Your data speaks volumes in today’s data-driven business landscape – that’s likely why 98% of executives agree it’s essential to increase data analysis (G2) in their organization. It holds immense value, driving decision-making processes and shaping strategic initiatives. However, while executives understand the importance of data literacy, many frontline employees express skepticism about the accuracy and reliability of the data they encounter daily.

Jump to: Checklist – Choosing the Right Data Management Consultant >>>

Despite the widespread recognition of data’s critical role in business success, only a fraction of frontline workers truly trust the data they work with. This disparity highlights the urgent need for organizations to ensure the authenticity and reliability of their data sources. Investing in reliable data management consultants is essential for confidently and accurately steering businesses toward their goals.

_{According to a survey by HBR, 9 out of 10 business leaders emphasize the importance of data literacy for success.}

By harnessing the power of reliable data, organizations can make informed decisions, drive innovation, and achieve their business objectives seamlessly. Explore our guide for businesses seeking data management consultants to learn more about unleashing the full potential of your data.

Ensure You Understand Your Data Management Needs

Embarking on the journey to optimize your data management begins with a simple yet crucial step: understanding your current practices and identifying areas for improvement.

By assessing your data handling, storage, and analysis methods, you lay the foundation for a more efficient and effective data management strategy.

Get Started by Identifying Your Requirements

Start by conducting a self-assessment of your current data management practices. Evaluate how your organization collects, stores, processes, and analyzes data. Identify any bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or gaps in your existing processes. This introspection will help you gain insight into your current data practices and prepare you to engage in meaningful discussions with industry professionals.

Evaluate Where You’re Starting

As you assess your data management practices, pay close attention to any gaps or opportunities for improvement. Take a ‘snapshot’ of your current organization and ask yourself these questions:

Are there areas where your organization needs more expertise or resources?
Are there inefficiencies in your data workflows that could be streamlined for better performance?
Have you identified Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that Matter?

By self-assessing these gaps, opportunities, and milestones you can pinpoint areas where intervention is needed and prioritize initiatives for improvement.

Assess Where You Want To Go

Setting clear objectives is also essential for guiding your data management strategy. Define what success looks like for your organization in terms of data management:

Are you aiming to enhance data security and compliance measures?
Improve data accuracy and reliability?
Enhance data visualization and analytics capabilities?

Setting specific, measurable objectives will provide direction and focus as you optimize your data management processes.

READ: 4 Things You Need to Change About Your Data Strategy

Unlock The Full Potential Of Your Data

Remember, understanding and optimizing your data management needs is just the beginning. While self-assessment is valuable, it’s equally important to approach the process with open hands and a willingness to learn. Engage with industry professionals and data management experts who can offer guidance and expertise tailored to your organization’s unique needs. Together, you can collaboratively develop a data management strategy that drives success and unlocks the full potential of your data assets.

Establish Criteria For Your Ideal Data Management Consultant

Selecting the right data management consultant for your organization requires careful consideration of various factors to ensure alignment with your specific needs and objectives. As you consider the right data management advisors for your business, keep in mind these skills that you’ll want to look for in a partner:

Hard Skills

Expertise and Specialization: Look for analytics consultants with proven proficiency in critical areas of data management, such as data modeling, database design, integration, and analytics. Prioritize candidates with relevant certifications or practical experience aligned with your organization’s requirements.
Industry-Specific Experience: Evaluate consultants based on their familiarity with industry regulations, data standards, and best practices. For example, healthcare organizations should seek consultants well-versed in HIPAA compliance, while finance-related businesses benefit from expertise in regulatory requirements specific to their sector.
Data Security Expertise: Data security is paramount. Choose a consultant with a solid background in data protection, encryption technologies, and risk management strategies. Ensure they can address your security concerns effectively and safeguard sensitive information.

Soft Skills

Communication Skills: Effective communication is critical for translating technical concepts into layperson’s terms and ensuring project requirements are understood by all stakeholders. Seek consultants who excel in articulating complex ideas and fostering open dialogue. Presentation skills are desirable.
Problem-Solving Abilities: Look for consultants with strong analytical skills and a proactive approach to identifying and addressing data management challenges and opportunities. They should be adept at devising creative solutions and optimizing data processes.
Adaptability: Prioritize consultants willing to learn and adapt to new tools and practices in the ever-evolving data landscape. Their ability to stay updated ensures your strategies remain relevant and practical.
Team Compatibility: Assess analytics consultants based on their ability to integrate seamlessly with your existing team. Look for individuals who demonstrate empathy, understanding, and a collaborative mindset to foster a harmonious working environment.

Reputation

Client Testimonials and References: Seek feedback from previous clients to gauge the consultant’s effectiveness, reliability, and customer experience. Testimonials can also offer insight into their working style and project success.
Professional Accolades: Consider any awards, certifications, or recognitions received by the consultant, indicating their professional standing and expertise.
Online Presence and Thought Leadership: Evaluate their online presence, including published articles, blog posts, and participation in industry forums, which reflect their commitment to sharing knowledge and staying updated.
Ethical Standards: Choose a consultant who upholds professional ethics and data management best practices, ensuring confidentiality and integrity in handling data.

