Conversations on data analytics, business intelligence, and data driven practices for private equity and the midmarket

#79: Three Pillars for Your BI System Framework

In this episode, Brick and Caleb outline the three pillars of a BI system framework: data lakes, data modeling, and data visualization.

 

#78: Expert Insights Series - CIO Insights on Data Monetization, Data Lakes, and AI

In this episode, Brick Thompson hosts CIO John Manzanares, a seasoned IT leader and a board member for PE-backed field services, construction, transportation, and logistics companies, as well as the Society for Information Management.

“What’s the foundation, if you’re doing anything around AI or ML in your organization today? Data. The foundation is data.” -CIO John Manzanares

• 4:10 - How a PE-Backed Midmarket Commercial Services Company Monetized Their Data

• 16:28 - How to Minimize Business Intelligence Project Delays

• 24:30 - How Data Lakes are Key to the Buy-and-Build Strategy

• 31:37 - How Microsoft’s 365 Copilot Will Likely Change Data Reporting

• 38:57 - How to Wrangle ChatGPT in the Wild West Days of AI

Read the highlights here: CIO Insights on Data Monetization, Data Lakes, and AI

 

#77: Expert Insights Series - Middle Market Methods' Value Creation Roadmap™ for Private Equity

In this episode, Blue Margin consultant Greg Brown interviews John A. Lanier, CEO of Middle Market Methods. John shares insights into his approach to value creation road-mapping as well as his strategies for identifying areas for operational improvements and addressing the misalignment that commonly occurs between PE sponsors and portfolio company executives. 

“The portfolio company’s leadership team must take ownership of its investment thesis and translate it into daily tactical execution. However, and ironically, they may not know that it even exists.” – John Lanier, Middle Market Methods 

• 3:45 - Evaluating Opportunities for Improvement

• 9:39 - Using the Socratic Method with Portfolio Executives

• 11:46 - Addressing Misalignment Between PE Sponsors and Portfolio Executive Teams 

• 18:50 - Cross-Functional Value Stream Mapping 

• 27:42 - Discussing Tech and Data Diligence with the Entrepreneur-Executive

Read the highlights here: Middle Market Methods' Value Creation Roadmap™ for Private Equity

 

#76: AI: The Case for a Data Lake?

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss the importance of preparing your data environment for the arrival of AI tools. They highlight the advantages of a data lake, a flexible repository for storing and integrating data, making it easier to analyze and report on. By having an established data lake, organizations can seamlessly leverage upcoming AI tools without having to scramble to access data in their transactional systems.

 

#75: Prepare Your Data for ChatGPT

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss ChatGPT - its current capabilities, shortcomings, and anticipated impact on BI. They offer some advice about preparing your company data to leverage these advancing technologies.

 

#74 - Why Build a Data Lake in the First 100 Days

In this episode, Kate Eberle and Brick discuss the benefits of using a data lake instead of a traditional data warehouse during the first 100 days of a company's acquisition by a private equity firm, citing its ability to speed up insights, offer a consolidated view of data from different add-ons, and act as a sandbox for determining operational key performance indicators (KPIs). Data lakes can provide fast, updated information, enable better natural language querying, and allow companies to quickly adapt to evolving business needs, making them a both a foundational and scalable solution.

 

#73: Building Strategic BI Reports: Key Questions for Stakeholders

In this episode, Brick and Will, Solutions Architect at Blue Margin, discuss the four areas of questioning he uses when interviewing SMEs or stakeholders for building a report. It's important to understand the context first before choosing the right metrics and slicers to ensure that the report is actionable and meets stakeholders' needs.

 

#72: Expert Insights Series - Weave Growth Partners on Private Equity's Late Adoption of Data-Driven Practices

In today’s podcast, Blue Margin consultant Greg Brown hosts Vishy Venugopalan, Managing Partner of Weave Growth Partners. Vishy brings the Silicon Valley playbook to lower midmarket deals by melding his knowledge of tech startups, investing, and both descriptive and prescriptive analytics. The interview explores the ‘why’ behind private equity’s slower adoption of data driven practices, correlates a company’s data adoption practices to evolutionary biology, and discusses the human aspects of advancing data science.

