My First Year in the Data & Analytics World!

For those that don’t already know, I’ve just celebrated my 12 month milestone with Rittman Mead (RM) who are the leading data consultancy in the Oracle Analytics space.

When I was initially approached about joining a data analytics consultancy, I’ll be honest, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. I’m one of the millions who have their data used every day and never give a second thought to what goes on behind the scenes every time you sign up to a loyalty card or leave your details during a restaurant booking. I without a doubt still have a lot to learn, but what a year it’s been…

I wasn’t eased in slowly that’s for sure! I went to the Oracle City Office on my first day, where Rittman Mead were hosting a workshop on Predicting London Crime using Oracle Analytics. I have a background in the tech world and thought I knew my stuff to a degree but wow, I was completely blown away by the presentation our technical team delivered. The topic was how using a tool can transform the way our National Police Force can effectively plan for the future, it was really interesting to think that something technical would enable our police force on the ground, I’d never thought of it like that before.

The more I thought about it, the more I realised the extent companies across the UK and globally are now using data as a source to gain insights and make informed decisions. I was so excited to be part of our customer’s journey, not only to be educated but to hopefully educate in return.

My first few months I focused on overseeing our training engagements and support services to Oracle Analytics users. This was great for me as I like to view myself as a problem solver. Rittman Mead’s knowledge and experience is now my toolkit, and the business results are my guiding force. I settled into the team that widely delivers strategy and consultancy with the mission of sharing our knowledge and ensuring clients are getting the most out of their data. The industry is forever evolving, and I’ve seen my fair share of changes in this short space of time.

Those changes have seen the emergence of Oracle Analytics Server. Apologies if you’re already an Oracle Analytics Server user but for those that aren’t, upgrading to OAS enables existing OBIEE customers to modernise their analytics while having the flexibility to move to the cloud (whether public or private) at their own pace. A personal highlight for me is the fact you’ll get to experience self-service data visualisation for the first time and have the most modern analytics user experience, which will of course help drive innovation.

With the long term goal of moving clients to the cloud, opportunities around user adoption have emerged with clients wanting to ensure that not only is the system supported efficiently but that users are getting the most out of their tool.

I’ve had an opportunity to learn and grow with some of the world's leading technical consultants and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. If I was to make any sort of prediction for the near future I’m confident that with the current climate, data volumes will continue to increase. With everything moving online it will be an opportunity for organisations to identify further opportunities and those that get it right will really flourish.

I grew up wanting to be a footballer (still secretly waiting for my call up from Gareth Southgate). Never did I think I would find a passion in the data analytics industry, I solely put this down to the knowledge I have gained from our expert consultants and my team members, they are beacons of information and I’m excited to continue learning and helping clients for many years to come. 

Dan Garrod - Rittman Mead