Best Brick Thompson Jon Thompson Caleb Ochs Podcasts (2024)

1
Understanding Semantic Models and Data Lake House Layers 10:25

17h ago10:25

10:25

In this episode of The Dashboard Effect Podcast, host Brick Thompson and Blue Margin’s Director of Solutions, Landon Ochs, dive into the nuances of semantic models and the bronze, silver, and gold layers within a data lake house. They explain the roles of each layer, how data is transformed at each stage, and why collaboration with business users i…

1
NetSuite Data Pipeline: Surprising API Challenges & ODBC Solution 7:22

7d ago7:22

7:22

In this episode of The Dashboard Effect, Brick chats with Landon, Director of Solutions at Blue Margin, about a surprising challenge faced while extracting data from NetSuite. Despite NetSuite’s well-developed API, handling massive datasets proved problematic. Landon shares how they solved the issue using an unexpected solution—the ODBC connector. …

1
How Bad Data Models Can Sabotage Your Reports 10:51

20d ago10:51

10:51

In this episode, Brick Thompson and Caleb Ochs discuss the critical role of good data models in making business intelligence tools like Power BI efficient and scalable. They cover the pitfalls of poor data models, including delayed reporting and data category issues, and offer insights into designing flexible, transactional-level data models that c…

1
The Blueprint for Rolling Out BI to Hundreds of Users 10:06

28d ago10:06

10:06

In this episode of The Dashboard Effect, hosts Brick and Caleb discuss the challenges and best practices for rolling out Business Intelligence (BI) solutions to large audiences. With a real-life example of implementing BI across 600 retail locations, they dive into how to navigate common pitfalls, ensuring user adoption and success. Whether your ro…

1
Simplifying Your Data Pipeline for Maximum Performance 16:31

2M ago16:31

16:31

In this episode of The Dashboard Effect, hosts Brick and Caleb explore the essential steps to building efficient and reliable data pipelines. They discuss the critical factors in moving data from transactional systems to data lakes, highlight the importance of simplifying pipelines, and share practical strategies for handling pipeline failures, API…

1
The Data Team Dilemma: Strategies for Surviving High Turnover 8:48

2M ago8:48

8:48

In this episode of The Dashboard Effect, Brick and Caleb explore the pressing challenges of assembling and sustaining a robust data team in today’s volatile tech landscape. With tech turnover rates on the rise, developing strategies to attract and retain top talent is more critical than ever. They share insights on the importance of redundancy, eff…

1
The Strategic Edge of Outsourcing Your Data Platform 13:27

3M ago13:27

13:27

In this episode of The Dashboard Effect Podcast, hosts Brick and Caleb dive into the often-overlooked advantages of outsourcing data platform management. They explore why mid-market companies should consider this option, discussing the challenges of in-house management, the importance of expertise in data integrity and security, and how outsourcing…

1
Generative AI Analytics: Hype vs. Reality 11:18

3M ago11:18

11:18

Welcome to The Dashboard Effect Podcast! In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss the world of generative AI analytics, reflecting on the initial excitement and the current state of the technology. They share their insights and personal experiences, examining the progress made since the Microsoft Build Conference 2023 and evaluating whether generat…

1
Handling Multiple Currencies in Power BI 8:57

4M ago8:57

8:57

In this episode of The Dashboard Effect Podcast, we tackle the complex world of multi-currency reporting in Power BI. Whether you're a BI professional or a business analyst dealing with international data, this episode is packed with valuable insights to enhance your reporting capabilities. Brick and Caleb dive deep into: Effective strategies for d…

1
Modern Reporting with Power BI: Moving Beyond Email Reports 8:47

4M ago8:47

8:47

In this episode of The Dashboard Effect Podcast, hosts Brick Thompson and Caleb Ochs discuss the pros and cons of emailing reports in business intelligence. They explore why the common practice of sending daily Excel sheets or PDFs is limiting and outdated, and offer better alternatives using modern BI tools like Power BI. We cover in this episode.…

1
The Pitfalls of Augmenting Transactional Data with Excel for Reporting 9:19

5M ago9:19

9:19

In the latest episode of The Dashboard Effect Podcast, Brick and Caleb discuss a common challenge businesses face when trying to extend their data for reporting purposes using Excel files to categorize or group data in ways not supported by the original system. While this approach may seem simple and straightforward, it can lead to several problems…

1
Mastering Delta Loads: Caleb's Best Practices, Tips, and Workarounds 8:58

5M ago8:58

8:58

Brick and Caleb get technical this week with a special focus on delta loading. They break down the concept of delta loading and highlight its benefits over traditional full loading techniques in terms of speed and resource efficiency. Caleb covers the typical obstacles faced when implementing delta loading, including issues with legacy systems and …

1
A Speed-Trust Equation: Fast Power BI Reports Increase End User Confidence 9:17

6M ago9:17

9:17

Brick and Caleb share the essentials of performant Power BI reports. They discuss the ideal loading performance benchmarks, the implications of load times on user trust, and helpful strategies for debugging and optimizing data models and DAX measures. Watch this episode on our YouTube channel. Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, m…