Considering these criteria, you can confidently select a data management consultant who meets your organization’s needs and contributes to its success.

Ask The Right Questions

Now that you know what to look for in your candidate, it’s time to talk with your potential data management experts. Asking the right questions will help you better gauge who is the right fit for you from the qualified candidates.

What is the cost model? Is it based on time and materials or a fixed fee?
What is the timeframe for the engagement? And what are the expected deliverables from the management service provider?
What are the phases (discovery, solution development, testing, etc.) to expect during the engagement? What is the duration of each phase?
Does the project require ongoing maintenance and support? Who will be responsible for this?

Establish A Selection Process

You’ll likely end up with a few potential consultants who feel like they could work well with your team. The final step before deciding is getting proposals and formal interviews set up with these teams. Here is what we recommend:

Request for Proposal (RFP) Process: As you get farther along in your selection process, you’ll want to start gathering proposals from your top candidates – and ensuring you have a process for this can streamline efforts. We recommend creating an outline you can share with consultants that details what services you need and invite them to submit a proposal based on those.
Interviewing Candidates: You’ll also want to schedule formal interviews with your candidates to ask them any outstanding questions and assess their expertise and compatibility. During this interview, you’ll have the opportunity to see how each consultant interacts and their approach to collaboration.
Evaluating Proposals: Once you receive back the proposals, you’ll need to compare one to the next. But how? We recommend considering key factors like strategy and approach to data management, overall cost, and services scoped for your business.

Make the Final Decision

Once you’ve received proposals from data management advisors and compared costs and strategies, it’s time to decide. While cost is important, conducting a thorough cost vs. value analysis is crucial. Look beyond the price tag and consider the value each consultant will bring to your organization. Evaluate their expertise, industry-specific experience, and ability to address your unique needs and challenges.

Additionally, consider starting with a trial project or evaluation phase to assess the data management experts’ effectiveness before committing to a long-term contract. This initial step allows you to gauge their capabilities firsthand and ensure they fit your organization’s data management needs. By prioritizing value and exploring trial projects, you can make a confident decision that aligns with your organization’s objectives.

The WCI Approach To Helping You Understand Your Data

Leading a client through a data management implementation is not just about orchestrating technology; it’s about guiding them on a transformation journey, ensuring their data becomes a strategic asset, unlocking insights, driving innovation, and ultimately empowering informed decision-making to fuel their success in a data-driven world.

Are you ready to take your data management consulting to the next level with technical expertise that supports your business goals? Connect with our experts to learn more.

Checklist – Choosing the Right Data Management Consultant

Download Checklist

Understanding Your Data Management Needs

Conduct a self-assessment of current data management practices.
Identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or gaps in data collection, storage, processing, and analysis.
Evaluate areas requiring more expertise or resources.
Set clear objectives for data management improvement (e.g., enhance data security, improve accuracy, enhance analytics capabilities).

Establishing Criteria for Your Ideal Data Management Consultant

Hard Skills

Expertise in data modeling, database design, integration, and analytics.
Industry-specific experience and knowledge of regulations.
Strong background in data security and protection technologies.

Soft Skills

Excellent communication skills for translating technical concepts.
Problem-solving abilities and creative thinking.
Adaptability to new tools and practices in data management.
Compatibility with your existing team for a collaborative work environment.

Reputation

Check for client testimonials and references.
Look for professional accolades, certifications, or recognitions.
Evaluate their online presence, thought leadership (articles, blog posts, industry forums).
Ensure they adhere to professional ethics and best practices in data management.

Asking the Right Questions

Inquire about the cost model (time/materials vs. fixed fee).
Ask about the engagement timeframe and deliverables.
Understand the project phases (discovery, solution development, testing, etc.) and their durations.
Discuss ongoing maintenance and support responsibilities.

Establishing a Selection Process

Initiate a Request for Proposal (RFP) process for gathering proposals.
Schedule formal interviews with potential consultants.
Evaluate proposals based on strategy, cost, and scoped services.

Making the Final Decision

Conduct a cost vs. value analysis, prioritizing value each consultant brings.
Consider starting with a trial project to assess compatibility and effectiveness.
Make an informed decision based on expertise, experience, and ability to meet your needs.

Taking Your Data Management to the Next Level

Engage with experts to transform your data into a strategic asset.
Explore ways to unlock insights, drive innovation, and empower informed decision-making.

In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud computing, choosing the right platform for your business’s data management needs is critical. Microsoft Azure, a prominent cloud service player, offers a compelling suite of tools and services for cloud data management. But is it the right fit for your organization?

Learn more as we delve into the pros and cons of Azure for cloud data management, providing valuable insights to help you make an informed choice that aligns with your business objectives.

What is Azure?

Microsoft Azure is a versatile cloud computing platform developed by Microsoft, renowned for its widespread adoption across the industry. As a robust cloud service for businesses of all sizes, Azure offers a comprehensive range of computing, storage, databases, networking, and more services.

With its global network of data centers, Azure services enable organizations to build, deploy, and manage applications and services in a highly scalable and secure environment, making it a go-to choice for businesses seeking reliable cloud solutions to fuel their digital transformation journeys.

