Trace3’s VP of IT: Accelerate Value Creation with a Company OKR Scorecard
In this episode of the Expert Insights Series, Blue Margin Co-Founder Jon Thompson hosts Tania DiCostanzo, Vice President of IT, Strategic Initiatives, and Data Analytics at Trace3. Founded in 2002 and backed by American Securities, Trace3 is a US$2bn provider of IT and consulting services with 3,500 customers in 48 states. Headquartered on both coasts, Trace3 has over 1,200 employees, 700 of whom are engineers and data architects. For over 20 years, Trace3 has provided IT strategy, solutions, and services to some of the world’s leading companies.
Tania joined Trace3 in 2015 with two decades of leadership experience via pharma company Boehringer Ingelheim, industrial company Ingersoll Rand, and IT leader IBM. During that time, she held numerous leadership positions including Senior Principal Systems Engineer, IT Associate Director, and Global Head of Unified Communications. In this interview, she shares her perspective on best practices for mobilizing data in a company.
Watch the full interview, listen to the podcast, or read the highlights below. The episode covers four themes: how to accelerate your value creation plan with a company scorecard, the two key ingredients of dashboards that move the needle, why Trace3 brought in a BI partner despite having an internal data team, and how to be a successful data mobilizer.
How Trace3 Accelerated Their Value Creation Plan with OKRs
“You really need to understand from the top: what do we need to be measuring?”
Tania DiCostanzo, VP of IT, Trace3
Trace3 began using the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) process post-acquisition by American Securities in October 2021, when Trace3’s CEO Rich Fennessy and the executive team set the vision for company growth by defining their most essential performance metrics. From there, Trace3 partnered with Blue Margin to create an OKR dashboard to measure and monitor progress. Read the case study for details on how this process helped accelerate the value creation plan by aligning leaders across functions. For details on rolling out an OKR dashboard, see Blue Margin’s VCP Accelerator.
Dashboard Design Essentials: Clean Visuals, Key Metrics
“If it doesn’t drive action, why have it?”
Tania DiCostanzo, VP of IT, Trace3
Dashboard design takes discipline. While the instinct is often “the more information, the better,” increasing the information on a dashboard quickly reaches diminishing returns. In Storytelling with Data, data visualization expert Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic explains that every element placed in front of an audience demands cognitive effort to process, and that designing for clarity is designing for impact. Reducing cognitive load is not a nice-to-have, it is the point.
Tania underscores the importance of keeping non-essential metrics from reducing dashboard impact.
“When you start data projects, you need to ask, ‘why?’ Why do you need that metric?”
Tania DiCostanzo, VP of IT, Trace3
During design, make sure the metrics you choose to display directly influence the decisions and behaviors you want to improve. The essentials of effective dashboards are discussed in depth in the Dashboard Effect podcast.
Two Reasons Internal Data Teams Would Hire a BI Consultant
Outside expertise can fast-track digital transformation. S&P Global Market Intelligence finds that only 10% of U.S. PE firms keep their data management functions in-house, while the other 90% outsource or balance between in-sourcing and outsourcing. Choosing an outsourced approach, Trace3’s sponsor American Securities referred Blue Margin.
Trace3 has a skilled internal data team, yet they hired Blue Margin for two primary reasons: to augment their small team and increase their speed to market. While these needs were met, Tania reflects on the benefits that have led her to continue the partnership. She values the lessons learned from similar companies and objective pressure-testing based on what has been successful in the market. In her words, Blue Margin showed Trace3 “what good looks like,” and brought an external perspective to challenge and advance Trace3’s thinking.
Successful Data Mobilizers Keep the Scope Narrow and Work Within Their Resources
Of the 250 companies and countless data teams Blue Margin has partnered with, the consensus is that Tania is one of the most effective data mobilizers we have encountered.
“Start with what you have: data, tools, resources. Show value. Then expand. Don’t wait.”
Tania DiCostanzo, VP of IT, Trace3
Using the Apollo 13 analogy, Tania recommends leaders start with the resources they have, even if limited, and use an agile approach to development. By keeping the project scope narrow enough to execute quickly, you build momentum and buy-in for follow-on projects. Well-executed data projects are an add-back investment, so it is best to narrow focus on key value drivers. NewVantage Partners’ Data and AI Executive Leadership Survey finds that 92% of Fortune 1000 companies achieve ROI in data and AI.
Connect with Tania and Trace3
If you would like to connect with Tania, you can find her on LinkedIn or via Trace3.
Blue Margin helps private equity and mid-market companies quickly convert data into automated dashboards, the most efficient way to create company-wide accountability to the growth plan. We call it The Dashboard Effect, the title of our book and podcast. Contact our team to get started.
