Data Democratization in Practice: Lessons in building a Data Community

In 2019, Interfood transitioned from Oracle BI to Tableau, bringing them closer to achieving data democratization. Inspired by this concept, Interfood decided to embark on the journey of implementing data democratization. They appointed "Data Champions" within the company, individuals from the business who would work closely with data, collaborate with the global team, and have the ability to build their own reports.

Since then, our community has grown to include over 50 champions in our global offices, and the reports created by these champions are viewed by hundreds of their colleagues. When we initially started this endeavor, we were uncertain about the outcome. However, the Data Community has now become an integral part of our company's DNA. As of this year, I have officially taken on the role of "Community Builder" in addition to being a Data Analyst.

We are now progressing to the next phase of maturity for our community, which involves implementing an official learning path and reward system. After our first years of data democratization, we feel prepared to share the lessons we have learned in the initial years of building and rolling out the Data Community. We will discuss our successes, failures, and the valuable insights gained throughout the process of establishing a Data Community from scratch.