We graduated in IT together and are now Business Partners of TeamValue.

The world of Business Intelligence

Xander and Anton both graduated from the same IT company. They may not be millennial kids, but in 2000 they quickly realized that BI technology from Microsoft would become increasingly important. We were already following developments closely. Where BI used to be more about analysing data from the past and learning from it, now it's much more about the then-now. The system will soon predict for you when you will have a problem even before you know it yourself and what the risks will be. After fourteen years of working and developing myself within the IT sector, I started thinking. One day I wanted to start my own business and guess what... Anton thought the same thing!'' The moment he traded in his desk for the kitchen table, it wasn't even a few months before I got a call while I was on holiday. 'Hey Xander, are you coming to help me out? It's boring here on my own!' So actually I started at TeamValue as employee number 1.

"They call me the head geek here at TeamValue and I'm pretty proud of that!"

Digital safe

When it comes to physical stuff, we always keep a close eye on our possessions. When it comes to data (something that is just as valuable or perhaps even more valuable but less visible), until recently we did not often talk about its security. But in my view, a data warehouse where we store all the data is simply a digital safe. We make data transparent and reports understandable and usable for the entire organisation. This can range from financial accounting, time registration, operational activities to survey results. In fact, we turn data into usable information. Organisations are often looking at costs and benefits, but it's much more about getting 'moving'. See BI as a solution to this.

My message? Move to the cloud! Get more value out of your data with Azure and PowerBI. Use this cleverly within your organisation''.

Here the collaboration between our Azure Developers and Business Intelligencespecialists is immediately noticeable.

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New generation of BI consultants

The great thing about working at an ambitious club with IT people, but also Agile Coaches, is that as an 'old hand' in the business I can share my knowledge with for example our new Junior Consultant Pjotter. Have you read his blog about why he is our Sherlock Holmes? Soon I will hand over my first customer I served at TeamValue to Pjotter. In just a few months time he has developed into a pro in the field of BI. So I still find it fun and useful to stay involved in architecture monitoring, but I have full confidence that he will go far'.

'Where I used to complete the Business Administration Information Technology course, in my team I see colleagues from different backgrounds. I have seen the team grow and that makes it so valuable'. Almost all of us have a different MBTI profile, but we are all 'part of the family' to stay in our OHANA terminology.

"Our work does need to be a bit exciting and challenging, even a 'datanerd' doesn't need to be bored. You have to think of it this way: your comfort zone has long since ceased to hold any secrets for you."

Developments are so rapid that everything you did yesterday becomes routine and doing nothing is standing still. That's simply not in our DNA'.

The TeamValue

'We have a holistic approach, are not afraid to tackle, are ambitious and have guts'. On the other hand, we build business-critical applications for customers that must not fall over and we are good at that. Organisations that are not quite sure how to take the step to the cloud or Azure or are experiencing internal resistance often come to us. Having independent insight into data is also a much-heard wish. We call this Self-service BI. As a Business Intelligence Consultant it is a great challenge to bridge the gap between business, governance and IT.

Kim, one of our Agile Coaches had a conversation with me and Pjotter when she started. Kim said the following: ''I thought, if you're the head nerd then it can't be too bad''. To which Xander replied: ''We don't really employ nerds, but consultants. They are technically very skilled, but they are also able to tell a story and stand up for it.

From rear view mirror to predictive analytics

Who does not know Google. We use it for anything and everything. You even get a notification of what time you have to leave for your location if you have an appointment at ten o'clock. This principle is the dream of every BI'er to make this happen with organisation data and business processes.

What occupies us most? We start the day with a stand-up, a meeting here and there with various stakeholders and in between making designs for data warehousing. Through our network, we also have many discussions with Microsoft. Once every three weeks, we have a sprint, retro and demo day on Wednesday. On Thursdays, I often work all day on location at the customer. At the moment we are working with 145 people on a large project where developers, architects, testers and managers are involved! That is super cool. On Fridays I am always in Zwolle'.

"Once upon a time I started working within BI, because it literally drove me 'crazy' that nobody was really doing anything with reports. The question I asked myself was: how do I ensure that everyone gets the right information at the right time to make decisions based on this? That still drives me every day."

Where Joost-Jan makes the comparison with lego blocks, I think my work has a lot to do with solving sudokus. Is that typically something for BI people? I have no idea. What I do know is that Pjotter received this as a present for his birthday.

Do you belong or want to belong to the new generation of Business Intelligence Consultants? Then grab your chance now!