1
Watch Out for These Data Model Red Flags 9:12

6M ago9:12

9:12

Brick and Caleb discuss the importance of data modeling and good DAX in Power BI, highlighting common mistakes that can lead to poor report performance. For fast and efficient reporting, you need a sound data model that contains the right level of detail, dimensions, and relationships, avoids snowflake schemas, and uses simple (and standardized) na…

1
Blueprints for Building an Internal BI Team 15:58

7M ago15:58

15:58

(This episode is a re-release, but the content is still just as relevant as it was the first time around!) Brick and Caleb discuss the complexities of building an in-house BI department. In addition to sharing their firsthand experience and insight from years of supporting mid-market companies, the duo discusses the potential benefits and pitfalls …

1
How to Use Leading and Lagging Metrics for Better Business Agility 12:06

7M ago12:06

12:06

Brick and guest co-host Greg Brown explore the dynamic between leading and lagging indicators in BI reporting. They share challenges and strategies for integrating these metrics to enhance operational efficiency and financial performance. Greg shares anecdotes from his operations background to emphasize the need for timely and actionable data to ad…

1
Behind the Scenes in Power BI: Tips to Streamline Data Modeling 8:55

7M ago8:55

8:55

This week, Brick and Caleb get a bit technical and discuss how to improve Power BI report performance through effective semantic modeling and minimizing data transformation with Power BI. They unpack the challenges of managing data transformations directly within Power BI and highlight the advantages of using serverless SQL views instead. Their ins…

1
How to Democratize Data and Avoid the Chaos of Data Sprawl 8:30

7M ago8:30

8:30

Brick and Caleb explore the balance between empowering analysts with data access and the governance required to prevent data sprawl and maintain integrity and consistency across reports. They provide strategies for enabling departments to independently use data for their own insights and how to use a centralized data team to review, refine, and dis…

1
The Human Side of AI Readiness - How to Prepare Your Team and Business Logic 9:07

8M ago9:07

9:07

In a continuation of their AI-readiness discussion, Brick and Caleb outline the importance of the human element in preparing for generative AI analytics. They share strategies for ensuring that your company's culture is ready to harness the power of AI, from how to start improving data literacy to defining clear and consistent business logic. Click…

1
Laying the Groundwork for Gen AI in Business Analytics 8:56

8M ago8:56

8:56

Brick and Caleb explore the steps businesses must take to prepare their data for the inevitable integration of generative AI analytics. They use this episode to explain the "why" behind data consolidation and semantic layers. What you'll learn: Why consolidating your data is the first step for AI-readiness The challenges and solutions for dealing w…

1
The Layman's Guide to Data Terminology: Part Three 11:40

8M ago11:40

11:40

This episode is the third installment of Brick and Caleb's series on breaking down data terminology. They cover foreign and primary keys, data lakes and data lakehouses, parquet and delta parquet files, ETL and ELT, and data pipelines, before concluding with Python, PySpark, and visualizations. Watch this episode on our YouTube channel. Blue Margin…

1
The Layman's Guide to Data Terminology: Part Two 10:43

8M ago10:43

10:43

This episode is the second installment of Brick and Caleb's series on breaking down data terminology. They cover Kimball data warehouse methodology, fact/dimensional tables, star vs. snowflake schemas, and data models vs. semantic layers. Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel. Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, …

1
The Layman's Guide to Data Terminology: Part One 9:36

9M ago9:36

9:36

This episode is the first installment in a series of episodes that will serve as a primer on the key terms and technologies surrounding data management. Brick and Caleb begin with the fundamental differences between transactional and analytical databases, explaining concepts like OLAP, OLTP, normalization, and denormalization in an accessible way. …

1
The KPIs You're Overlooking: Better Data Insights for Manufacturers 14:31

9M ago14:31

14:31

In this episode, Caleb and Kate discuss important KPIs for the manufacturing industry. While there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, they outline and provide insight on the leading and lagging KPIs that have helped our midmarket manufacturing clients improve sales operations, inventory management, labor and machine utilization, and cash flow. Cli…

1
A Case Study: Unifying Data Sources with Azure Data Lake and Serverless SQL 10:18

9M ago10:18

10:18

Brick and Caleb discuss Blue Margin's use of Azure Data Lake for unified data management. Using a recent client project as an example, Caleb explains how he integrated multiple data sources using serverless SQL to create a single data repository with a semantic model to enhance consistency across projects and reports. They also discuss the current …

1
From Data Setup to Power BI Reports: Considerations for Your Data Model (Semantic Layer) 10:13

9M ago10:13

10:13

In this episode, Brick and Caleb explain the distinctions of and interdependencies between data setup/data pipelines, data modeling, and reporting, emphasizing their individual roles within an effective approach to data analytics and BI. Starting by explaining the necessity of a solid data pipeline structure, this episode highlights how the specifi…

