BI Consultancy & Training - Getting The Most From Your Data
We firmly believe in collaboration and empowerment. We work closely with our clients to ensure that not only do they get the business intelligence solution they want, but that it's also one they can control, manage, support and grow independently long term. We create a partnership with our clients, offering a collaborative and mentoring style of consultancy blended with coaching, training and education, if required.
It's all about the data!
There are now huge expectations for every business to deliver effective, data-driven decision making. This means your IT, Management Information (MI) and Business Intelligence (BI) teams are under enormous pressure to produce accurate, insightful and engaging dashboards.
Is it a big ask?
Yes! Just think about all the sources of data, how frequently they can grab it, how much they can get at any one time, and what shape it's in. Not to mention the dual challenges of relating all the different data sources, and calculating complex performance metrics involving various expressions and formulae. On top of all this, those key performance metrics need to be presented in a beautiful, attractive, accessible yet impactful and interactive manner.
Data is complicated even though the end product may look simple. Does your team have all the skills required to achieve the full potential of your data management and business intelligence requirements? Your team may have some of the required skillsets and knowledge or none at all. To maximise the potential of your data, you need to start somewhere. And we can help.
Here's an outline of the typical journey you'll go through to build a successful business intelligence solution:
Each data journey has many stages. And we need to focus a great deal of attention on every stage, to achieve effective, trustworthy and reliable dashboards and reports.
To get the greatest success from your BI solution, you need to plan your learning journey to match your data journey.
The learning path for BI solutions - everything you need to know.
As well as the ability to work with a myriad of data sources (such as Oracle & SQL Server data warehouses, NetSuite, SAP, Nav, Dynamics), for a successful business intelligence solution your team will need knowledge of:
- Data source native APIs
- Data source proprietary APIs
- SQL Server database and data warehouse design
- SQL and TSQL scripting
- SQL Query Performance & Tuning
- SQL Server Integration Services
- SQL Server Reporting Services
- SQL Server Analysis Services Multi-dimensional
- SQL Server Analysis Services Tabular
- On-premise server architecture & management
- Azure infrastructure implementation and management
- On-premise and Azure security
- Networking infrastructure
- Data profiling and capacity planning
- Data cleansing
- Data quality and cataloging
- Azure Data Lake
- Azure Data Factory
- Azure Synapse
- Power BI Data Flows
- Power BI Shared Datasets
- Power BI PowerQuery
- Power BI Modelling
- DAX
- Power BI Pro or Premium implementation and management
- Power BI report design
- AI & ML
- Azure & Power BI Licensing
- Power Platform
- Microsoft Fabric
So how do you get started? There are three options...
1) Upskill your team
You could send staff on training or ask them to research online and self teach. This is the cheapest option, but results tend to be slow. It usually takes much longer for someone to reach a full understanding and achieve learning goals with only self-teaching and self-paced online learning.
You could send them on an instructor-led training course. This is usually a much faster method of knowledge transfer, and they will get the benefit of interacting directly with an instructor which means they can ask questions to further their education and learning experience.
But consider whether simply learning to use new tools will meet your needs...do you need an expert to architect an overall data solution as well? How can you future-proof for evolving business needs?
2) Hire consultants
An external consultant or consultancy provider could come in to design and implement a solution for you. This will be faster and will deliver an efficient solution that meets your business needs. But will it leave your team feeling confident and able to take over control and support of the new solution? Can you run with this new setup? Or are you likely to encounter issues after the consultant leaves?
3) A hybrid - the best of both worlds
We highly recommend a blended approach. Our expert Business Intelligence Consultancy and implementation experience blended with educating and mentoring your team through a mix of on-the-job coaching and more formal, instructor-led or self-paced online learning.
- Training cannot replace experience, but it can complement experience.
- Experience could replace training, but may leave gaps in knowledge and understanding.
With our collaborative approach, you benefit from:
- Our wealth of experience architecting the best solution for your data journey and business intelligence needs.
- A speedy return on investment, with an efficiently run project and achievable milestones.
- A team that's genuinely able to support and evolve the solution, and become self-sufficient.
So how can we help your team achieve your goals?
We understand data, we understand the underlying architecture and infrastructure, and we understand the real value of your data. We always work hard to fully understand our client's business and the data challenges unique to their organisation.
We can mentor, support, educate and nurture your team. We are more than just a training company or just a consultancy company, we have been working with clients in data management and analytics for over 30 years, providing a collaborative style of project implementation with a blended solution of consultancy, training and support. So whether you're looking for a partner to deliver an entire data journey solution for you, or one who can work alongside your team to plug the knowledge gaps and guide them through a project, we can offer a flexible solution for you.
Our instructors are all experts in their field with hands-on, real-world experience. They're passionate, enthusiastic and engaging and love passing their knowledge onto others in the classroom. Our consultants are all highly skilled in their fields and wonderful communicators. By blending our skills into consultative training, or mentoring consultancy we can really help you to get the most from your team and your systems.
We would love to help you navigate a way through your data journey, and help you to develop a long-term solution that genuinely works for your business. Call us on 0118 979 4000 or email us at info@ptr.co.uk and we can discuss your needs.
About PTR
PTR has held Microsoft accreditation since 2005, currently holding Gold Partner Status for Data Platform and Data Analytics. We have been working with clients on Data Strategy, Analytics and Business Intelligence solutions for over 30 years across a wide range of platforms and vendor solutions. We pride ourselves on combining first rate technical skills with an ability to communicate complex ideas, technology, and data effectively, and working with clients to develop a deep understanding of their business processes and data objectives.
