Automating the pipeline was a significant shift from how the unit had been working, with manual processes that relied heavily on data heroes.

“These were people who knew their business really well and knew everything about their data sources, but when you dive in to automate this and make this more resilient, you realize the source of truth is really someone’s laptop, because that’s the only place this data lives,” says Wilka. “A lot of their process was, ‘Ask this person,’ and then when people leave or get promoted, suddenly there’s a big gap.”

CDW also had to establish data consistency, ensuring everyone used the same terms to mean the same things. With no documentation available, Brophy built the data dictionary from scratch. 

“We had to make sure that if we called something ‘revenue,’ everybody else called it ‘revenue.’ That was so far from what was happening, it ended up being a major challenge,” says Brophy.

Wilka explains, “Jay went through the hard parts of tracking down important information such as: Who’s the human being who understands what this is supposed to represent? How should this be written to make it useful for other people? What are all of the questions we’re looking to answer from this data so we can put it together for them?”

By automating the unit’s analytics processes, CDW eliminated siloes and sources of friction that had created risk and reduced resilience. Previously fragile processes dependent on one or two people were now hardened and repeatable, with consistent results and documentation. 

“This allows folks to come and go more easily,” says Brophy. “They’re now focused on how to do it instead of chasing someone for the answer.”

While CDW provided various staffers over the engagement, Brophy and Wilka were fully integrated, immersed in the unit’s day-to-day business and meeting with colleagues several times a week. 

“The value for the customer is that their problems become our problems,” Wilka says. “When you’re embedded, you get to know the stakeholders, you get to understand their vocabulary and you know what their problems are.”

It’s a dynamic that drives accountability, says Brophy. “Being embedded absolutely is about our ownership and accountability. The customer can depend on us integrating and taking the work seriously,” he says. 

From Csoke’s perspective, CDW’s embedded model lets consultants contribute in ways that surpass the customer’s expectations.

“Jay and Eric are looking at the bigger picture. Jay, for instance, was going out and finding issues and solutions that people weren’t even asking for. He was educating their people on areas of Snowflake they weren’t aware of, so he brought a lot of value,” says Csoke. “Now Eric is doing the same. They’re finding that because he is able to buffer all of these requests coming in from the business, and he understands the business, he can work directly with them.” 

Because Wilka has come to know the business unit so well, Csoke explains, he’s able to work directly with stakeholders and solve requests on his own, which frees up the unit’s leadership.

“According to the customer, Eric essentially became the SME for their current projects. They lean on him heavily,” says Csoke. “He’s providing a lot of value beyond what a subcontractor would, offering multiple solutions for potential problems.”