If you're an HR, Training or Talent consultants, it's worth considering how 360 Degree Feedback data can be used and combined with other data offer to offer new insights to your client. 

Data that can be combined creatively include basic HR data such as absence, sickness, qualifications, etc (which abound in most organisations!), data produced by processes such as performance review , satisfaction and engagement data, exit data and performance analytics.

When the 360 Degree Feedback is run using online data capture, your 360 system should be able to help you to combine the results with other data and create new insights for your clients. Here's an example:

Identifying leadership potential and succession

An organisation in the professional services sector was looking for insights on leadership potential and whether they had the people with the right leadership skills to be able to take on critical roles in the following 1-2 years.  This was a strategic imperative and something that was critical in a highly competitive and fast-changing professional services sector.

By combining 360 feedback data, development centre ratings and other data, the client was able to rate each candidate on a scale of readiness for a leadership role. 

They were then able to identify candidates who were ready for a leadership role, those who needed more development, and critically, people who would not be put forward for future development at this high level.  The information helped the organisation to target its efforts in the most strategic and cost-effective way.

From "The Consultants' Guide to Success with 360 Degree Feedback", due out on Amazon in November 2013.