“It is not an insignificant amount of leadership that needs to be exercised to lead the people to change their behavior over the long term and make it more data driven.” -Vishy Venugopalan, Managing Partner, Weave Growth Partners

• 5:25 - Private Equity’s Slow Adoption of Data Driven Practices
• 12:28 - Data’s Evolutionary Process
• 22:50 - The Cultural, Human Elements of Data Change 

Read the highlights here:  Weave Growth Partners on Private Equity's Late Adoption of Data-Driven Practices.

 

#71: KPIs for Midmarket Manufacturers

In this episode, Caleb and Kate discuss important KPIs for the manufacturing industry. While there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, they outline and provide insight on the leading and lagging KPIs that have helped our midmarket manufacturing clients improve sales operations, inventory management, labor and machine utilization, and cash flow.

 

#70: Understanding the Data Source

In this episode, Brick and Caleb talk about the importance of making sure business users of BI understand the underlying data sources and their capabilities and limitations. It'll help maximize the value of your BI efforts.

 

#69: How Data Transparency Supports Our Team Culture and Performance

In this episode, Brick and Caleb share Blue Margin's journey of transitioning to a culture of data transparency and the widespread benefits of tracking and sharing individual metrics across the company.

 

#68: Making the Case for BI

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss how to get internal buy-in for BI by making a clear connection between your BI projects and the anticipated ROI.

 

#67: Value Creation with BI Through Human Centered Design, w/ Brian T. O'Neill

In this episode of Expert Insights Series, hosted by BI Consultant Greg Brown, we feature Brian T. O’Neill of the company Designing for Analytics. Brian shares his deep experience in how to create value from data projects and the impact of human-centered design on business outcomes.

“Business is people. You can’t get to business value if you don’t first go through user adoption. Business value will follow if you design something indispensable. If not, you’re a cost center. You’re just spending money.” - Brian T. O’Neill, Designing for Analytics

• 2:15 - The importance of human-centered design in data solutions. 
• 11:34 - How to think about UX during product design. 
• 15:55 - Creating business value with user adoption.
• 17:58 - Why data teams need a consultative approach.

Read the highlights here: Value Creation with BI Through Human Centered Design, w/ Brian T. O'Neill

 

#66: Dealing with Untrustworthy Data

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss different causes of untrustworthy data, and how to expose and address it to avoid flawed decision-making and improve adoption of your BI efforts.

 

#65: Becoming Data-Driven - Data Culture Misconceptions

In this episode, Brick and Caleb tackle some of the misconceptions around making your organization data-driven, and some of the steps you can take to do it successfully. 

 

#64: Expert Insights Series - BI Projects Drive Financial Transformation, a PMO Leader's Insights

This episode of Expert Insights Series, hosted by Jon Thompson, features Tracy Hockenberry Senior Program Manager at Eaton (85,000 employees worldwide) and former Director of Enterprise PMO at New Story Schools, an Audax portfolio company that worked with Blue Margin to focus the team on the critical value creation metrics. She offers perspective on the vital role that project management plays in BI development, and by extension, financial transformation.

“To lead any business initiative, start by thinking about your current state of data. Data intelligence is key to drive business decision-making and strategy." - Tracy Hockenberry

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are Tracy’s and do not necessarily represent those of Eaton or her previous employers.

Read the highlights here: BI Projects Drive Financial Transformation, Insights from a PMO Leader

 

#63: Expect Iterations on Your BI Projects

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss the likelihood and value of iterating your BI solutions. You should expect and embrace it.

 

#62: Expert Insight Series - Data as a Powerful Change Agent with Anthony Algmin

In this Expert Insights interview, Greg Brown, BI Consultant for Blue Margin, hosts Anthony Algmin of Algmin Data Leadership, host of podcast Data Leadership Lessons, instructor at DATAVERSITY (dataversity.net), and author of Data Leadership: Stop Talking About Data and Start Making an Impact! 

Read the highlights here: Data: A Powerful Change Agent, with Anthony Algmin

 

#61: Four Simple Ways to Improve BI Adoption

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss four simple things you can do to improve BI adoption in your company.

 

#60: Expert Insights Series - One Rock Capital: Top Line Growth Strategies

This episode of Expert Insights Series, hosted by Jon Thompson, features operating partner Brian Potts of One Rock Capital. During diligence, Brian assesses investment growth potential, and post-acquisition, he sets and executes portfolio companies’ sales and marketing strategies. He has 25 years of experience building and improving businesses; holding leadership positions in manufacturing at Cintas and Clarus, in media at The Nielsen Company, in consumer products at Blue Triton Brands, and in PE at GE Capital, Antares Capital, and The Riverside Company.

