Summit Launchpad: Aqueducts Consulting’s Joe Christensen Describes New BI and Reporting Tool
In this “Summit Launchpad” interview, recorded while on location at Community Summit North America 2024, Jason Gumpert, Editor, MSDynamicsWorld.com, is joined by Joe Christensen, Managing Partner, Aqueducts Consulting.
Key Takeaways
- New product announcement: After years of working behind the scenes and freelancing, Aqueducts Consulting decided to offer its data services at a fixed price and outcome through its product, Conduit BI. This led to the creation of “The Report Factory,” a new concept to streamline and market our data solutions effectively.
- Reporting reliability: Christensen explains that the organization’s goal is to have every end-user company establish their own “Report Factory” to ensure the reliability of their BI and reporting. It aims to empower teams to quickly learn new technologies and become self-sufficient within six weeks, rather than relying on the partner for ongoing reporting work.
- Client feedback: Initially, clients were tense about the cost and scope of BI projects, but delivering full value within the first six weeks built trust and led to more work requests. This approach proved successful as clients appreciated the quick and effective delivery, leading to expanded project scopes and ongoing collaboration.
- Role of Fabric in data projects: When Satya Nadella embraced open-source, Delta Lake became integrated into Azure tools, offering a powerful solution for high-volume data projects, though it requires Python. Microsoft Fabric aims to simplify this process, making Delta Lake features more accessible and encouraging users to proof of concept (POC) their BI solutions with tools like OneLake and Direct Lake for real-time updates and efficient data handling.
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