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Solutions
Data Consulting
Technology should power your ambition, not leave you guessing because the numbers are scattered across a handful of different systems. We turn the data you already have into answers you can trust and act on.
200+
UK businesses trust us
<30 min
average response time
24/7
systems monitored
ISO 27001
certified
THE DIFFERENCE DATA CONSULTING MAKES
Your data should be working for you, not against you
When your numbers live in five different systems, a simple question turns into a project. Someone exports a spreadsheet, someone else checks it against another, and by the time you have an answer the moment to act has often passed. Reports get built by hand every month, and quietly everyone hopes the figures add up.
We work the other way round. We connect your systems and clean up what's gone astray, then build reporting that updates on its own, so the answer is ready before the meeting starts. You stop second-guessing the numbers and start making decisions on them.
That's the shift from data you happen to collect to data you can actually use. Same information, put to work.
WHAT DATA CONSULTING MEANS
What is data consulting?
Data consulting is expert help to turn the data your business already collects into clear, reliable answers. We work out the questions you need answered, connect and tidy up the data behind them, then build reporting you can trust, so decisions are based on evidence rather than gut feel.
A business intelligence tool like Microsoft Power BI is only the software. It'll happily draw a chart from whatever numbers you feed it, including the wrong ones. Data consulting is the expert work that sits underneath: getting your data connected and cleaned up, with clear governance behind it, so what the dashboard shows is actually true. Buy the tool on its own and you often end up with a polished report nobody trusts.
It's also the groundwork for anything you want to do with AI later. Clean, connected data is exactly what AI needs to give you useful answers, so the work we do here is usually the first step towards being AI-ready. See our AI consulting service.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
Everything you need to trust your numbers
Most businesses we meet already have the data. It's just scattered, patchy or locked inside systems that don't talk to each other. We bring it together and make it dependable.
Data strategy
We start from the decisions your business needs to make, then work backwards to the data that supports them, so you invest effort where it actually pays off.
Data integration
We get your finance, sales, marketing and operational systems speaking the same language, so a question that spans the business no longer means three separate exports and a lot of copy-paste.
Data cleansing and quality
Bad data makes for bad reports. We clear out the duplicates and inconsistencies that build up over time, then put simple checks in place so the mess doesn't creep back.
Dashboards and reporting
We build your key reports once, usually in Microsoft Power BI, and they refresh on their own, so the numbers are ready and readable before the meeting, whether or not anyone in the room has a data background.
Data governance
We agree clear rules for who owns what, how each figure is defined and where it lives, so everyone works from one version of the truth instead of their own spreadsheet.
Data migration
When you move to a new system or platform, we plan and carry out the move so your history comes across intact and nothing important is lost along the way.
Insight and analysis
Numbers on their own don't decide anything. We talk through what yours are showing and what it means for the business, turning the reporting into guidance you can act on.
CHALLENGES WE HELP SOLVE
Common data challenges we help solve
Most businesses come to us with the same frustrations. A straight answer to a simple question takes several people the best part of a week. Reports are stitched together by hand, so nobody's quite sure they're right. Different teams quote different figures for the same thing, and meetings get lost arguing about whose number is correct. Decisions end up being made on instinct, because checking the data would take longer than the decision can wait.
Growth makes it worse. The more the business grows, the more systems and spreadsheets pile up, and the more people end up keeping their own version of the numbers. We bring the whole picture together under one trusted source and clear out what's unreliable, so you get reporting you can lean on as the business gets bigger.
SIGNS IT IS TIME
When should you consider data consulting?
Most businesses don't go looking for help with their data until it starts getting in the way. A few signs it's time:
If that sounds familiar, getting your data in order is usually the point where it stops being a chore and starts earning its keep.
- Getting a straight answer to a simple question takes several people and several days
- Reports are built by hand every week or month, and everyone hopes the figures add up
- Different teams give different answers to the same question
- Decisions get made on gut feel because checking the data would take too long
- You're moving to a new system and need your history to come across cleanly
- You're planning to use AI and have been told your data isn't ready
- You know the answers are in there somewhere, but nobody can get to them quickly
THE COMMERCIAL CASE
Why businesses choose data consulting
Getting your data in order is a commercial decision as much as a technical one. Every hour spent rebuilding a report by hand, or reconciling two spreadsheets that should agree, is an hour not spent on the work that grows the business. Trustworthy reporting gives those hours back and takes the guesswork out of the decisions that carry cost and risk.
It also lowers the risk of getting an important call wrong because the numbers were out of date or quietly incorrect. You spot a dip in demand or a client slipping into the red while there's still time to do something about it, rather than finding out in the year-end accounts.