“We start talking about our exit strategy on the day we acquire. Can an owner tell a story with their data? Are we happy with the story?” –Brian Potts

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are Brian's and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of One Rock Capital.

Read the highlights: One Rock Capital: Top Line Growth Strategies

 

#59: What Do You Need for Successful Self-Service BI?

Brick and Caleb discuss self-service BI, what it is, and some of the considerations for making it happen in your company.

 

#58: Expert Insights Series - Extract More Value from Your Power BI Data with Power ON

In this Expert Insights interview, Jon Thompson hosts Vice Presidents Eric Weiss and Mike Marotta of Power ON. Founded in 2015, Power ON has 50 employees across the globe, and over 20 Fortune 100 customers. The company’s toolset extends Microsoft Power BI features, enabling real-time write-back and collaboration for planning, variance analysis, forecasting, budgeting, and workflows. Where Power BI is traditionally a one-way street, ingesting and presenting data, Power ON provides a two-way street, enabling users to input data in Power BI which writes back to the data model.

“The disruptive aspect of (single screen reporting) is that it dramatically saves time by consolidating collection and reporting. It really has a huge impact on the velocity of decision making.” - Eric Weiss

Read the highlights: Power ON: Scenario Planning and Write-Back in Power BI

 

#57: Expert Insight Series - How Trace3 Accelerated Their VCP with an OKR Dashboard

In this episode of our Expert Insights Series, Blue Margin's CSO, Jon Thompson, interviews Tania DiCostanzo, VP of IT, Strategic Initiatives and Data Analytics for Trace3, a $2bn IT and managed services company. Tania is at the forefront of using data visualizations to ignite business growth. Listen to her insights on the power of data and how to be successful as a "data mobilizer", an increasingly critical role in business.

“You really need to understand from the top – what do we need to be measuring?” - Tania DiCostanzo 

Read the highlights: Trace3's VP of IT: Accelerate Value Creation with a Company OKR Scorecard

 

#56: ETL & Data Warehouse Architecture with David Dimmen

Brick and David Dimmen discuss a high-level overview of Blue Margin's approach to ETL and data warehouse architecture. Warning: This one is a bit on the technical side. We recommend viewing the YouTube version of this episode here, so you can see the diagrams David refers to during the discussion.

 

#55: Expert Insight Series - Industrial Growth Partners: Using Data to Maximize Value and Performance Throughout the Investment Lifecycle

In today's podcast, Jon interviews John Parent of Industrial Growth Partners (IGP Equity) as part of our ongoing Expert Insight Series. John shares IGP's approach to working with their portfolio companies to maximize alpha.

“If you can create and develop those systems, which is difficult to do in a short time period, but if you can do it, create that data visibility, you’re rewarded handsomely when it comes to exit.” – John Parent

Read the highlights: Industrial Growth Partners: Leveraging Data Throughout the Investment Lifecycle

 

#54 - Expert Insight Series - Forbes’ “Grandfather of Gamification”: Data Creates a Culture of Growth

In this installment of our ongoing Expert Insight Series, Jon interviews Chuck Coonradt, 5x best-selling author, CEO, and Fortune 500 consultant. Chuck wrote The Game of Work which has been foundational in Blue Margin's philosophy on the importance of #datavisibility for job ownership and accountability. Listen to them discuss how gamifying work transforms the workplace through employee engagement and job ownership.

“Only when we successfully transform our measuring into something tangible, relevant, and meaningful do we allow management by measurement to really take off. That transformation is called scorekeeping” - Chuck Coonradt

Read the highlights: Forbes’ “Grandfather of Gamification”: Data Creates a Culture of Growth

 

#53: Using BI to Optimize Your Hiring

In this episode, Brick and Greg Brown discuss some of the ways BI can be used to improve hiring processes and effectiveness. Having an applicant tracking system as a data source is not a prerequisite.

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

 

#52: Expert Insight Series - BI Strategies for PE Portco Acceleration with Marty Moore of Tenex Capital Management

In today's podcast, Jon interviews Marty Moore of Tenex Capital Management (private equity) as part of our ongoing Expert Insight Series. They discuss private equity's use of advanced data analytics to improve portfolio company operations.

