Plenty of data strategy ends up as a report nobody acts on. Not here. We advise on the direction and foundations of your data and analytics, then help you make it real. Sometimes that’s a build, sometimes a training, sometimes just the right call at the right moment.
Most data advice comes from people who won’t be there when it’s built. The strategy looks clean on paper, then runs into the messy reality of your data, your systems and your team, and quietly stalls.
We work the other way around. We advise on where you should be heading with data and analytics, and we stay involved when it’s time to make it happen. That keeps the advice honest, because we know what it costs to actually deliver it. We’ve seen what works and what only works in a slide.
It also means we’ll tell you when the answer is smaller than you expected. Sometimes you don’t need a project, you need one decision made well, or your team brought up to speed. We’d rather say that than sell you something you don’t need.
Three questions sit underneath most data and analytics decisions. Where are you heading, what do you build it on, and how do you keep it under control as things change. Our advice tends to come back to these three.
Where should you be heading with data and analytics, and what’s needed to get there? We help you turn that into a roadmap you can actually follow, with the trade-offs made explicit. Because we know what it costs to build, the plan stays grounded in what’s realistic, not a wish list that ignores the bill.
On-prem, cloud or hybrid. Which tools, which structure, what scales as you grow. The choices you make here decide whether your analytics still holds up in three years, or quietly becomes the thing nobody wants to touch. We help you choose foundations that fit where you’re heading, not where the market hype is pointing.
Reliable data, clear ownership, and a foundation you can trust enough to build on, including with AI. In our experience, letting AI loose on your data works, but only when what sits underneath it is in order. Governance and data quality aren’t the exciting part, but they’re what makes everything above them dependable. They’re also what makes you genuinely ready for what’s next.
We usually start with a conversation, not a proposal. We want to understand where you are and where you’re trying to get to before we say anything about how to get there. No preparation needed, just bring your questions.
From there, the shape depends on what you actually need. Sometimes the advice is enough and you take it from there. Sometimes we run a short proof of concept to test an idea against your real data before anyone commits to a bigger plan. And sometimes the advice turns into a build, an implementation, or training your team, with the same people who gave the advice staying involved.
What stays the same is the order. The thinking comes first, the doing follows from it. That’s what keeps the advice worth acting on.
DPG came to us with a clear question. Their advertising clients were used to the dashboards Meta and Google offer, and expected that same level from DPG. At the time, reporting was put together by hand in PowerPoint, on request only.
We advised on what it would take to close that gap, built a working mock-up to prove the concept, and then developed it into the real thing. The result is a dynamic portal in Qlik covering tens of thousands of campaigns, where clients track their own performance instead of waiting for a report.
The advice came first. The build followed from it, and the order is why it worked.
Hundreds of hours a month freed up for client advice
Nature’s Pride started with a strategic choice, not a technical one: move from Qlik to Power BI without rebuilding everything from scratch. We advised on the path, then laid the TimeXtender foundation that made it possible. The environment now feeds near real-time reporting across the organisation, refreshed every five minutes.
Read the Nature’s Pride case
Medux needed one version of the truth across five brands before anything could be built on top of it. That’s a governance question first and a technical one second. We helped set the foundation on Azure SQL and TimeXtender, with Qlik Sense on top, bringing together data that had never been connected before.
Read the Medux case
That’s usually a good reason to talk. A short conversation is often enough to tell whether there’s something worth pursuing, and which direction makes sense. No preparation needed, just bring your questions.
Good advice depends on understanding the context, not just the technology. What the right call is for a fresh-produce supply chain is rarely the right call for a public-sector organisation. The data questions differ, and so do the constraints around them.
Where we have the most experience:
Beyond these, we work with insurers, media, e-commerce and retail, occupational health services, SaaS companies, and public and international organisations. The sector changes. The way we think about the problem doesn’t.
That’s often the reason people come to us. A short conversation is usually enough to turn a vague sense that something needs to change into a clearer picture of what’s worth doing first. You don’t need a finished plan to start.
No. Sometimes the advice is all you need, and your own team takes it from there. Sometimes the answer is a training, or one decision made well. We’d rather tell you that than talk you into a project you don’t need. When a build does make sense, we’ll say so and explain why, and you’re free to have someone else do it.
It starts with a conversation, and that costs nothing. If there’s a reason to go further, the next step is usually small and contained, often a short proof of concept rather than a large commitment. You find out whether it’s worth it before you spend much.
Strategic advice isn’t reserved for organisations with a dedicated data team. It’s about the decision in front of you, not the size of your company. The same questions, where to head, what to build on, how to stay in control, matter whether you have five people or five hundred.
Maybe not, and we’ll tell you if that’s the case. But a plan is easier to commit to once someone who has built this kind of thing before has pressure-tested it. We can look at where you’re heading and flag what’s likely to hold up and what tends to go wrong in practice, before you’ve spent the budget finding out.
Strategic advice is about direction and the decisions underneath it: where to head, what to build on, how to stay in control. Consultancy is where we build it. The two often run into each other, and the advice usually comes first.
More than it might seem. Getting useful results from AI depends on having your data, governance and foundations in order. In our experience, the advice that makes you ready for AI is the same advice that makes your analytics dependable in the first place.
Whether something’s still unclear or you’re ready to take the next step, Barry and Eric are happy to talk it through. Email us, call us, or book a meeting at a time that works for you.