Why Consider Azure for Cloud Data Management? (The Pros)

Scalability and Flexibility

One of the key advantages of considering Azure for cloud data management is its exceptional scalability and flexibility. Microsoft Azure services empower businesses to effortlessly scale their resources up or down in response to changing demand, ensuring optimal performance without overprovisioning. This dynamic scaling capability enhances efficiency and translates into significant cost savings by eliminating the need for constant, costly infrastructure adjustments.

With Azure’s flexible approach, organizations can seamlessly adapt to evolving data requirements, maintaining a competitive edge in an ever-changing landscape.

Global Reach and Availability

Another compelling reason to consider Azure for cloud data management is its impressive global reach and availability. Azure boasts an expansive network of data centers strategically positioned worldwide, enabling businesses to serve their customers and users with unparalleled speed and reliability. This widespread presence minimizes latency, ensuring that data and applications are accessible swiftly from virtually anywhere on the globe.

This translates to improved performance and enhanced reliability for global enterprises, fostering a seamless and responsive user experience. Azure’s global infrastructure empowers businesses to expand their reach effortlessly, capturing new markets and maintaining a competitive edge in today’s interconnected world.

You can store and recover vital company data.

When it comes to storing and recovering vital data, Azure excels as a cloud computing platform. At its core, Azure offers robust data storage solutions that allow businesses to store their critical information on Azure’s online servers securely. Its adaptability to cater to your specific business needs sets Azure’s cloud services apart.

With Azure’s storage capabilities, you can choose from various options such as Blob Storage, File Storage, and Azure SQL Database, tailoring your data storage strategy to align perfectly with your requirements. This flexibility allows you to decide when and how you access your data, ensuring that it suits your business’s operational and cost considerations.

Comprehensive Security Features

Azure’s commitment to security is a fundamental reason businesses turn to it for their private cloud data management needs. Azure provides a multi-layered security approach encompassing encryption, identity management, threat detection, and regulatory compliance, ensuring comprehensive protection for your data.

Encryption

Azure employs encryption at rest and in transit to safeguard data. Data stored in Azure is automatically encrypted, and Azure Key Vault allows you to manage and control access to encryption keys. This ensures that the data remains unreadable even if unauthorized access occurs without the proper encryption keys.

Identity Management

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a robust identity and access management solution that enables businesses to manage user identities and control access to resources. Multi-factor authentication and conditional access policies add an extra layer of security to verify user identities and ensure that only authorized individuals can access sensitive data.

Threat Detection

Azure Security Center provides advanced threat detection and protection. It continuously monitors your Azure resources, detects potential threats and vulnerabilities, and offers recommendations for remediation. It can even help you respond to security incidents effectively.

Regulatory Compliance

Azure offers a wide range of compliance certifications, including GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, and more. These certifications demonstrate Azure’s adherence to industry-specific regulations, making it easier for businesses to meet compliance requirements without the need for extensive, costly audits. Azure also provides compliance guides and tools to help businesses understand and implement compliance controls.

Cost-Effective Solutions

Cloud migration service providers require a much smaller investment when developing and maintaining your IT infrastructure. With a cloud environment such as Azure, you do not need to cover hardware and maintenance costs. Instead, you only pay for what you use and when you use it.

Advanced Analytics and AI Capabilities

Azure offers a rich ecosystem of tools and services for data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI), empowering businesses to extract valuable insights from their data and make data-driven decisions.

Here are some key capabilities and examples of how businesses can leverage them:

Azure Synapse Analytics: This powerful analytics service allows businesses to analyze large volumes of data in real time. For example, an e-commerce company can use Synapse Analytics to analyze customer behavior data to identify trends, optimize product recommendations, and enhance the customer shopping experience.
Azure Machine Learning: Azure provides a comprehensive platform for building, training, and deploying machine learning models. In healthcare, organizations can leverage Azure Machine Learning to develop predictive models that identify patient readmission risks, helping hospitals allocate resources more efficiently and improve patient outcomes.
Azure Databricks: Businesses can use Databricks to process big data and perform advanced analytics. For instance, a financial institution can use Databricks to detect fraudulent transactions by analyzing large datasets for unusual patterns or anomalies.
Azure Data Factory: This service simplifies data integration and transformation processes. A manufacturing company can use Data Factory to consolidate data from various sources, perform data cleansing, and create a unified, reliable dataset for better production planning and optimization.

Considerations and Potential Drawbacks (The Cons)

Learning Curve

Transitioning to Azure does come with its set of challenges. One significant consideration is the potential need for staff training, particularly for those who may not be familiar with the platform. This learning curve can be a hurdle for organizations aiming to make a seamless migration to Azure.

Azure Consultants

As a trusted partner in your cloud journey, WCI can play a pivotal role in helping your organization overcome this obstacle. By offering comprehensive training programs and resources tailored to Azure, WCI can equip your staff with the knowledge and skills to navigate and utilize the Azure environment effectively. This support ensures that your team is prepared to maximize the benefits of Azure while minimizing any disruptions during the migration process.

It’s also important to note that Azure’s complexity requires expertise and ongoing management to ensure all components work harmoniously. This means that businesses may need to invest in or partner with professionals who possess Azure-specific skills to configure, optimize, and secure their Azure deployments. This expertise is crucial to maintain your cloud infrastructure’s stability, security, and efficiency over time.