“Too many portfolio companies have not invested in tech for too many years and find themselves playing catch-up.” - Marty Moore

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Read the highlights: Tenex Capital: How Private Equity Uses Data to Improve Portfolio Operations

 

#51: BI Project Execution with Jennie Swenson

In this fourth episode of our series on BI project management, Brick and Jennie discuss the project execution phase. They touch on the main components of this phase, including project integration management, quality management, resource management, communication management, and risk management.

“In executing, we're drawing on processes from different areas. First, we're looking at project integration management. We're also looking at quality management, resource management, communications management and risk management. And there are processes and frameworks underneath each one of those to execute our projects well.” -Jennie Swenson

Click here to watch this episode on YouTube.

 

#50: Data Warehouse vs. Data Lake - Which do you need?

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss the differences between a data warehouse and a data lake and what each is best suited for. For mid-market companies, in many cases both could have an important role in an overall BI strategy and implementation.

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Related reading: Data Lake vs Data Warehouse

 

#49: Is Snowflake Your Data Warehouse Nirvana?

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss the Snowflake data warehouse service. They describe what it is and some of the pros and cons to consider when deciding if it might be the right solution for you.

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

 

#48: BI Project Initiation, with Anne Eisenach

In the third episode of our series on BI project management, Senior Project Manager Anne Eisenach rejoins Brick to discuss initiating a BI project. Initiating well minimizes project risk and maximizes outcome. The main ingredients are scoping and stakeholder alignment.

“Project initiation helps you be efficient in execution. It ensures that we have scope alignment, both internally and with the full team of project stakeholders at the outset of the project before we jump in and start developing heads down.” - Anne Eisenach

Click here to watch this episode on YouTube.

 

#47: Expert Insight Series - Change Management with Dain Johnson of Rev 0

As part of our ongoing Expert Insight Series, Jon interviews Dain Johnson of Rev 0 Consulting. They discuss change management, especially as it relates to data initiatives.

“Distributed decision making makes sure that the right people have the right info at the right time to make the right decisions. That is why I love dashboards and data analytics which get that information into the right hands.” - Dain Johnson

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Read the highlights: Change Management and the Power of Data for Distributed Decision Making

 

#46: Don't Drown in a Waterfall!

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss the risks of trying to design and build everything you think you might ever need in a data warehouse in one single project. A faster, less expensive, and higher success rate approach is to start with smaller, high-value scope to start with, and then add on to it over time as reporting needs present themselves. This is the classic "waterfall" versus "agile" problem.

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Related reading: Starting a BI Initiative? Choose Agile Over Waterfall

 

#45 - PM Series - Resource Planning, with Jennie Swenson

In the second episode of our series on BI project management, Brick interviews Jennie Swenson, Director of the PMO for Blue Margin, to discuss resource planning during a BI project. They discuss the factors to consider in initially assigning work to engineers, and the things that might cause the need for changes during project execution.

"Primarily, the goal of resource planning is to allow us to maximize profitability by ensuring we have the right resources on the right type of work and that we're going to be able to deliver on time for our clients.” - Jennie Swenson

Click here to watch this episode on YouTube.

 

#44 - How to Fire Your BI Vendor

Brick and Caleb outline some of the challenges of BI self-sufficiency and their recommended approach for building an internal BI team

“If they want to be self-sufficient, we want to help them do that.” - Brick Thompson

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

 

#43 - BI Project Scoping, with Anne Eisenach

In this first episode in a series on BI project management, Brick interviews Anne Eisenach, Senior Project Manager, to discuss the first critical steps in a BI project, strategic and tactical scoping. If you get this right, you set yourself up for a smooth BI project, delivering on the desired ROI and goals, and staying in sync with the key stakeholders.

“What's the outcome that the client is hoping to achieve? Not just the output. Having this conversation with our client, and then making sure that we can internally articulate that well, before we go any further, is really important.” - Anne Eisenach

Click here to watch this episode on YouTube.

 

#42 - Expert Insight Series - Tecum Capital: How Private Equity Can Leverage Data Across Industrials for Higher Returns

In today's podcast, Jon interviews Sean Edmonson of Tecum Capital Partners (private equity) as part of our ongoing Expert Insight Series. They discuss the value of data, and the premium Tecum puts on having good BI to drive portfolio company success. They also discuss Tecum's approach to investing and what the current climate might mean for them and others in PE.

“If you don’t have any type of dashboarding or KPI system, it’s a major deduction on the value of your company.” - Sean Edmonson

Click here to view this episode on YouTube.

