Understanding the value of data in business

How we process data in our systems

We use data warehouse tools to collect, transform, and present business-relevant data. We often combine data from several different sources and provide actionable insights for businesses through e.g. an app or dashboards.

Data is the answer

I believe that if we have the data, we have the answers — we just need to uncover them. When using data from different sources and transforming it, we need to understand the whole flow, so we always know what's going on, even if something seems to be off. Some of the sources we integrate with are based on human administration, which could potentially lead to unintentional mistakes. Proper data processing has also helped us many times to identify errors in the data we receive from external sources. That makes our data collection the source of truth.

One example of how we handled data from multiple sources is a project we delivered to one of our clients back in 2023. We wrote about it in a case study: From data chaos to clarity: Revolutionizing organizational insights.

Looking at details

The data must contain all the information businesses need for their operations. But on the technical side, it’s important to maintain the correct granularity and history of the data. We collect the data, anonymize it, then store it. This way, we ensure our data is protected and ready to be used for both the end-user app and stakeholders for detailed reporting.  

That also prepares us for unexpected cases when a client is surprised; we have the answer. With just a bit of extra work, we can highlight any exceptional cases, usage analysis, and data changes so there are no mysteries, and everything is under control. All this work helps us to catch rare events and understand them.  

We can learn a lot about current trends and changes over time just by looking at the data. It makes it easy to pull up reports at any time from any day, giving us more ways to find solutions proactively and to be helpful to the business.

Key benefits

The most important part of using data this way is that it allows us to make decisions based on facts. We can observe how people use things, try out new ideas, and see the results—all based on real data. This means we're not just guessing; we're making informed choices.

My thoughts

I really think using data in this way is an excellent approach. There is often much more information than we realize, and with a bit of "how-to" knowledge, we can unveil it. Often the work with data — the transformations and investigations — can be time-consuming or tedious. But once the well-prepared data is there, it becomes the unshakable core of the system. It provides valuable information, safety, control, and flexibility, and I think it’s worth it.