Bringing Technical and Enterprise Groups Along with Atlan
The Lively Metadata Pioneers collection options Atlan prospects who’ve accomplished a radical analysis of the Lively Metadata Administration market. Paying ahead what you’ve discovered to the following knowledge chief is the true spirit of the Atlan group! So that they’re right here to share their hard-earned perspective on an evolving market, what makes up their trendy knowledge stack, revolutionary use circumstances for metadata, and extra.
On this installment of the collection, we meet Kevin Nutbrown, Senior Knowledge Analyst at International Excel Administration, a medical price containment and claims administration firm, processing over $1.9 billion in medical claims yearly throughout greater than 90 nations. Kevin shares the historical past of how his group has grown, and the way Atlan will play a key position in driving Knowledge Governance and interesting with their enterprise colleagues.
This interview has been edited for brevity and readability.
May you inform us a bit about your self, your background, and your crew at International Excel?
I’ve been at International Excel for 28 years, and I’ve seen the corporate develop from a small operation dealing with claims for Canadians touring outdoors of the nation to the worldwide chief it’s at the moment. After we have been simply beginning out, leveraging knowledge as an asset was a comparatively new idea, and our methods have been fundamental. I bought interested in how we may higher handle our knowledge, so I began determining how tables related and learn how to pull the knowledge we would have liked, which led me into the world of Knowledge & Analytics.
I ultimately went again to highschool and picked up a Certificates in Pc Science to enrich my enterprise diploma. That gave me the muse to assist construct our data methods as the corporate grew.
Our crew is now divided into two elements: the Knowledge Crew, which pulls knowledge from completely different sources and units it up for reporting, and the Analytics Crew, which makes certain that knowledge is introduced in a manner that’s simple to know.
My position is form of within the center. I’m not a programmer, but when there’s a venture that requires knowledge trade between shoppers, for instance, I’ll help with that in addition to different initiatives, resembling implementing a knowledge catalog.
Why seek for an Lively Metadata Administration resolution? What was lacking?
As International Excel grew, the necessity for a extra structured and built-in method to knowledge administration grew to become clear. We lacked a unified system to doc and handle our knowledge, resulting in inefficiencies and inconsistencies ensuing with these of us who’ve been right here for a very long time up being a useful resource.
As an example, now we have a desk known as ‘Declare’ in a single system, and one other desk known as ‘Declare’ in a distinct system, however they’re not the identical factor. Consequently, completely different groups may use the time period ‘Declare’ in another way, relying on the system they’re working with, which creates confusion and discrepancies in reporting.
When completely different groups pull knowledge and get completely different outcomes, it’s irritating and time-consuming to determine why. That’s why we began on the lookout for an answer; a solution to deliver the whole lot collectively in a single place, so we’d all be on the identical web page.
We would have liked a solution to deliver the whole lot collectively in a single place and enhance our Knowledge Governance, so we knew who was accountable for what. Our objective was to make sure that everybody, from technical groups to enterprise customers, had a shared understanding of our knowledge property to enhance accuracy and confidence within the knowledge.
Did something stand out throughout your analysis course of?
What stood out was Atlan AI, the best way lineage is introduced, and the overall “intuitiveness” of the instrument.
Particularly for individuals that aren’t technically oriented, or not on the info crew, if you wish to know what “Declare” is, Atlan will provide you with Google-style outcomes. The glossary permits the enterprise to work together with knowledge and is an effective manner to make sure we’re talking the identical language in terms of our metrics and phrases.
This ease of use and concentrate on collaboration between technical and non-technical groups was a key differentiator. It was clear that Atlan wouldn’t solely assist us handle our knowledge extra successfully but additionally foster higher communication and understanding throughout the group.
How have you ever applied Atlan, thus far? What’s subsequent?
Atlan is built-in with Snowflake and MSSQL, permitting the info crew to shortly discover lineage, entry any attainable impression of modifications and effectively navigate our knowledge panorama. This integration has considerably streamlined our onboarding course of for brand spanking new crew members, who can now shortly achieve visibility into our knowledge platform with out sifting by means of advanced SQL queries or a number of tables. Immediately, that was a key win.
Relating to Knowledge Governance, we see Atlan as a instrument that we are able to construct on high of. We now have a a lot clearer understanding of who can entry what knowledge, particularly in terms of delicate data like PII. It’s not only a theoretical dialogue anymore, it’s one thing we’re actively managing.
What’s forthcoming is getting extra readability round enterprise definitions and knowledge possession. It’s necessary for us to know who’s accountable for what, and to verify everybody agrees on the that means of our knowledge property. This may assist us keep away from confusion and make it simpler for our enterprise customers to resolve issues on their very own, with out at all times having to show to the tech crew for solutions.
It’s encouraging to know that we’ll have individuals accountable for sure knowledge, and that it is going to be easy for the enterprise to know what it’s and who to ask about it. It implies that if anyone sees a quantity go up or down, they’ll know what it means and the place it got here from through the use of Atlan, quite than asking us first. Downside-solving will probably be of their fingers, and that’s extra of a “individuals” than tech drawback, however requires a little bit of setup to allow it. It’s serving to us shift a number of the duty to the enterprise customers, which is precisely what we would have liked.
We’ve achieved a whole lot of work to resolve ‘knowledge points’, and I’m hopeful that Atlan will give us the leverage to shift to a extra data-driven company tradition.
Photograph by Martha Dominguez de Gouveia on Unsplash