As we drive adoption of our platform across technical and enterprise groups, understanding their unique needs and concerns is crucial.
Atlan’s esteemed clients have undertaken an exhaustive examination of the Energetic Metadata Management landscape, empowering them to navigate this critical sector with unparalleled insight and acumen. Paying ahead for what you’ve already realized, demonstrating a commitment to transparency and trust with the subsequent information chief, embodies the true spirit of the Atlan group. To gain valuable insights from industry experts who have gained a deep understanding of the dynamic market, what constitutes their knowledge foundation, innovative applications for metadata, and more?
In this instalment of the collection, we encounter Kevin Nutbrown, Senior Knowledge Analyst at International Excel Administration – a leading medical price containment and claims administration company that processes more than $1.9 billion in medical claims annually across over 90 countries. Kevin recounts the evolution of his team’s growth, highlighting Atlan’s pivotal role in spearheading Knowledge Governance and fostering collaboration with business partners.
As founder of International Excel, I bring to the table over two decades of experience in accounting, finance, and operations management. My background is rooted in Big Four accounting firms, where I honed my skills in financial analysis, planning, and strategy development.
As a stalwart employee of International Excel for nearly three decades, I’ve witnessed the company’s remarkable transformation – from its humble beginnings handling claims for Canadian travelers abroad to its current status as a global leader in the industry. In the early stages of development, treating data as a valuable resource was still a novel concept, and our methods were rudimentary. I bought inquisitive about how we may higher handle our information, so I began determining how tables related and how you can pull the data we wanted, which led me into the world of Knowledge & Analytics.
I eventually returned to high school to earn certificates in computer science, which supplemented my business degree. As the corporation expanded, I was inspired to develop and refine our data strategies.
Our team has been reorganized into two distinct groups: the Knowledge Team, responsible for gathering insights from various sources and presenting them in a coherent report; and the Analytics Team, ensuring that data is presented in an easily digestible format.
As a pivotal figure within the organization’s core, my stance is deeply embedded in the heart of the matter. While lacking programming expertise, I’m willing to facilitate information exchange between buyers during a mission by providing assistance with data trading and other initiatives such as developing a knowledge catalog to streamline the process.
What drives your pursuit of Energetic Metadata Administration solutions? What was lacking?
As International Excel’s growth accelerated, the pressing need for a more organized and integrated approach to data management became increasingly apparent. Lack of a centralized system for documentation and information management led to inefficiencies and inconsistencies, causing frustration among those familiar with the outdated processes.
Currently, there are two separate systems referring to a desk as “Declare”, but these instances are distinct entities. Given that diverse groups may employ the term ‘Declare’ in distinct ways, contingent upon their respective systems, this disparity fosters confusion and inconsistencies within reporting.
When disparate teams extract data, yielding distinct results, the ensuing confusion is frustrating and inefficiency-prone to resolve. To achieve harmony, we embarked on a quest for a unified solution – a comprehensive platform where all components could converge, ensuring seamless understanding across the board.
To streamline our workflow, we aimed to consolidate each component into a unified platform, thereby facilitating enhanced knowledge governance by clearly defining accountability across all aspects. Our goal was to achieve a unified comprehension of our data assets across all stakeholders, including technical teams and enterprise clients, thereby fostering greater accuracy and confidence in our information.
Something that stood out throughout my analysis course was the significance of thoroughness in research and data interpretation.
What particularly caught my attention was the innovative approach taken by Atlan AI, including its lineage offering and the intuitive nature of the software itself, which made it an absolute pleasure to work with.
For those unfamiliar with technical terminology, Atlant’s Declare service provides intuitive, Google-like results. The glossary enables seamless collaboration by standardizing terminology and ensuring a common understanding among stakeholders, thereby facilitating effective communication and data-driven decision making through the consistent use of metrics and key phrases.
The seamless fusion of user-friendliness and collaborative synergy between tech-savvy and nontechnical teams was a distinctive hallmark. By leveraging Atlan, we anticipated a dual benefit: streamlined data management as well as enhanced collaboration and comprehension among team members.
To date, I’ve primarily employed Atlassian tools to streamline workflows, enhance collaboration and productivity within various teams. What’s subsequent?
With seamless integration into Snowflake and Microsoft SQL Server, Atlan empowers data teams to quickly uncover lineage, monitor any potential impact of changes, and effortlessly traverse their data landscape. The seamless integration has significantly expedited the onboarding process for newly hired team members, enabling them to quickly gain insight into our data platform without having to navigate complex SQL queries or numerous tables. Suddenly, that was a crucial victory.
Regarding knowledge governance, we view Atlan as a platform upon which we can build. Our comprehension of access controls has become significantly more refined, enabling us to effectively manage sensitive data such as personally identifiable information (PII). We’re no longer just discussing this concept in theory – it’s now an actionable initiative that requires our ongoing attention and management.
What’s imminent is enhancing accessibility around business terminologies and data ownership. It is crucial to establish clear accountability and consensus regarding the ownership and interpretation of our data assets. By providing self-service capabilities, we can eliminate confusion and empower our business customers to independently resolve issues without relying on technical support teams every time.
Having accountable personnel responsible for verified data ensures transparency, streamlining decision-making within the organization by making it easier to identify the correct source of information and ask informed questions. By using Atlant, individuals will intuitively understand when a metric increases or decreases, eliminating the need for clarification on its origin. Solving downsides typically requires a personal approach rather than relying solely on technology, although some setup is necessary to enable this approach. By streamlining operations for our enterprise clients, we’ve successfully offloaded some responsibilities and achieved our desired outcome precisely.
With numerous projects completed to address information gaps, I’m optimistic that our partnership with Atlan will grant us the momentum needed to transition into a more data-centric organizational culture.
