Ken Schram Email Address

Team Builder and Business-to-Geek Translator and Data Guy and Creative Thinker and Dot Connector

Wipfli is one of the top accounting firms and a leading provider of tax, audit and accounting services solutions, and business consulting in the US.

Producing data costs money. A minimal investment, however, compared to the expense incurred when organizations fail to manage their data. Does this sound familiar? • You get a request to produce a report using data stored across disparate systems and there's no way to connect the dots. • You're directed to "make the systems talk to one another". • The integration breaks a number of processes no one knew about. It takes weeks to fix. • You can now produce the report, but the data quality is so bad no one trusts the information. • Despite an extensive search, no one accepts ownership of the data or the business processes that produce it. Sound expensive? You're nodding your head, aren't you? Yet all around us people talk about digital transformation, data science, ML, AI, predictive analytics … Data is one of our MOST valuable assets! An ASSET? How many companies would be alright with not knowing who's responsible for managing their inventory or receivables? Hey! Anyone know where our cash is? That's why while our team has a necessary focus on evolving cutting edge capabilities (like Azure DW, ADF, Power BI, Predictive Analytics, ML\AI, etc.), we're placing an equal emphasis on maturing our organization's ability to manage that very valuable asset - Data! In order to be truly data-driven, it's not enough to just expose reports and dashboards. Our stakeholders need to understand where the data comes from, how it relates and who is responsible for ensuring its accuracy. Processes must be designed with specific outcomes in mind and the platforms and underlying data must be positioned to support those needs. Whether helping to promote understanding, align ownership, integrate systems or enable tools that increase data value, our team's mission is to help our organization realize a truly fact-based culture. One in which its data asset is trusted, secured, and capable of producing a return that drives and shapes our future. Our dots will connect! Will yours?