Read the highlights: Tecum Capital: Using Data for Higher Returns in Manufacturing, Services, and Distribution

 

#41 - How to Hire a Good BI Visualization Engineer

Brick and Caleb discuss considerations for when you're hiring a BI visualization engineer. It can be tricky to hire the right one, and they offer some tips on things to look (and look out) for.

Click here to watch this episode on YouTube.

Read more: What to Look for When Hiring a Power BI Consultant

Here are some of the tools we use to drive discussions and assess technical ability for potential visualization engineer hires:

• Client Facing Requirements Gathering
• Wide World Importers Requirements
• Viz Assessment Questions
• Viz Assessment - Potential Answers
• Sample pbix file to assign tasks and assess technical skill with Power BI
  
  

#40 - Using BI to Find Alpha in Private Equity, with Greg Brown

Brick and Greg discuss how good BI can help private equity firms to find and generate alpha in their portfolio company investments.

Read more: How Private Equity Uses Data-Driven Insights to Generate Alpha

 

#39 - Azure Synapse Analytics - What the Heck is It?

Brick and Caleb discuss the Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics service. They cover the parts of it most likely to be used for doing good BI, and touch on why it's a good choice over patching together several unrelated tools.

 

#38 - You CAN Herd Cats - Get to Your Data Faster with a Lake(house)

Brick and Caleb discuss the challenge of consolidated reporting, especially from recent mergers or acquisitions, and how using a data lake can bring quick reporting and analysis wins. They also discuss how using a data lake can ease the process of merging subsidiaries onto a central ERP (or CRM, etc.) system.

Read more: Data Lake vs Data Warehouse

 

#37 - Time Intelligence, with Sarah Martinez

Brick and Sarah Martinez, one of Blue Margin's Lead Data Visualization Consultants, discuss time intelligence in BI. They talk about the importance of constructing and using a date dimension, and some of the tricks to create reports for different time periods (e.g., yesterday, month-to-date, user-defined time period, etc.) without having to write scores of different measure formulas.

 

#36 - Expert Insight Series - Notch Partners CEO: Leveraging Data and Curating a Large Pool of Executives for the Right Deal, at the Right Time

Jon Thompson hosts founder and CEO of Notch Partners, Andy Thompson, to discuss matching deals to executives (and vice versa) in the PE world. Notch Partners is a boutique executive talent consultancy retained by leading private equity firms such as Advent, Charlesbank, Warburg Pincus, and AEA. Notch Partners creates competitive advantage for PE firms by “cultivating high-impact relationships that result in superior returns for investors and transformative career opportunities for executives.” They source industry-specific CEO-level talent as well as executive-led investment theses. Founded in 2002, the firm maintains a network of 40,000 executives and works with later stage investors purchasing control positions in mature companies.

Read more: Notch Partners: Finding Executives for the Right Deal at the Right Time

 

#35 - The Brontosaurus and the Root of all (Business) Problems

In addition to Jon's theory of the Brontosaurus, Brick and Jon discuss their view that the root of all business problems is lack of clear visibility.

Read more: Data Visibility and the PE-backed Executive

 

#34 - The Age-Old BI Challenge, with Greg Brown

Brick and Greg Brown, one of Blue Margin's Business Intelligence Consultants, discuss the critical question in BI: How do you get the right information, to the right person, at the right time, in order to best drive good outcomes? Greg has a very early automated BI example from IBM in the 1950's, and also explains a more recent example of how McDonald's uses up-to-the-minute BI to reinforce brand loyalty.

"If you can get data on time to the right people, you can actually affect the outcome of the current period and inform tactical changes and changes to your strategy that will get you much quicker and positive results than waiting for a retrospective report.”

Read more: How to Get the Right Data, to the Right People, at the Right Time

 

#33 - BI Metrics for the Legal Industry, with Kate Eberle

Brick and Kate, Director of Consulting, discuss BI in the legal field. They've worked with several large law firms and point out some of the key considerations in terms of metrics and reporting.

"There are two key questions every firm that we've worked with has wanted to answer... The first, "What work have we accomplished in a set time period?" And the second, "Are we getting paid for that work in a timely way?” - Kate Eberle

Read more: How Leading Law Firms Track WIP, Client/Matter Performance, and DEI

 

#32 - Horse Before the Cart - Start with the Reporting Need

Brick and Caleb discuss the best practice of understanding likely reporting needs before architecting a data warehouse, versus just pulling all of the data into the data warehouse. It's OK to have all of the data pulled into a Persisted Staging area, or into a data lake, but overengineering the data warehouse and reporting views and cubes lengthens the time to get to reports and can result in rework.