Requires Ongoing Management Or Azure Data Platform Consulting

While Azure allows you to lower costs for purchasing hardware and locally maintaining infrastructure, it still needs you to handle data management. It does not assist in managing cloud-based data centers, so you will still need to hire people who know how to use Microsoft Azure and can handle server monitoring and patching.

Migrating to Azure

Partnering with WCI as your trusted experts in Azure Consulting helps you navigate the complexities of the Azure platform and unlock the full potential of cloud technology for your business. Learn more about our tailored Azure solutions, training, and ongoing support to ensure a seamless experience. Focus on what matters most—driving innovation and growth.

Get Started Today

The experts at WCI can help your organization determine if Microsoft Azure is the right cloud solution for your business or if other hybrid solutions would better suit you. Learn more about the pros and cons of using Microsoft Azure by requesting a free consultation today!

Choose WCI as your strategic ally in the Azure journey, and let us empower your business for success in the cloud era.

In the world of business marketing, data is everywhere and should be leveraged in all plans and strategies. From customer data and trends to industry benchmarks and more, these different data points and sources allow businesses to understand better where they are and create a plan for where they want to be. While capturing as much information as possible can be tempting, you won’t get far without the right strategies to properly understand and effectively use this data.

Brands often struggle to use data meaningfully if data isn’t structured for analysis or if no marketing data-driven strategy is in place. Reviewing data alone does not lead to actionable insight or usable roadmaps for a company’s next steps. And while it requires analysis to become information and further context to become insight, together, it can tell a compelling story that can lead to strategic change.

With the right tools, people, and support in place, this can be a reality for your business.

3 Components of a Data-Driven Strategy

Marketing analytics is the practice of using data to evaluate the effectiveness and success of marketing activities. That data must be collected, analyzed, and reported to understand how it fits the overarching business strategy and goals. This data can also be used to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, track customer behavior, optimize marketing strategies, and more.

Tracking key metrics and analyzing the data can identify trends and patterns that indicate what’s working and what’s not in any industry. You can then use this information to tweak your marketing strategy and achieve better results. But you must develop a solid marketing analytics strategy to improve your marketing effectiveness. This will allow you to collect accurate and timely data, analyze it for insights, and take action based on those insights.

1. Data insight

A successful data strategy transforms a company’s data into informative insights and financial gains — but it shouldn’t stop with simple reports and charts. If you want to make effective decisions for your business, big data analytics must be considered in everything you do. This is where marketing analytics comes in.

Without data insights to create meaningful conclusions, businesses’ guesses of what customers want, how they will grow, and so much more is simply that – a guess. Data insights allow you to see trends, predict future patterns, understand your customers, and paint a larger picture of your business. Data also allows you to track progress and adjust accordingly, so you always know what tweaks and changes within the company are impacting your bottom line.

2. Data management

Once you have the data insights, you have to collect and manage them somewhere. Having a data analytics and business intelligence expert on your team can help you know what to do with this information, but that in-house person doesn’t exist for many businesses. Cue a data management consultant partner you can trust.

Working with a consulting partner to help you leverage the power of your data is crucial in getting the most out of all of the customer marks you’re collecting. And with security a top concern for many businesses, storing that data safely is just as important as gathering it.

At WCI, we help businesses organize, optimize, and analyze their data to make more informed and profitable data-driven decisions. Learn more about how WCI works with companies to manage, collect, and store data.

3. Team Enablement

You have the data. You’ve stored the data. Now you’re ready to analyze and share the findings with your team. When used effectively, data can unleash new potential for any business. But what happens when your team can’t access or interpret it? Your data is only valuable when technical expertise can use it to improve your organization and profit.

Team enablement is part of our process at WCI, as we walk teams through training sessions that help them get the most out of sharing their data and analytics in one centralized place. Vital training for you and your team helps ensure the technology you’re using gets adopted into your workflow and you get the most out of your new solution and data findings.

Building a Data-Driven Strategy

A data strategy is paramount to success and must be implemented to maximize your business intelligence. With a marketing strategy that considers data and how to use it, organizing can drive more leads, discover better opportunities, make smarter decisions, create a better company culture, provide more value to customers and employees, and so much more. These insights can completely transform the way a business operates for the better.

Feel Empowered to make Data-Driven Decisions

You can leverage analytics in your overall marketing strategy and business growth plans by compiling your data and an experienced team of experts who know how to make the most of it.

At WCI, we are data management consultants that help businesses organize, optimize, and analyze their business data to make more informed and profitable data-driven decisions. In addition, we help you better tie together business data from your entire company to stay better informed and discover opportunities. Get a free on-site discovery session with our team today. Click here to see other clients that WCI has helped.

As organizations continue to adopt agile and lean methodologies, business intelligence has become a critical component in optimizing data management strategies that provide valuable insights for informed decision-making.

In today’s world, very few organizations aren’t leveraging the power of agile and lean methods within some of their software development teams. Not only is agile popular amongst IT departments it’s being applied, but agile is being incorporated into all aspects of many businesses. This trend began in 2001 and has steadily grown since then.

