Data Consulting Services

Data lives everywhere inside your organisation. The (not-so-hidden) secret is that many companies don't know how to use it. Often, they don't have the means to use it. It's time to make your organisation data-centric.

Data Consulting Services

Data lives everywhere inside your organisation. The (not-so-hidden) secret is that many companies don't know how to use it. Often, they don't have the means to use it. It's time to make your organisation data-centric.
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companies who trust The Virtual Forge with their DATA

End-to-end data consulting services

Our data consulting services are designed to help you quickly get to the heart of the data, producing the necessary solutions for your problem. 

We can help pinpoint where your challenge sits and suggest ways of pragmatically solving it using best of breed processes and / or tools.

As experts in data-driven solutions, we make your data organised, accessible, and easily understood so that you can extract its full value.

We will prepare you for a data-led future.

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Empowering organisations​ with data-driven insights

We understand that a data problem is a business problem. By focussing on that and understanding the real goals, we can try to get the best - and most pragmatic - solution for you.

Our data consultants will help you build a solid foundation for data excellence with our business intelligence capabilities, creating advanced technical infrastructure, efficient data flows, and fully integrated quality and monitoring controls to make your data work harder for you.

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Data Migration

A fast, reliable, and secure data migration service that guarantees minimal disruption to your business. Through the expertise gained through multiple data projects, our experts are able to handle every aspect of your migration process, starting from strategy and development to managing documents and content.

Data Quality

The Virtual Forge Data Consultants possess the expertise, frameworks, and hands-on experience to guarantee reliable data quality. It doesn't matter the stage you are in your data quality journey, we are fully prepared to assist you.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Cutting-edge practices, advanced frameworks, and extensive experience to deliver high-quality artificial intelligence and machine learning services. That's what our experts bring to the table.

Our team is ready to support you at any stage of the AI and ML journey, ensuring optimal performance and trusted results, from initial strategy and model development to deployment and ongoing maintenance.

Data Visualisation

Whether your goal is to gain insights into business-wide progress and performance indicators, streamline reporting across departments, or transition from manual Excel-style reporting, our data visualisation services provide the perfect solution to meet your specific business analytics requirements.

Data Governance

In order to keep up with evolving operating models, businesses need to start effectively managing their data. Data governance plays a crucial role in not only improving the value of data for operational efficiency, decision-making, and regulatory compliance but also in mitigating the risks associated with inadequate data management.

Our team of Data Governance experts are eager to understand your business objectives, assess existing compliance levels, and mitigate the risks associated with data quality issues. By adhering to data protection protocols, we assist you in fortifying your Data Governance framework, ensuring effective management and safeguarding of your data.

Data Strategy

A data strategy extends beyond a singular data project; it serves as the bedrock for businesses to drive greater value from their data and the flexibility to adapt data practices as demands expand and new technologies arise. It provides the necessary foundation for unlocking the full potential of data assets and staying responsive to evolving needs.

Giving data its due importance

The story of your business is told by the data it produces. This information, if it’s treated properly, can improve operational decision-making and support competitive advantage. Alternatively, it often creates misinformation, inefficiency, and business risk.

Our consultancy approach enables us to address both traditional and emerging data challenges that organisations often encounter. If you're facing challenges such as poor data quality, governance gaps, a lack of relevant data, or doubts about your data's reliability, or if you're dealing with emerging issues like harnessing data in AI, securing data in machine learning, or ensuring GDPR compliance through data anonymisation, we possess the necessary expertise to support you.

Insight mapping

At The Virtual Forge, we bring together a team of technologists, specialists, and business intelligence professionals who collaborate to align business outcomes with underlying data. Designing a consistent data strategy with us will allow you to accurately gauge the impact and effectiveness of your actions, ensuring measurable results.

In-line governance

Through expert guidance and implementation of robust data management practices, businesses can enhance the accuracy, completeness, and reliability of their data, ensuring its integrity.