Read more: 2 Essential Ingredients of Successful Data Projects

 

#31 - Why Not Use Automatic Connectors Every Time?

Brick and Caleb discuss low-code data connectors and when and why to use (or not use) them.

 

#30 - Expert Insight Series - Data Driven versus Non-Data Driven Companies, Interview with Andy Scott, PE CTO

Blue Margin Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Jon Thompson, hosts technology and operations leader, Andy Scott, to discuss the role of data in business. Andy has 35 years of experience across multiple industries and organizations holding positions that include Chief Technology Officer, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Chief Information Officer, VP of Digital Product Management, and Board Director. He is known for his track record of delivering growth and empowering leadership through digital transformation.

“The non-data driven company is running around in firefighter mode, while the data driven company can focus on growth and performance."

Read the highlights: Andy Scott, CTO, on Data Transformation at Hydromax USA

 

#29 - Top Shelf Business Intelligence, with Courtney Tewalt

Brick and Courtney, Blue Margin's Quality Systems Manager, discuss the things you should focus on to make sure you're delivering high-quality BI, both from the data side and from the visualization side.

 

#28 - Mid-Market BI, Just the Right Size

Brick and Caleb discuss the unique data needs of mid-market companies in the approximately $50M to $2B revenue range.

 

#27 - Snickers Bars and Master Data Management

Brick and Caleb discuss the topic of Master Data Management (MDM) for analytical data. It's conceptually simpler than it might at first seem but takes commitment to implement and maintain. No Snickers bars were harmed in the making of this episode.

 

#26 - Found One Million Dollars of Missing Invoicing Thanks to BI

Brick and Caleb discuss a BI project that had an unexpected, but very welcome payoff.

Read more: Case Studies

 

#25 - The Downsides of Manual Reporting, with Bryan Maltais

Brick and Bryan, a Business Intelligence Consultant, discuss the downsides of manual reporting and the upsides of automated reporting. They also discuss how to get going on automated reporting without breaking the bank.

“Implementing business intelligence and automated reporting is the ultimate low-hanging fruit to transform your business.”

Read more: Pitfalls of Manual Excel Reporting

 

#24 - Azure and Power BI - A Match Made in BI Heaven

Brick and Caleb discuss some of the many ways that Power BI and the Microsoft Azure platform work together so well. Power BI can do reporting well from most data systems, but when it is paired with the services in Azure, a lot of additional capabilities are made easy to do.

Read more: Azure and Power BI

 

#23 - How Not to Build a Dashboard

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss some of the things to avoid when building a dashboard, whether for yourself or for a business. They cover approximately ten important items to consider. 

“Anyone can watch some YouTube videos and learn how to create a report in Power BI. But creating a report that actually improves outcomes takes a lot more training and experience.”

Read more: How to Build an Effective (Power BI) Dashboard and Dashboard Design to Ensure Adoption

 

#22 - The Pros and Cons of Low or No code ETL Tools

Brick and Caleb discuss low and no code ETL tools, sometimes referred to as "enterprise service bus" or ESB or eBus. They point out some of the common pros and cons to think about when considering using one of these tools.

 

#21 - When Not to Use a Data Warehouse

Brick, Blue Margin's founder and CEO, and Caleb, Vice President of Delivery Operations, discuss some of the most common situations where it makes sense to skip the data warehouse and instead do your analysis and reporting without it.

Read more: Best Practices for Data Warehouse Architecture

 

#20 - How to Budget for a BI Project, with Kate Eberle

#19 - Using BI to Drive Accountability, with Greg Brown

Brick sits down with Greg Brown, one of Blue Margin's consultants, to discuss accountability in business and how BI can play a big role in creating a culture of accountability.

Brick references the book, The Game of Work, by Charles Coonradt. Here's the link to its Amazon listing. And here's the link to the author's business website.

Read more: Using BI to Create Accountability and a Healthy Culture

#accountability #transparency #visibility #reporting #BI

 

#18 - How to Effectively Manage a BI Project, with Jennie Swenson

Brick sits down with Jennie Swenson, Blue Margin's Director of the PMO, to discuss the project management approach she and her PMs take to delivering successful BI projects.