Data Management is a crucial process component, and it promotes a pragmatic, streamlined approach to data management that fits into the rest of an IT process. Consequently, there is a need to optimize a Data Management strategy within the overall workflow of organizational processes. Disciplined Agile Data Management does just that evolutionarily and collaboratively, offering concrete data management strategies that provide the right data to the right people at the right time.

What is an agile mindset?

At the basic level, Agile refers to continuous and incremental improvement through small and frequent releases. The term Agile data is commonly associated with software development as a project management methodology and breaks down large projects into weekly “sprints.”

Rather than forming a business intelligence strategy that you plan to roll out in six months, an agile approach would break down those 6 months’ worth of work and organize them into weekly lists of tasks to build on. These short increments are often referred to as sprints.

An agile mindset allows for constant feedback from your business staff and creates shorter development cycles. If one aspect is not meeting the business need, it can be identified and remedied quickly before spending too much time and effort on something that doesn’t work. If you use an agile approach, the collaboration will be at the core of your team’s work to ensure the deliverables are met. As a result, you’ll be able to see results quickly and gain momentum in your overall business intelligence strategy versus other traditional approaches.

An agile data mindset emphasizes the following:

Open collaboration, both within the product team and with stakeholders
Rapid iteration that delivers small incremental usable items of value
Continuous inspection and improvement to improve the team’s velocity over time
Empowering the department team to self-manage

Key Factors in Adopting an agile mindset for BI

1. Keep your eyes on the big picture

You may have an immediate problem that you need to solve and want to use BI to get there. This may work as a short-term solution. However, you may also find that you put a lot of time and energy into addressing one issue, only to find that it will not help with future problems.

Part of your business intelligence strategy should focus on solutions that can answer many questions over time. In addition, your business intelligence should be adaptable as your company grows and goals change.

Most importantly, your business intelligence should align with your overall business strategy. Whether you are looking to improve operations, increase sales, or provide more efficient service to your customers, your business intelligence analytics should be able to identify the relevant data for your goals.

2. Involve the right people

No matter the size of your business intelligence team, you need to involve a group willing to put changes into practice.

Your team should include several roles:

People who are experts at using tools to retrieve and display data
People with the right insights to interpret the data
People who can support the organization by putting the data into practice

Your organization may need training across multiple departments. Your business staff has to understand that the data will help them make better business decisions. If you maintain a strong relationship between your business staff and your business intelligence team, you will have the most success from your business intelligence strategy.

Depending on the size of your organization, some of these roles may overlap, or you may also find that you need outside business intelligence consulting.

3. Identify the pain points

You may have business staff that already know what data they need to make informed decisions within their departments. They may be manually compiling data in Excel or preparing reports independently. Unless this is brought to the attention of the business intelligence team, no improvements can be made. The BI team should talk with leaders within each department and find out what questions exist today and how BI solutions can help.

If the “workarounds” that staff use are needed for their jobs or part of overall company goals, they should be implemented into the BI strategy. These one-off methods can be replaced with more robust analytics and reporting.

Successful implement and optimize BI Solutions

Incorporating agile into your organization’s practice may sound challenging, but getting started may be easier than you think. The first step is reviewing your current process and identifying how to break down large projects into smaller ones. Next, review the team and roles that support each task and begin scheduling weekly meetings to keep everyone on the same page.

As each project progresses, an agile approach allows you the flexibility to adjust, change course, and optimize at all stages as you need. Export support can also help make agile a reality for your team.

Get the right business intelligence experts in your corner

Our team of BI experts at WCI will design and develop systems to help you leverage the power of your data:

Stay proactive using real-time data
Empower your team with easy-to-use dashboards
Access your data anywhere with mobile intelligence solutions
Make smarter decisions with predictive data models
Stay productive with fewer interruptions and quicker answers
All on the best platforms and technology for you (including cloud business intelligence on AWS, Azure, Power BI, and more…)

Get started today

WCI is a business intelligence consulting company with a team of experts based 100% in the USA. If you’re ready to implement agile and begin working smarter, WCI is here to help. Talk with our experts today to learn more.

Data is the most powerful tool a business can use to assess how its performance is doing, predict upcoming trends, and benchmark goals for the future. Business intelligence dashboards help companies interpret this often complex data and use it to forward their business.

While dashboards make it easy for a company to visualize its data by displaying metrics, graphs, gauges, maps, percentages, and comparisons of all the information streaming in and out of the company, being creative with how one leverages these numbers can be a challenge. By viewing data in new and innovative ways, companies can better understand where they stand and how to improve certain areas of the business.

We’re sharing 6 ways you can get started in this department.

1. Monitor metrics and KPIs from different departments

By using BI dashboards to assess metrics and KPIs across your entire business, you can better understand where opportunities for improvement exist. Siloed data can be hard to connect to other departments – but BI helps you see how everything is connected and plays into different areas.

Better understand the entire lifecycle of products, customer journeys, and more from start to finish with BI dashboards and connect the dots across all departments. Not only does your business better understand its customers and products, but you can cultivate more collaboration within your company in the same breath.