Reliable growth

Our data consulting services provide businesses with the expertise and guidance needed to leverage emerging technologies and data-driven approaches. Consultants can assist in exploring advanced analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to uncover new opportunities, drive innovation, and gain a competitive edge in the market.

Data storytelling made easy

If you have a structure that does not understand or want to engage with the data created in all your dashboards, we can help you bring out the stories, relevance and information that they need.

Embrace the future and start your data-driven journey with us today.

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Why The Virtual Forge?

Our data consulting services aid visionary leaders in their pursuit of gaining a competitive edge for their companies and enhancing operational efficiencies by leveraging the potential of their data. 

A team of creative and analytical minds leverage cutting-edge technologies and out-of-the-box thinking to deliver innovative software solutions. We’re always on the lookout for new technologies that can enhance our offer, helping our clients materialise their needs into new systems that streamline their business processes.

Innovation

Quality is our core focus. Our team ensures high standards through rigorous quality assurance processes, thorough testing, code reviews, and continuous improvement.

Quality

Our track record is a testament to our reliability. Always by our client’s side, ensuring that nothing is left to chance. With our commitment to excellence, we pride ourselves on delivering dependable solutions that businesses can trust. 

Reliability

A The Virtual Forge Divider

Effective data relies on well-established processes

Our multi step data consulting process is designed to allow The Virtual Forge to provide end-to-end support in resolving your problems or implementing your data designs.

A special mix of science and analytics to determine what kind of data your business needs, perfectly aligning your strategy with your business vision. We’ll ensure you’re looking for the right data, finding it quickly, and turning it into revenue building insight.

1

Engagement

Establishing mutual agreement on the data tasks The Virtual Forge experts will undertake, the necessary inputs, and the anticipated delivery timeline. It serves as the foundation for fostering understanding and trust in the start of a collaborative journey.

2

Understanding

To thoroughly understand your unique data challenges, we delve into specific aspects of your business. This entails actively engaging with stakeholders to gain insights into your business processes and collaborating closely with IT professionals to comprehend how data change processes integrate within your network. Our team excels at determining the essential information required for a comprehensive understanding and devising highly effective methods to obtain it. Recognising the convergence of IT and business processes, we acknowledge that data serves as a vital resource for software, processes, and individuals alike. Therefore, a holistic solution necessitates a comprehensive grasp of these interconnected facets.

3

Solving

Presenting the suggestions and proposals for resolving your challenges. This can take the form of a comprehensive document or through face-to-face meetings.

4

Delivering

Once the solution is agreed upon, plan execution takes place, with a robust governance framework. Regular communication throughout the whole progress is given, ensuring transparency and accountability.

Tools & Technologies

We have the capability to deliver the best visualization solution for your technology setting. With our proficiency in various visualization tools such as Tableau, Power BIQlik, or QuickSight, we can work within various technological ecosystems and provide the professional assurance you require from your data partner.

Our approach is pragmatic. Our goal is the delivery of accurate and effective data dashboards that will integrate seamlessly into your existing operations and help reduce the cost often associated with the effort behind the manual production of traditional BI solutions.

Data consulting services tools and technologies

Cutting-edge technologies and instruments are employed throughout our process. It couldn't be differently. If we want to build the best, we need to leverage the best.

Staying quiet and static is not part of our core. All our professionals are constantly learning and staying up to date with current certifications, trends, and requirements within the industry - always reaching out to provide the highest quality services to our clients.

Case studies

Customers of varying scales and industries consistently rely on The Virtual Forge’s data-driven custom software solutions to expand their businesses. Find out more about how this works in practice, and have a look at some of our case studies, covering a diverse range of projects. We are proud of our work, and you can now see why.

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Magnaflux

Helping a global leader in nondestructive testing solutions drive their data to better efficiency

The Virtual Forge was approached by Magnaflux to make recommendations around their Power BI reporting on global financial data. As the global leader in non-destructive testing, Magnaflux have been a part of the world’s progress helping develop safer parts for cars, jet liners and infrastructures.