For most businesses it works out far cheaper than hiring a full in-house data team, and you get the expertise straight away rather than building it from scratch.
WHY BUSINESSES STAY WITH US
Good service is a choice we make every day
Anyone can build you a dashboard. Keeping it useful as you grow, and making sure you can still trust what it tells you, is the harder part, and it's where we earn our keep.
People come first, yours and ours, so we take the time to understand what your team actually needs to know before we design how to show it. You'll always get a straight answer from us, including when a report won't tell you what you're hoping to hear. And we stay restless about improvement, refining what we've built rather than treating it as finished the day it goes live.
Get all of that right and better decisions follow, for your business and for ours. It's also why we grow mostly through referral. Clients pass our name on because the experience earns it.
HOW IT WORKS
How our data consulting works
Getting started is simpler than most people expect. Here's how it works.
1
Discovery
We scope the decisions your business needs to make and take stock of the data you already have.
2
Design
We agree a clear plan for what needs connecting, cleaning and reporting, and what good looks like.
3
Build
We connect your systems and pull them into custom reports, checking carefully what's right and what needs fixing along the way.
4
Review
We check back in to make sure the reporting still answers the right questions as your business changes, and adjust it where it needs to.
BUILT TO SCALE
Data consulting that grows with your business
One worry when you invest in reporting is outgrowing it a year later. We build for the opposite. As the business changes, your reporting changes with it, without starting again from a blank page.
When you add a system or take on more people, we fold it into the picture you already have. When a new question comes up, we extend the reporting to answer it. And when you're ready to explore AI or automation, the clean, connected data we've built becomes the foundation that makes it possible.
CLIENT STORY
How Snape Group gained a partner they trust with the big decisions
Snape Group is a construction firm with a 50-year history and offices across the region, from Birmingham down to North Somerset and across to Oxford. After a decade with a supplier that had gone quiet, Managing Director Darryl Hawkins wanted more than someone to keep the lights on. He wanted a partner who understood the business well enough to help him steer it.
He invited our MD, Iain Godding, to lead a review of the business. Three years on, we support every company in the group and sit on the steering group that advises the board on where technology, and the information behind it, should go next.
That kind of trust is exactly what good data work depends on too. When a partner understands how your business runs, the reporting and advice they give you fit the decisions you actually face, rather than a generic template.
Top ways we've helped Snape Group:
“It was never about price. It was the responsiveness, enthusiasm and proactiveness that were the drivers of our change. Such is my trust in Iain that I sometimes use him as a sounding board for non-IT business issues too.”
- An initial review to understand the full requirement
- Day-to-day technical support across multiple sites
- Microsoft 365 management
- Infrastructure planning, networking and installation for a new office fit-out
- Cloud services
- Specialist construction software support
IN THEIR WORDS
What clients say
PROOF YOU CAN TRUST
Credentials that back up your numbers
We hold the standards that show we handle your data properly, so you don't have to take our word for it: We're trusted by more than 200 UK businesses, with 24/7 monitoring and an average response time under 30 minutes. South West HQ, UK-wide reach.
ISO/IEC 27001:2022, certified by UKASCyber Essentials PlusMicrosoft Solutions PartnerB Corp certification in progress
200+
UK businesses trust us
<30 min
average response time
24/7
systems monitoring
SECTOR EXPERIENCE
Industries we support
We support businesses across legal, fintech, construction, renewables, charities and professional services. The list matters less than the fact that each sector measures success differently, and we build the reporting around what actually matters to yours.
That might mean tracking matter profitability for a law firm, or showing a construction firm where a project is drifting over budget before it's too late to react. We take the time to learn how your industry works, so the numbers we surface answer your real questions rather than generic ones.
WHERE WE WORK
Supporting businesses across the UK
We're based in the South West and work with businesses across the UK. We deliver most data work remotely, connecting to your systems securely, so where you're based makes no difference, and we come to you in person when a planning session or workshop helps.
We support organisations in legal, fintech, construction, renewables, charities and professional services, from teams of ten to companies of several hundred. Our data work often sits alongside our AI consulting and business process automation services, with everything managed securely through our wider managed IT services.
WORKING WITH YOUR TEAM
Working alongside your team
Not every business wants to hand its data over completely. Many have a finance lead, an analyst or an internal IT team who know the numbers well but don't have the time or the specialist tooling to build reporting that lasts. We're happy to work alongside them rather than take over.
We can do the heavy lifting on integration and dashboard build while your team keeps ownership of the day-to-day, bring specialist expertise when a bigger piece of work comes up, and hand over something your people can run themselves. Your internal knowledge stays, and ours is there to lean on. The same applies to your wider IT through our co-managed IT services.