2. Use interactive filters

Interactive dashboards ensure the analysis experience is as efficient and intuitive as possible for anyone interpreting data. Static dashboards are no longer efficient to use. When building interactive dashboards, always keep interactivity in mind. This can be achieved using various filters that make your data easier to navigate and view.

Some common interactivity filters that you may want to try include the following:

Drill-downs: A drill-down filter allows you to visualize lower levels of hierarchical data all in one chart. The value of drill-downs lies in the fact that you don’t need to overcrowd your dashboards to get a more detailed view; you can do everything in one single chart.
Drill-through: Similar to a drill-down, a drill-through filter allows you to visualize additional, more detailed views about a specific KPI. The difference is that a drill-through will show you the additional data in a pop-up instead of the same chart.
Click-to-filter: Another useful filter to enhance interactivity is the click-to-filter. As its name suggests, to use this filter, all you need to do is click on a specific graph, and the entire dashboard will be filtered based on it. Applying it lets you explore your data and instantly extract deeper understandings.

The Linking feature allows you to use elements within a report (a table or chart) to act as input controls for a selection performed in another component (a table, chart, or the entire report). In addition, you can specify whether one or all of the element dimensions will be used as selectors.

3. Explore demographics and trends

Demographics and trends can be critical in simplifying complex data using charts, maps, infographics, and graphs. These visual data representations of things you may not immediately notice are that strictly numbers and text reports can be highly revealing. As a result, it becomes easier to detect trends, patterns, and data relations essential for decision-making. Leverage this real-time data to unveil actionable insights and visually represent trends that can change how your company is doing things for the better.

4. Use storytelling

While storytelling is a powerful best practice any business can use, regardless of industry or sector, it is particularly helpful when interpreting data. A compelling narrative will capture your audience’s attention and break down your findings in an inspirational and digestible way. In addition, storytelling with BI can show you new information about your customers and community you didn’t already know.

This approach will result in increased success across the board. Not only can you see trends and patterns within your data, but storytelling using a larger narrative can paint the big picture, which may help you visualize larger metrics, set long-term goals, and more.

5. Make data part of your everyday workflow

Creating a culture of using data and making decisions solely based on it will strongly encourage employees to use advanced BI solutions daily. Spreading data culture will help workers be aware of – and understand – BI products and their features. And they are then more likely to use these products effectively every day.

A company can also appoint a specific team to play the role of early adopters who can later share their knowledge and experiences with their peers on forums and in training. Announcing a successful BI project may also kindle other teams’ enthusiasm for new data solutions. Setting up a website for communication purposes can inform the rest of the staff and be part of a training program to help get them started with their BI-powered projects.

6. See a different perspective and discover new insights

Business intelligence dashboards come in different forms and cover various topics based on your industry. With an increasing number of chart types and more and more data being visualized, the possibilities of how the data can be displayed and the stories they can tell us are virtually endless. Finding a system that works for your needs and abilities is key.

Start getting creative with your data

At WCI, our business intelligence consulting helps companies organize, optimize, and analyze their business data to make more informed and profitable data-driven decisions. If you’re ready to tie together business data from your entire company to inform you better and discover opportunities, we’re here to help.

Get started today with our experts.

The Client

Mediant Health Resources specializes in providing IT subject matter solutions. Mediant’s focus is on driving value through data to improve performance and clinical outcomes. Mediant offers outstanding strategic consulting, project management, and training for many of the nation’s most widely respected healthcare organizations. Mediant Health Resources strives to improve its client’s software systems by providing exceptional IT consultants to both providers and payers.

Executive Summary

Mediant, since its inception, has conducted its day-to-day business (resource management, payroll, commissions, leave, reporting/dashboarding) using non-cloud-based technologies that made it difficult for users to access it remotely. Recently Mediant invested heavily in building a more robust cloud-based application to manage their business. Through the process of building a new application, most of their analytical capabilities were lost due to back-end structural changes

The Challenge

Excel Reporting

Mediant relied heavily on Excel for reporting and dashboarding, which is not easily scalable, lacks security, is not collaborative, and has become unstable

Outdated Architecture

Due to the outdated architecture, Mediant was seeking a fresh new approach to visualizing data and engaged WCI Consulting to help design and implement a solution.

Cost Effective

Understanding the issues that were needing to be resolved, we needed to be able to implement changes and come up with solutions that would last into the future but in a cost-effective way.

Solution

WCI worked closely with the Mediant team to develop a secure, scalable, and easily accessible financial and commissions application (FCA) in the AWS platform. FCA replaced the existing Excel-based data entry application. Some of the AWS services used to create FCA were RDS Postgres, API gateway, Incognito, Lambda, and Amplify. Utilizing WCI’s experience with creating cloud-based data and analytics platforms, AWS Quicksight was deployed to replace the existing outdated excel based approach. WCI felt this was an easy decision due to the simplicity of embedding visualizations into applications, its low cost compared to other visualization tools, its ability to scale, compatibility across multiple devices, and ease of use. Learn more about other companies that have overcome their business challenges thanks to WCI.

Results and Benefits

Because of the ease of employing AWS services, WCI was able to deliver a robust data and analytics platform quickly and at a lower cost than using traditional on-premises solutions.

