their current operational reality in ways they’ve never seen before. Our central data hub also helps outfitters envision their future business in ways they never thought possible.
Zebulon’s central data hub takes your outfit’s data from chaos to clarity, giving you access to performance insights, useful visuals, and industry trends.
The Outfitting Industry is High-Stoke, But Low-Tech
The outdoor adventure industry is fueled by passion and high levels of stoke, yet historically it’s been a low-tech sector. After all, no amount of booking and scheduling software, or even today’s generative AI, can beat the years of experience needed to guide an exceptional experience.
Despite the industry’s low-tech reputation, the truth is, many outfitters generate boatloads of un-tapped data on the daily. In fact, most outfitters stay afloat just fine but struggle to effectively use their data and unlock that next level of business.
Separate Systems = Disparate Data
Why? Because outfit data is stuck in siloes that belong to disparate systems. It’s no secret that everyone uses one company to log bookings, another to manage retail, yet another platform to track and deliver photos, and a different one altogether to generate restaurant tickets. Worst of all, none of these separate systems truly speak with each other.
The bottom line is: Using so many different systems gives you a fragmented picture of your outfit.
Separate systems make it impractical to effectively analyze your business’s bigger picture, track trends, measure success, or even make day-to-day decisions. (And, with all these separate systems, you can forget about setting realistic goals or understanding how you stack up against the industry!)
Our Solution: The Central Data Hub
As we at Zebulon know, healthy companies should not only clearly understand their current season numbers, they should also be aware of these three things:
- How they’re trending and performing compared to previous years,
- How they stack up with future targets
- How they perform against broader industry trends.
Also, at Zebulon we’re constantly innovating ways for everyone to work smart, have fun, and make money. So, we decided to build our central data hub that allows clients to easily interact with their data – yes, all of their data – in one location, using clear, compelling, and easy-to-understand visuals.
How It Works
From ingestion to visualization, we have you covered. On the back end, our clients give us admin-level access to each of their various operating systems. Then, by strategically pulling different reports into our central data hub, we can make your data sing. Visually, that is.
How does this benefit you? Our Central data hub finally offers a comprehensive look at your complete outfit. We can (and already do for many outfitters) centralize data from QuickBooks Online, multiple reservation systems, various retail and point of sale systems, industry-specific photo programs, restaurant management systems, and much more. You name it, we can probably pull it into our central data hub.
Below are some sample dashboards we’re using with our clients. Of course, these snips are only teasers. We have many more dashboards at our fingertips, but can’t give away the whole kitchen sink in a single blog. Hit us up if you’d like to explore how access to our central data hub will help you.
Central Data Hub
The Central Data Hub overview lets you see all your disparate data sources in one place. You can see your average client spend for each income stream you offer, such as lodging, activities, retail, etc. Don’t worry, you’ll see metrics at the individual item level in other reports, too. This puts gas on your profit fire!
This central overview dashboard lets you compile all your data sources into one place.
In this main central data hub view, you can compare historical data (we’re analyzing data way back to 2016) with targets (what you pinpoint as goal numbers for this year) with actuals (the progress you’re actually making toward those goals). Of course, Zebulon helps tie all this to key metrics that lead to happier employees and a healthier bottom line.
Operating Insights
To take things one level further, our Operating Insights view drills down to operating data specific to outfitters.
The Operating Insights dashboard shows a clear picture of your operational performance.
This includes the number of trips on the books this season, broken down by activity type, difficulty, and length of trip; how long in advance customers are booking specific trips; predicting the exact day and time bookings will happen, helping to schedule staff and fill gaps with last minute promos, which in turn maximizes gratuities and trip profitability; and so much more.
These Operating Insights were built in collaboration with outfitters just like you to help analyze things that matter most to you. For example, knowing what sells best during different times in the season, intentionally managing promos, and simplifying guide scheduling helps your outfit truly reach its full potential. (Not to mention all these items can boost in-season profits, of course!)
Targets
Our Targets view allows you to track your current sales (by purchase date) and in-season reservation progress (by start date) against the targets you’ve set for yourself. This is where we can determine how things will land mid-September by as early as mid-March!
Use the Targets Dashboard to visualize how you stack up against your own goals.
Side note: have you signed up to get our annual Scout Report? Each spring we publish our predictions of how end-of-summer passenger count and outfitter revenue will pan out. These very metrics are how we nail it each year!
Financial
Of course we can centralize your financials as well! Our Financial dashboard helps you view your money ins and outs better than you’ve ever imagined with simple, easy-to-understand visuals.
The Financial dashboard gives unparalleled monetary clarity.
And, because we do this with dozens of outfitters nationwide, we’ve built a powerfully accurate industry snapshot no one else can provide! This view will show how your outfit’s revenue and spend trends actually compare to other outfits just like you.
The Possibilities are Endless
Curious how effective your ad spend is compared to others in the industry? Ever wondered if there’s better ways to spend your money for a higher return? We can show you!
Are you bleeding money in trip costs, as compared to other outfitters nationwide? You’ll get a clear line of sight on this.
How are your peers financially handling their insurance, repairs, overhead wages, and other big-ticket items? It’s crystal-clear to us!
Simplify, standardize, visualize, and make more money – that’s the Zebulon way. Our central data hub is an integral part of doing what we do best: helping you work smart, have fun, and make more money.
Dashboard Confessional
The process of creating this platform was not easy nor quick!
If you didn’t know it already, we’re big advocates of transparency here at Zebulon. We consistently encourage our clients to share financial details with their most important team members. So, to that end, here’s what it took to get our platform working by January 2025.
We hatched this idea back in 2023, and after two costly and time-consuming false starts with third-party developers, we reached a frustrating fork in the road. We could either chuck the whole concept in the bin (believe us, we were tempted!), or we could go all-in and bring the project in-house.
By mid-2024 we brought Kayla onboard, our tenacious “get ‘er done” team member who transformed this seedling of an idea into a data-driven reality. And, by January 2025, we finally have the beautiful central data hub of our dreams.
The hard truth: Between 2023 and the start of 2025, we invested over $123,000 in our central data hub. We also dedicated over 340 hours to designing and building the central data hub within that same time period – and that doesn’t include the hours dedicated to maintaining and managing the data now that we’ve got it all running!
Data Security
Your data is your business, and we treat it with the respect it deserves. When we bring a client into our central data hub, sensitive information stays private. When compiling broader industry trends, we remove identifying details.
That being said, the members of our non-competitive Eddy peer group find value in sharing sensitive data with like-minded peers, so we take things a step further with The Eddy. All members sign Non-Disclosure Agreements when they join The Eddy, and, during our data sessions, everyone can see and discuss other members’ numbers, trends, and targets, in a collaborative and supportive environment.
Your Data Is Already Talking. Are you ready to listen?
Data can be intimidating – we get it. But with tools like Zebulon’s central data hub, data can be insightful and illuminating.
Managing data can also be a huge, inefficient time sink. But with tools like Zebulon’s central data hub, managing data can be a time-saver full of eye-catching nuggets that turn into more money in your pocket.
We encourage you to view your data as one of your greatest assets. And, we invite you to join our central data hub ecosystem to transform your raw operational data coming from multiple, incommunicative systems into cohesive, meaningful visuals that guide business-savvy decisions.
Work Smart, Have Fun, and Make Money.
The best part of all? Your outfit already generates boatloads of useful data every day, simply by continuing to operate.
Why not take advantage of that data, so you can work smart, have fun, and make money?
For more information, visit our data page. If you own or lead an innovative and knowledge-hungry outfit, have ambitions to work smarter not harder, and would like to explore getting access to our central data hub, we’d love to hear from you at the button below!
