Challenge

A billion-dollar IT retailer and financing firm with over 1,500 employees operated multiple data systems that were siloed, which often resulted in avoidable and sometimes costly inefficiencies. Inspirata Consulting personnel were engaged to provide a consolidated data and analytics solution.

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Solution

Our team of IT professionals enhanced the analytical capabilities of an existing Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) to encompass data from multiple business systems (sales, finance, operations, etc.). Over the course of three years, multiple data sets were integrated, and analytic capabilities were built into the EDW. After successfully developing a proof-of-concept prototype, our team extended the proven Microsoft-based EDW architecture with the addition of new source systems. We helped this firm leverage the features of their Reference Architecture and solution templates to accelerate development and enable data integration across other systems. Additionally, once data transfer from several legacy systems into the EDW was complete, our team decommissioned the legacy systems.

Inspirata worked closely with the company’s internal development team to establish an Agile Product Delivery process for defining, building, and releasing a continuous flow of valuable products (new reports, dashboards, functionality, etc.) and services to their internal customers and users. We also provided training to the firm’s internal staff on the Microsoft PowerBI platform (data analysis, visualization, cube design), and maintenance of the platform over time.

 

Impact

The integration of data sources helped improve operational efficiency, which allowed for better resource allocation at the firm. For executive management, the integration of data helped them gain a cross-sectional view of the company’s performance, which facilitated better decision making. Also, by decommissioning legacy systems, we were able to eliminate tens of thousands of dollars in annual maintenance costs.