General Consulting Focused on Data
It Runs on Data offers general consulting on a fixed-cost project-based basis. We can also provide ongoing support for data-related initiatives on a retainer basis.
Below is a sample of the kinds of projects we can help with.
Data Literacy Training and Initiatives
It is estimated that about half of the global workforce bounces between “data unaware” (relying primarily on gut feelings for decision-making) and “data aware” (using data for select projects and reports).
About 80% of people who are data aware know the value of data but use data only sporadically because of feeling overwhelmed or burnt out when using data tools. With AI and data forecasted to contribute over 15 trillion dollars to the global economy in 2030, now is the perfect time to shore up any data-literacy gaps in your organization. When surveyed by Harvard Business Review, 9 out of 10 executives reported that people and processes were the key barriers to achieving data literacy and developing a data-driven culture.
At It Runs On Data, we know how to bridge the divides among people, processes, tools, and data. Our style is to meet your organization and teams where they are, focusing on changes that people will actually make. For our clients, we design a customized program to increase the comfort of everyone with using data tools, asking problem-driven questions, and finding data-driven answers.
We help companies foster a culture of data-driven, shared knowledge that will provide individuals across the organization the ability to embrace data-driven decision-making and be part of cultivating a sustainable data-driven culture. Our customized approach ensures that the solutions we provide are the right fit for your organization.
We will not only develop data literacy across your organization but also identify and empower data leaders to ensure that your organization will have a rich and thriving data culture for the long term.
Leadership Training
Advances in AI and technology, as well as the introduction of new workforce dynamics brought on by hybrid and virtual work teams, have changed the skills necessary to be innovative and transformative leaders. These changes have introduced a new culture in the workplace and changed what it means to be inclusive. Navigating this new playing field requires new skills and agility.
At It Runs On Data, we understand the modern leadership landscape and skills necessary to lead high-performing teams or transform under-performing teams into high-performing teams by training. Our approach to leadership development is grounded in behavioral and leadership science, customized to the needs of the organization. We design our program around immediate-, short- and long-term needs. This multi-phase perspective allows leaders to adapt behavior in real-time to improve their effectiveness and ability to connect with their teams and to become drivers of innovation.
We teach leaders how to identify and shore up weaknesses while embracing and developing strengths. Because our approach is highly customized to each organization’s needs, our training gives organizational leadership the tools necessary to create long-lasting, durable change and improvement.
Change Management
For any organization to be able to thrive in the long term, change is unavoidable. How well changes are managed determines how agile and innovative an organization can be. Crafting a culture of innovation and adaptation allows organizations to embrace the new. This is no small task, and at It Runs On Data we understand that organizational change starts with individual buy-in.
When the individuals who make up the organization buy in, change becomes easier. Gaining buy-in at all levels of the organization, from the most senior leadership to new interns, begins with understanding the purpose of the changes proposed.
Gaining buy-in works best when it begins before changes are implemented. Understanding of an organization’s readiness for change and commitment to change creates the foundation for developing a change-communication approach.
Knowing who the thought leaders are in an organization – and these leaders can be at any level of the organization – facilitates the selection of change leaders who can lower the barriers to acceptance of changes. This is why we tailor our approach to each client organization: We understand the impact each person has on the success of any change.
Data Stack Setup
Data infrastructure can be an organization’s greatest asset for innovation and AI implementation, or its greatest obstacle. Having the right tooling for integration and adaptation with existing infrastructure is essential for growth and future development.
Because data architecture is an intentional design, as organizations develop and grow their intentions also develop and grow, making some architectures outdated or unsuited to the organization’s needs. Knowing what to keep and what to leave behind can be daunting because of the rapid rate of new tool development. There is a close interplay between data infrastructure and data architecture, and a mismatch between the two typically results in high costs, difficulty in scaling and adaptation, or both.
Selecting the best design for the needs of our clients is what we do best. We help them develop the right level of centralization and let business objectives be at the forefront of infrastructure, governance, and architectural design. We will ensure that that the data stack is simple to use across the entire organization while remaining powerful enough to serve the data and information needs of the organization. An infrastructure and architecture that is custom built for the data needs of a company is critical to the ability to carry a business to the next level of data utility. We typically recommend explicit future planning, as well – what’s right for now is often going to be insufficient after a certain amount of growth, and choosing the time horizon is an important strategic action.
Platform Integration
Our (data) platform integrations begins with a review of the systems, applications, and platforms in use at an organization as well as the needs and requirements that these systems fulfil. We will work with you to design a customized integration plan to create seamless and functional data and information flows. These flows are both the “data flows” in the engineering sense and the “information flows” central to nearly all organizations.
We take a strategic approach to designing our integration plans such that they will work for our clients’ needs with a balance between aesthetics and functionality. We understand the role that aesthetics play in solutions feeling user-friendly without sacrificing functionality. We know that solutions must be purposeful, efficient, and user-centric if they are to be adopted by users, rather than merely tolerated.
Cost Management of Data Sytems
As the so-called Modern Data Stack has grown, the number of tools has also grown expontentially, with thousands of tools available. There is little uniformity in pricing or even in billing model among these tools, and it is easy to waste a lot of money on tools that either engage in lock-in tactics or are not well-suited to the specific needs of an organization.
We help clients manage costs along two axes: first, auditing current systems and costs to identify where costs are not aligned with the benefits obtained from the services or tooling being paid for; second, advising on possible moves to new tools or new billing models on tools already in use, aiming to minimize costs without degrading the benefits.
As an example, AWS Aurora, a database service, offers a variety of billing models and ways to tune that model, as well as both serverless and persistent options. We helped a client reconfigure their use of Aurora to save almost USD 150,000 per year.