Unusual approach for data analysis, Business insights first, Fundaments later

Groendus is a new Company in clean and sustainable energy. The company was created from a merger of seven companies, (Solar, LMS / charging stations, Metering, Energy Service, Energy Marketplace, Energy steering). which brought a variety of IT-solutions, and legacy. Within one year all data and most applications has been migrated to Azure, integrated to one company. However it was set up in a reversed way, from reporting & insights to data, from data to data lakehouse, from data lakehouse to source. Business insights first, the fundaments and backbone later. The approach looks very successful, a good reason to share insights.

At the start an overall view in company insights was an urgent requirement. In stead of building integrations and solid solutions, the data of the seven companies was dumped in a data warehouse, and the first reports were created within four weeks. And here the data driven journey also started. With the availability of all relevant insights there was more time to setup the required central components in a solid way, like a data lakehouse, common data model, data science, CRM, security by design, infrastructure as code, etc.

Starting points:
- Start with the business; What are the goals, what is the biggest desire?
- Get a view on the As-Is situation, the landscape, risks, costs, bottlenecks
- What will be the fundament of IT and the business?
- Embed security in all steps - Buy before build, do not try to invent the wheel again
- Independent teams and domains, look for minimal dependencies
- Choose the right partners who can help you, and pwho fits the company best.
- Get the definitions clear: Are we talking about the same Business Objects?
Of course, this will be explained further with real examples.

Lesson learned:
Don't be afraid to make decisions, and start quickly; adjustments always can be made. Determine your biggest cost, risk, or fear and tackle them.