This AWS solution allows Mediant Health Resources to securely access the FCA application from wherever they are, on any device, not just when they are in the office. This secure solution also allows for the quick adding of new users and the removal of users who are no longer entitled to access the data. Due to the scalability and stability of the platform, Mediant has increased efficiency in its interactions with FCA.

The old excel based data entry methods have been replaced with a responsive application that allows data to be entered in a fraction of the time. Processes that used to take hours have been reduced to minutes. In addition to improving the data entry process, Mediant can now view all analytical content directly in the FCA application using embedded Quicksight visualizations.

With Quicksight, the speed of developing visual content has significantly increased thanks to its ease of connecting to sources, creating content, and deploying that content. As a result, Mediant can deliver enhancements and expand its offerings at a much faster pace than they could on their previous platform.

See what more WCI clients have to say about our services.

Businesses looking to leverage the power of their data and analytics often turn to business intelligence consulting to help them make sense of their information and gain a competitive edge. Companies can make more informed decisions by analyzing business analytics and industry trends, leading to increased profits and efficiency.

Business intelligence (BI) can be used to track customer behavior, understand how products are selling, predict future needs, and so much more. Businesses are learning that their most valuable asset is already at their fingertips – their data.

BI can give companies a competitive edge by providing managers and decision-makers with timely, accurate information about their customers, operations, and financial performance. As a result, BI can help these businesses make better-informed decisions that improve overall outcomes.

By partnering with a knowledgeable business intelligence consulting firm, you can ensure they have access to the latest tools and techniques needed to effectively collect, analyze, and interpret data for strategic decision-making. But how do you choose the right one, and what questions should you be asking? Here are 5 questions you may want to consider asking when choosing a business intelligence consulting firm

1. What is your definition of “business intelligence?”

Asking this question will give you insight into how your potential consultant views business intelligence and its power.

For WCI, we believe that business intelligence refers to the technologies, processes, and practices used to analyze and make sense of an organization’s data to gain insights that inform business decisions. Business intelligence aims to turn data into actionable information, giving business leaders a deeper understanding of their organization’s performance, market trends, and opportunities.

BI solutions may involve data gathering and management, data analysis and reporting, visualization and dashboarding tools, and predictive analytics. The insights BI tools provide can help organizations optimize their operations, identify growth opportunities, and stay ahead of competitors. Business intelligence is widely used in various industries, including finance, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing.

2. What are the most common uses or applications of Power BI?

In 2019, Forbes reported that an overwhelming 95% of businesses faced challenges with unstructured data – data that is unorganized and unprepared for analysis.

Power BI is a powerful business intelligence tool developed by Microsoft, which provides a wide range of features for data visualization, exploration, and analysis. The right business intelligence consulting service will help you take advantage of these areas and more for your business.

Here are some of the most common uses or applications of Power BI that we leverage at WCI:

Data analysis and visualization: Power BI provides a variety of visualizations, including charts, graphs, tables, and maps, which make it easy to analyze and understand complex data sets.
Business reporting: Power BI allows users to create custom reports and dashboards, which can be shared with others in real time. This enables organizations to make data-driven decisions based on current and accurate information.
Data modeling: Power BI includes tools for data modeling, which help users to prepare and transform data for analysis. This involves cleaning, transforming, and shaping data into a format ready for analysis.
Forecasting: Power BI includes predictive analytics features that enable users to create forecasts based on historical data. This can help organizations to identify trends and make more accurate predictions about future outcomes.
Mobile reporting: Power BI has mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows, which allow users to access and interact with reports and dashboards from their mobile devices.
Integration with other Microsoft tools: Power BI integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft tools, such as MS Team and Azure, allowing users to leverage data from multiple sources.

3. What BI platforms do you work with?

The platforms a business intelligence consulting company works with can make or break your decision to partner with them. You’ll want to find a partner familiar with the platforms you already know and love – and not be put in a box that makes you switch what you’re already familiar with.

We work with all the best platforms and technology for different businesses, including cloud business intelligence on AWS, Azure, Power BI, and more.

4. How long have you been working in my industry?

The right business intelligence solution should consistently deliver more than you expect. So should your business intelligence and data management consulting partner. At WCI Consulting, we’ve done just that since 1998. Our reputation speaks for itself, thanks to our team of highly mastered data management AWS and cloud consultants who are available to help you reach new levels of success, day in and day out.

At WCI, we help businesses organize, optimize, and analyze their business data to make more informed and profitable data-driven decisions. In addition, we help you better tie together business data from your entire company to inform better and discover opportunities.

We have worked with dozens of organizations to help them gain better insight into their business through Microsoft Power BI dashboards. However, setting up a dashboard doesn’t mean you get the needed numbers. Read more about our experiences working with businesses like yours in our case studies over the years.

5. What BI consulting services do you provide?

Power BI is a suite of business intelligence tools developed by Microsoft that offer a wide range of services to help users analyze and gain insights from their data. While each consultant provides different services, partnering with a business intelligence consulting company that offers exactly what you need – today and for the future is essential.

Here are some of the key services we offer:

Enterprise Business Intelligence (BI)
Data-Driven Business Analytics
BI Dashboards
Data Analytics & Reporting
Predictive Analysis
Mobile Business Intelligence
End-User Adoption Audits
And more

We work with companies to identify actionable insights and key performance indicators that make performance improvements a reality. Our dedicated professionals live and breathe BI.