EXPLORE MORE
Explore our other services
AI Consultancy
Technology should power your ambition, and AI is how you get further, faster. We're a practical AI consultancy that cuts through the hype and only puts AI to work where it saves your team time and makes your business money.
Business Process Automation
Technology should power your ambition, not bury your best people in repetitive admin. We map the manual processes holding your business back and automate them, so your team can focus on growing the business rather than feeding the spreadsheets.
Managed IT Services
Technology should power your ambition, not drain your energy. We keep your IT running and secure, then we keep making it better, so your people can focus on the work that grows the business.
Co-Managed IT
Your internal IT team knows your business better than anyone, and you want to keep them. Co-managed IT gives them a specialist partner behind the scenes, so round-the-clock monitoring and the heavy security projects stop landing on one desk.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
We don't have clean data. Can you still help?
Yes. Most businesses start this way. Cleaning up and organising what you've got is usually the driver for the whole project.
What size of business do you work with?
We mainly support organisations from around 10 to 500 staff, across sectors including legal, fintech, construction, renewables, charities and professional services.
What systems can you connect to?
Most of the systems you already use, whether that's a finance platform, a CRM or another database. If you use something less common, we'll tell you honestly whether it's possible before we start.
Do we need a data team to make use of this?
No. Reports and dashboards are built to be read by anyone who needs the answers, data background or not.
Do you work alongside our existing team?
Yes. If you have a finance lead, an analyst or an IT team, we can do the specialist build and hand over something they can run themselves, or take the lot off their plate. It's your call.
How is this different from just building a report in Excel?
Excel works until the data outgrows it or too many people need the same numbers at once. What we build keeps working as you grow, and updates without anyone rebuilding it by hand.
Which tools do you build dashboards in?
We often use Microsoft Power BI, though we choose the tool that fits your systems and how your team likes to work. The reporting is always designed so anyone can read it.
How is data consulting different from just buying a BI tool?
A BI tool is only the software. It'll chart whatever you feed it, including the wrong numbers. The consulting is the expert work underneath: connecting and cleaning your data and putting governance around it, so what the tool shows is actually reliable.
Will you help us understand what the data actually means for the business?
Yes. Dashboards only help if someone can act on them, so we talk through what the numbers are showing and what it can mean for your business. We'll only build something if it'll add value, not for the sake of collecting numbers.
Will our data be secure?
Yes. Security is built into everything we do. We hold ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and Cyber Essentials Plus ourselves, and we connect to your systems securely rather than moving data around unnecessarily.
Can this help us get ready for AI?
Yes, and it's often the first step. Clean, connected, well-governed data is what AI needs to give useful answers, so the groundwork we do here feeds directly into our AI consulting work.
Can you help us move to a new system?
Yes. We plan and carry out data migrations so your history comes across intact and nothing important is lost when you change platform.
How long does a typical project take?
A first useful dashboard can often be live within a few weeks. Larger data strategy work takes longer, and we'll scope that honestly before you commit to anything.
How quickly will we get help if something breaks?
Our average response time is under 30 minutes, and your systems are monitored 24/7, so we often fix issues before you even report them.
Do you work remotely or onsite?
Both. Good technology advice doesn't depend on being in the same room, so we combine remote working with onsite visits where they add value.
What does getting started look like?
It begins with a review of where you are now and where you want to go, exactly how our relationship with Snape Group started.
What is data consulting?
Data consulting is expert help to turn the data your business already collects into clear, reliable answers. We work out the questions you need answered, connect and tidy up the data behind them, and build reporting you can trust, so decisions are based on evidence rather than gut feel.
What is business intelligence?
Business intelligence, or BI, is the practice of bringing your data together and presenting it in a way that supports decisions, usually through dashboards and reports. It turns raw numbers from across your systems into a picture of how the business is performing.
What is a data dashboard?
A data dashboard is a single screen that shows your key numbers, updated automatically, so nobody has to rebuild a report by hand. We often build these in tools like Microsoft Power BI, designed so anyone can read them, whatever their background.
How much does data consulting cost?
It depends on how many systems need connecting and how much work the data needs first. A first useful dashboard is often a small, quick project, while a full data strategy takes longer. We scope it honestly before you commit, and a short data review is the quickest way to a clear figure.
Give your ambition the numbers to back it up
Technology should power your ambition, not leave you second-guessing every number because the answer is buried in a system nobody has time to check. A short conversation is the fastest way to see what your data could be telling you. We'll look at where you are now, show you what good looks like, and give you a clear view of what's possible, with no obligation.
Get your free data review