#17 - Why We Moved to Fixed-Price Billing

#16 - How to Succeed with BI: Types of Data Sources and Data Integration

This episode gets a bit technical as Brick and Caleb discuss different types of data sources you might run into when building reports or a data warehouse. They also talk about approaches for combining data from different systems and dealing with data redundancy. 

Read more: Succeed with BI: Manage Data Sources, Integration, and Redundancy

 

#15 - Expert Insight Series - Taking Advantage of Economic Headwinds, Interview with Jill Belconis

Jon Thompson, Cofounder and Chief Strategy Officer at Blue Margin, sits down with Jill Belconis, career CEO at Shelter Mortgage turned strategic business coach. They discuss taking an offensive stance during cyclical economic downturns, focusing on your “one thing,” using a job scorecard (BI) for accountability, not going it alone, and overcoming resistance when creating a data-driven culture.

Read more: Jill Belconis on Scaling Business with Clarity and (Data) Alignment

Podcast Links (in order of appearance):
www.jillbelconis.com
Young President’s Organization (YPO)
Carver Peterson
National Bureau of Economic Research – Business Cycles Since 1940s
Jim Collins’ Flywheel Concept
Jill’s Blog Article – Focusing on the One Thing
Jill’s Blog Article – The Job Scorecard
Scaling Up
Patrick Lencioni’s New Book – The Working Genius
Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Jill’s TED Talk

 

#14 - How to Quickly Get BI Wins

Getting started with BI is easier than you might think, but there are a few key things to keep in mind.

For further reading: The Quick Path to Winning with Data and Dashboards

 

#13 - BI Is Not the Same as an ERP Implementation

#12 - Why Spend Time on Report Design and Wireframing, with Will Trickett

There are significant benefits to spending time up front on report design before jumping into the actual build. 

Read more: Successful Dashboards: How Wireframing Saves Time and Delivers Results

#11 - How to Succeed with BI: Aligning on Metrics

Brick and Caleb discuss the importance of aligning on the definition of metrics. It seems obvious, but can be tricky if you're not careful.

For further reading: 2 Essential Ingredients of Successful Data Projects

 

#10 - How to Succeed with BI: Defining the Impact

Brick and Caleb discuss defining the impact a BI effort is expected to deliver so you can decide whether it is worth the effort or can be achieved in a simpler way.

For further reading: 2 Essential Ingredients of Successful Data Projects

 

#9 - How to Succeed with BI: External Partner or Internal Team?

Brick and Caleb discuss the pros and cons of tackling your BI project using outside help versus keeping the work in-house.

Read more: When to Use an External BI Consultant

 

#8 - Who Should Own BI in Your Company, with Kate Eberle

Brick and Kate discuss the different roles within a company that typically own the BI function and some of the potential pros and cons of each.

Read more: Who is Your Data Mobilizer?

 

#7 - Data Warehouses - Why the Bad Rap?

Brick and Caleb discuss the "modern data warehouse" and what distinguishes it from the traditional data warehouse.

Read more: Best Practices for Data Warehouse Architecture

 

#6 - Why Power BI (vs. Tableau, Qlik, etc.)?

#5 - Performing Data Diligence

#4 - Data Visibility and the PE-Backed Executive

Jon and Brick discuss their experiences with BI in business and specifically as VC-backed and then PE-owned business managers.
“When you don't have good instrumentation, you spend a lot of time worrying about what you don't know.” - Brick Thompson, CEO

Read more: Data Visibility and the PE-backed Executive

 

#3 - Expert Insight Series - Interview with Adam Coffey, Author of The Private Equity Playbook

Jon Thompson, Cofounder and Chief Strategy Officer at Blue Margin, sits down with Adam Coffey, #1 bestselling author of The Private Equity Playbook and The Exit Strategy Playbook, to discuss the state of private equity investments, strategies for reinvestment at the time of exit, and how data analytics supports executives in operations and diligence.

Interview Highlights: Adam Coffey and The Exit Strategy Playbook

 

#2 - When Changes to Your Business Break Your Reporting

Brick and Caleb discuss a recent change at Blue Margin that made their reporting no longer useful, and how they fixed it. 

#PowerBI #businessintelligence #reporting #BI #dashboard #datawarehouse

 

#1 - Do You Really Need a Data Warehouse?

Brick and Caleb discuss the merits of building a data warehouse versus connecting directly to a data source (such as an ERP system) for creating reports in Power BI and other reporting tools. 

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources here.

#Azure #PowerBI #businessintelligence #reporting #BI #dashboard #datawarehouse

Learn more