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Sterling

Post-Acquisition Data Migration

Data quality and transformation activities needed to happen rapidly to ensure no loss of service quality for clients.

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SEGA

Consolidation and Optimisation of Power BI Reporting

SEGA, a multinational video game company, found themselves in a situation where they have grown in their use of Power BI to a point where it was difficult to navigate and maintain consistency. The selected The Virtual Forge to help them optimise and consolidate their Power BI Reporting.

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Data Consulting

FAQs

How long does it take to execute an AI project?

The time required to execute an AI project can vary depending on several factors, including the complexity of the problem, the availability and quality of data, the scope of the project, and the specific requirements. Some AI projects can be completed in a matter of weeks, while others may take several months or longer. It is crucial to thoroughly analyse the project requirements, assess the data availability, and develop a comprehensive project plan to estimate the timeline accurately.

How do I know that I need AI to solve my problem?

If you are facing challenges that involve processing large amounts of data, identifying complex patterns, making predictions, automating tasks, or improving decision-making based on data-driven insights, AI may be a suitable solution. Consulting with our experts can help assess your specific problem and determine if AI is the right approach to address it effectively.

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that can perform tasks, learn, and make decisions. Machine Learning (ML) is a subset of AI that focuses on enabling machines to learn and improve from data without being explicitly programmed.

Will a visualisation-centric approach to data alienate our users who prefer Excel-based “data-brick” reporting?

This can admittedly be a tough sell, and a barrier to adoption - no matter how you try to meet the needs of your entire user base, there are some who prefer their own self-directed analysis, typically based on large Excel-like tables. The good news is that, to some degree, all modern BI platforms support the generation of CSV or Excel-based extracts, up to and including the entire data model. In that sense, BI platforms allow users to continue exploration beyond the page’s visuals so no one is, in effect, left out.

How do I choose a BI platform for data visualisation?

Choosing a BI platform can be difficult, since on the surface, they all achieve the same outcome.

That said, your technology stack and data ecosystem will play a significant role in your choice. If, for instance, you are a 100% Microsoft business, we’d likely recommend Power BI. If you have a large Salesforce.com user base, we’d suggest Tableau CRM.

Often enough though, enterprises cross multiple systems and methods for capturing and storing data, so the choice often comes down to which platform is the most appealing, both in terms of visual output and capabilities, and price. At The Virtual Forge, we tend to stay platform-agnostic when entering a new situation in order to find the best fit that meets the majority of your needs.

Will I need to purchase licensing for a BI platform?

Typically, most BI platforms offer some sort of trial period to “test drive” the tool. Some, like Power BI, allow you to create and publish dashboards and reports without any additional licensing, though at some point, in order to be able to easily share and collaborate, licensing will definitely be required. Once you’ve reached that point, the level of licensing will vary depending on the size of your intended audience, as well as platform-specific considerations. 

Will my data need cleansing and preparation for reporting?

In general, the answer is almost always “yes”, though to what extent varies by situation.

There’s always some degree of cleansing and preparation, though the scope of that effort depends on the maturity of the data in question, and the means by which it is accessed.

If, for instance, you have an established data warehouse, consuming data from multiple sources in a central location, it’s very likely that little to no preparation is necessary.

By contrast, if the sources are Excel-based and touched by many hands in the chain of control, or derived from web-based sources, then it’s very likely to require anomaly detection and resolution, and a high-degree of shaping to fit the ideal reporting data model.

Will I need a data warehouse prior to building dashboards?

While a data warehouse should be considered an integral part of any enterprise-wide analytics solution, it’s not necessarily a pre-requisite to be up and running on most BI platforms.

Modern BI solutions, to varying degrees depending on the platform, have incorporated at least some level of data pipelines, transformations, and cleansing, functions typically carried out in the traditional warehouse.

While the data warehouse is the more complete solution, these platforms are designed to get you started exploring your data quickly, which is great news for smaller businesses or teams where a full-blown warehouse isn’t financially feasible.