Find the perfect partner for you

At WCI, we believe in true partnerships and work hard to support our clients in every way possible. If you’re ready to harness the power of your data through business intelligence services, our team is ready to help.

Learn more today.

The right approach to an enterprise-ready data warehouse architecture is fundamental to your organization. If you want to become data-enabled, start a data-driven transformation program or grow your organization using data, data warehousing modeling, consulting, and business intelligence tools can be a massive asset to your business.

Today, we’re sharing a deep dive into some core components you need to build a successful enterprise-ready data warehouse in AWS.

What is an enterprise data warehouse?

An enterprise data warehouse (EDW) is a large, centralized data repository that supports an organization’s reporting and analysis needs. It is built to integrate data from multiple sources and to provide a single version of the truth for the entire organization.

An EDW typically has scalability, performance, data integration, quality, governance, security, accessibility, and flexibility. Large organizations often use these data warehouses to handle large amounts of data and support complex reporting and analysis requirements.

What are the benefits of using a data warehouse?

Informed decision-making: Data warehouses provide a single version of the truth, making it easier to understand and analyze the data, which leads to better business decisions.
Centralized data storage: A data warehouse allows you to store all your organization’s data in a single, centralized operational database, making it easier to manage and access.
Improved data quality: Data warehousing analytics tools and techniques can be used to clean, transform, and standardize data, improving the overall quality of the data.
Increased data accessibility: Data warehouses make it easy for business users and business analysts to access and analyze data, regardless of where it is stored or in what format it is in.
Better performance: Data warehouses are optimized for reading and querying large amounts of data to handle complex queries and large data sets more efficiently than traditional databases.
Scalability: With a data warehouse, it is possible to scale up as the amount of data grows, to ensure continued performance and accessibility.
Cost-effective: Data warehousing solutions like Amazon Redshift allow a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which helps organizations be cost-effective and eliminates the need for upfront investments for hardware and software.

Can you build an enterprise data warehouse in AWS?

Yes. It is possible to build an enterprise data warehouse in AWS using various services such as Amazon Redshift, Amazon RDS, and Amazon S3. Amazon Redshift is a fully managed data warehouse service that can handle petabyte-scale data warehousing and big data analytics workloads.

Amazon RDS can be used to set up a relational database as the data source for the data warehouse, while Amazon S3 can be used to store and retrieve data for the data warehouse. Additionally, AWS Glue and AWS Lake Formation can be used for data cataloging and ETL processes.

What is the data warehouse tool offered by AWS?

AWS offers a data warehouse tool called Amazon Redshift. It is a fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service in the cloud that allows users to quickly set up, operate, and scale a data warehouse that is highly available and durable, with a pay-as-you-go pricing model.

Amazon Redshift is designed to integrate with other AWS services, such as Amazon S3, Amazon EMR, and Amazon QuickSight, making it easy to load, query, and analyze data in your data warehouse. Additionally, it supports a variety of data warehousing and big data analytics use cases, including reporting, analytics, data warehousing, and business intelligence.

What are the key steps to designing a data warehouse?

Setting up data warehouse models with business analysts like WCI can be fast and straightforward.

Step 1: Determine Core Business requirements and sources: This is the first and most crucial step in designing a data warehouse. It involves identifying the key business requirements and objectives that the data warehouse is expected to support. This step also includes identifying the data sources used to populate the data warehouse. These sources include transactional systems, external data feeds, and other data warehouses.

Step 2: Collect and Analyze the Information: This step involves collecting data from the identified sources and analyzing it to understand the data structure, relationships, and quality. Data profiling and data discovery tools can be used to understand the data better and identify any issues that need to be addressed.

Step 3: Identify Core Business Processes: This step involves identifying the core business processes that the data warehouse will support, such as reporting, analytics, and data mining. This will help determine the required data elements and the type of data that must be stored in the data warehouse.

Step 4: Design and Construct a Data Layer: This step involves designing the logical and physical data models for the data warehouse. This includes determining the appropriate data structures, relationships, and storage methodologies. This step also involves creating the necessary database schemas, tables, and views to support the data warehouse.

Step 5: Plan Data Movement and Transformations: This step involves planning how data will be moved from the source systems to the data warehouse and how it will be transformed to meet the requirements of the data warehouse. This includes designing the extract, transform, and load (ETL) processes and creating the necessary mappings, workflows, and jobs to support the data movement and transformations.

Getting The Most from Your Data

To get the most out of using a data warehouse, it is essential to define precise business requirements, collect and analyze data from various sources, identify core business processes, design and construct a data layer that meets those requirements, and plan data movement and transformations. It is also essential to have a well-designed and well-implemented data governance plan that includes data quality, security, and compliance.

You also need a skilled team with experience in data warehousing, data modeling, ETL, and data analysis to ensure that the data warehouse is properly designed, implemented, and maintained. Regular monitoring and performance tuning are also essential to ensure that the data warehouse runs efficiently and effectively.

If you’re ready for effective enterprise planning, connect with the experts at WCI today.

Learn about cloud migration services to AWS at WCI