Recently my team had a strategic review call with one of our newer clients. We love to dedicate time to elevate out of the day-to-day with our clients and talk big picture. It’s a great time to reflect on what’s going well, brainstorm about what could be going better, and make sure we are both up to speed on each other’s overall strategic initiatives.
During this call, the client likened their data journey to baking a cake. I’ve been thinking about this analogy non-stop since the conversation. What a perfect—and delicious—way to visualize the process of designing and executing a data strategy!
- Decide on what type of cake to have – choose your data warehouse tool(s)
- Mix the batter – incorporate your chosen data integrations and workflow modules
- Bake the cake – install, integrate, validate and repeat until smooth
- Decorate – build reports and dashboards
- Serve the cake – push out reports and dashboards throughout the organization
The client we were speaking to is deep in the “bake the cake” phase. And they are baking a BIG cake with lots of integrations and lots of workflow modules, which of course takes time. But when people start to smell that delicious aroma, they tend to get excited, anxious, and maybe even a little impatient. Everyone just wants a slice of the cake!
This is a great problem to have because it points to a financial institution where people are truly craving data and insights. The client summed up beautifully with one simple line: “We are looking forward to the sprinkles.”