What are dashboards, and why are they essential for any business?

A dashboard is a user-friendly interface that displays critical information and data in a visual format (bar graphs, pie charts, heat maps, scatter plots, etc.). The purpose of a dashboard is to provide quick and easy access to key metrics, data, and insights that help inform decision-making and drive business performance. Dashboards can be designed to display a wide range of data from multiple sources, including real-time updates, historical trends, and predictive analytics.

Data Dashboards become essential by providing real-time insights, improve communication, increase productivity, and enable data-driven decision-making. They can be customised to meet the specific needs of your business, providing a single source of truth for decision making.

By linking dashboards to particular metrics or KPIs, you gain critical business intelligence and the capability to delve into specific pieces of information, enabling you to continuously track your progress.

How much cleansing and preparation will the data require?

There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question - it depends on the maturity of the data in question, and the means by which it is accessed. If, for instance, you have an established data warehouse, consuming data from multiple sources in a central location, it's very likely that little to no data preparation is necessary. By contrast, if the data sources used are Excel-based and touched by many hands in the chain of control, or derived from web-based sources, then it's very likely to require anomaly detection and resolution, and a high-degree of shaping to fit the ideal reporting data model.

What is the role of Power BI Consultants?

Put simply, a Power BI consultant is an expert in the field with a situation-dependent, malleable role. Through years of experience on the data platform side, a Power BI consultant has acquired the knowledge to fulfill many roles: data modeler, visual designer, advisor, and trainer. Above all, a Power BI specialist has learned to listen to you, and to assume the role that best meets your needs.

Who is Power BI Consulting Services for?

Whether you're just starting out in Power BI, encountered a seemingly intractable problem, or simply need an expert to review your implementation, , and data models, Power BI experts and consulting services exist to help you meet your unique needs efficiently and with minimal investment in time and manpower.

What is Fabric?

Fabric is the latest innovation from Microsoft, with the aim of establishing an all-in-one, tightly integrated analytics platform. It encompasses ETL pipelines, data warehousing, AI capabilities, and visualisation via Power BI in a single scalable package.

What is Power BI?

Power BI is a best-in-class analytics tool, designed to deliver an end-to-end analytics solution, from data ingestion and cleansing, to data model design, to the delivery of beautiful and informative visuals, all wrapped in an intuitive, easy-to-use package.

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What Our Clients Say About Us

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The Virtual Forge's work has lowered our system downtime and fastened the turnover of tickets on the help desk. The team has executed updates correctly and maintains communication via emails and messages. The Virtual Forge's Co-CEO participation in the project has been crucial.

Tom Blades

Head of Systems Integration

The Virtual Forge successfully delivered a working prototype of the dashboard, meeting our expectations. The team responded quickly to requests and modifications, and they were hands-on, knowledgeable, and receptive throughout the project.

Geir Arne Evjen

CTO

Their collaborative approach fostered a sense of partnership and trust, where our voices were heard and our vision was respected.

Rosanna Turk

Co-Founder

Working with The Virtual Forge was a pleasure. The relationships that we build, quite quickly, led to a really lovely experience. The whole team was highly efficient, creative and tactical.

Toby Lewis

Senior Manager, Collaboration Strategy

Working with The Virtual Forge made everyone enjoy being part of the project. It never felt like two separate teams, but just one big team. Everything felt natural, easy, even when there were challenges.

Heather Read

Learning Centre Team Leader and Systems Specialist

The Virtual Forge Partners

The Virtual Forge collaborates with several strategic partners to guarantee the delivery of cutting-edge services that meet and exceed clients' expectations. We are trusted by some of the most recognised technological brands in the world.

Our Most Recent Blog Posts

When our collective minds come together, remarkable things unfold. Poke around in our latest thoughts, tinkerings and breakthroughs in the realm of all things digital.

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Get In Touch

Have a project in mind? No need to be shy, drop us a note and tell us how we can help realise your vision.

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