By Jay Jakosky, Senior Consultant
I love helping customers with their data. I love the flash of insight on their faces when long-lost data is dug up and displayed. The sense of relief is palpable. The data is theirs again. It’s not locked away and hidden.
Business Discovery is more than “Who sold what to whom?” You discover new patterns and forgotten facts. It feels like the deep ocean of data is brought right up to the surface, available at a moment’s notice and navigable at the speed of thought.
What I love about Business Discovery tools is how it shines like a giant flood light. Everything is illuminated, good and bad. At first, customers are surprised to see bad data. Orders from the 18th century? Eight different spellings for the same customer? Every customer, large and small, suffers from bad data.
Seeing bad data is the catalyst for change, not only of the data, but also the processes that generate it. This is how Business Discovery reaches out to every area of the business and begins to transform it. And the light gets brighter.
Change accelerates as people gain certainty with their data. When the answers are available, immediate and reliable they shift to relying on it all the time. This changes the day-to-day conversations. People talk about what’s measurable and actionable because they can see it. They talk about how they can get more visibility and accelerate change: how they can shine a brighter light. And the transformation continues.
This is what propels me to work with Business Discovery tools. It causes genuine, measurable, perceptible change in people, their work and the company as a whole.
About the Author
Jay Jakosky, a Senior Consultant at Bardess, has been working with business intelligence, business software and databases for over 20 years. He is a passionate advocate for technology and business. For him, business intelligence is about seeing reality and driving action. He would love to talk your ear off about the coming leap forward in business software made possible by big-data technologies, social business intelligence systems and advances in human-computer interaction. “I live at the intersection of business and technology where a geek like me gets to transform companies and help people every day. I love understanding my customers–their goals, challenges, and long-shot hopes–and building tools that make new things possible. Any company could achieve this with focus and time. I do it lightening fast, which means more iterations, more exploration and faster payback. I have an outstanding set of tools. And I’m extraordinarily fortunate to have the passion for technology and the experience in so many companies.”
