SITUATION:
A small US-based startup with a team of 70 employees, which sells digital licenses online for a technology solution, faced challenges in handling their growing volume and complexity of sales data. The data collected through a website lacked normalization, leading to issues with data quality and making it difficult to make informed business decisions.
The main challenges faced by the client included:
- Abnormalized data from the sales system, making it difficult to consolidate and analyze.
- Redundant entries due to inconsistent naming conventions for the same company.
- A lack of clear processes for customer creation and opportunity tracking.
- Poor data quality, hindering effective decision-making.
SOLUTION:
To address these issues, Nextant engaged with the client through a flexible, month-to-month project engagement, focused on building tools to help normalize the sales data to be consumed in Power BI for generating actionable reports.
Key steps included:
Data Normalization: Using SQL Server, data was cleansed, purged, and standardized.
Tool Enhancements: A simplified process and tool were developed to intake source files that were previously dispersed and for refining metric definitions required for better data quality and decision-making.
Centralized Repository: Migration to a centralized Azure SQL repository to enable data mining on revenue management.
Weekly Process Optimization: A weekly process of 4 to 6 hours was established to clean and manage data effectively.
Technical Consultancy: Provided ongoing technical consultancy to guide the client in their sales development efforts.
RESULTS AND IMPACT
The initial project lasted approximately three months and achieved the following outcomes:
Improved Data Quality: Enhanced data quality enabled the client to make better-informed decisions, which was previously challenging due to segmented and inconsistent data.
Efficient Data Management: A streamlined process reduced redundancy and ensured consistent naming conventions. The new process was reduced to 4-6 hours from previously up to 40 hours.
Better Reporting: With data normalized and integrated into Power BI, the client could create more accurate and insightful reports.
Time Savings: The new process significantly reduced the time required for data management each week.
Enhanced Decision-Making: With improved data quality and more reliable reports, the client could make strategic decisions with confidence.
Operational Efficiency: The optimized weekly data management process saved valuable time and resources.
Scalable Solutions: As the business continues to grow, the improved data management system provides a scalable foundation to support future needs.
Financial Insights: The centralized repository and data mining capabilities provided deeper insights into revenue management, supporting the financial health of the company.
Nextant’s engagement with the client has been a testament to the power of effective data management and the importance of high-quality data for business decision-making. The ongoing collaboration highlights the trust and value placed in Nextant’s expertise. As the client continues to expand, the solutions provided will support their evolving needs, ensuring they remain agile and data-driven in their approach.