1
How to Generate Realistic, Synthetic Data for Power BI with ChatGPT 12:37

10M ago12:37

12:37

Brick and Caleb explain how Blue Margin is using ChatGPT for generating synthetic data to populate data models in Power BI reports. Caleb shares his insights on how this approach has streamlined the process of creating sample reports with fake, yet realistic data, to demonstrate work without compromising customer data privacy. They discuss the limi…

1
How to Structure Your Data for Power BI Copilot 13:17

10M ago13:17

13:17

Brick and Caleb call out key aspects of Microsoft's Power BI Copilot documentation related to structuring datasets for Large Language Models (LLMs) and explain how to get these best practices in place. Data structure and organization are critical for getting useful outputs from advanced analytics tools like Power BI Copilot, and useful outputs will…

1
A Closer Look at Microsoft Fabric's Direct Lake and Data Pipelines 10:41

10M ago10:41

10:41

While some features are not quite up to par (yet) with Azure Synapse Pipelines, Brick and Caleb discuss Microsoft Fabric's Direct Lake mode and Data Pipelines and the speed and advances they're bring to data management. Fabric's unified platform and source control integration streamline development, and Direct Lake allows organizations to operate o…

1
How to Prepare Your Data for AI Advances 13:47

10M ago13:47

13:47

For months, Brick and Caleb have been recommending that companies start preparing their data infrastructure to leverage the current and upcoming AI technologies. In this episode, however, they break down how to prepare. They emphasize the need for data consolidation (and recommend OneLake on Microsoft Fabric), a robust semantic layer for report dev…

1
Data Quality Sets the Stage for Generative AI: AWS's CDO Agenda for 2024 11:37

10M ago11:37

11:37

In this episode, we discuss the key takeaways from the AWS report "CDO Agenda 2024: Navigating Data and Generative AI Frontiers." According to the report, the top focus for CDOs is creating visible value and achieving business objectives while preparing company data to leverage generative AI advances. Brick and Caleb share strategies for improving …

1
Data is Gold in AI's Wild West: Insights from Salesforce's State of Data & Analytics Report 15:04

11M ago15:04

15:04

In this episode, hosts Brick Thompson and Caleb Ochs discuss the current state of data and AI, inspired by a recent report from Salesforce. They discuss the importance of a strong data foundation (and what constitutes one) for effective use of generative AI, emphasizing the need for high-quality, consolidated, and secure data. They also cover some …

1
How (& Why) to Prioritize Data Projects During ERP Transitions 9:24

11M ago9:24

9:24

In this episode, hosts Brick and Caleb discuss the hesitation many companies have to pursue data projects during ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) implementations. They dissect the risks of delaying these initiatives and highlight how running data projects in parallel can streamline processes, enhance data validation, and drive a faster return on …

1
Agile Data: How New Tech is Transforming Business Operations 15:57

11M ago15:57

15:57

Brick and Jon, founders of Blue Margin, talk about the advancements in data technology and its impact on mid-market businesses. They discuss how rapid developments in data technology, particularly in data lakes and data pipelines, are revolutionizing how businesses operate and strategize. Emphasized is the shift from traditional data handling metho…

1
Expert Insights Series - Kison Patel of M&A Science: Data’s Role in M&A Success 36:25

11M ago36:25

36:25

This episode of the Blue Margin's Expert Insights Series with Kison Patel, CEO of M&A Science (www.mascience.com), provides valuable insights into a scientific approach to M&A, data management, and the potential impact of generative analytics in the industry. Kison Patel's extensive experience and forward-thinking perspective make for a compelling …

1
When it Comes to Power BI Dashboards, Simple is Better 10:48

12M ago10:48

10:48

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss the fine line between adding value and overwhelming users with too much information when it comes to developing Power BI dashboards. They give insight into the dangers of overloading reports with excessive visualizations and the importance of maintaining simplicity and clarity in data reporting. Key Points: …

1
Embracing Change: Use an Iterative Approach to Keep Your BI Relevant 12:51

12M ago12:51

12:51

(This week’s episode is a rerelease from earlier this year, and it’s just as relevant now as it was then.) Brick and Caleb highlight how constant evolution in the BI process is key to a data initiative’s success. They emphasize the need for flexibility and incorporating user feedback for continuous improvement. They discuss the inevitability of bus…

1
How to Measure Success and Demonstrate ROI of Data Projects 12:56

12M ago12:56

12:56

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss how to demonstrate the value and return on investment (ROI) of data initiatives. They explore practical ways to quantify ROI, from automating manual effort to improving decision-making processes. Brick and Caleb also share real-world examples including the impact of increasing employee utilization on a compa…

1
Expert Insights Series - Bridging Data and Leadership: Advice on Bold Execution for Midmarket CEOs 36:04

1y ago36:04

36:04

In this Expert Insights Series episode, Jon Thompson hosts Karen Posey of KP Strategies to unpack the unique challenges and opportunities CEOs face in the realm of strategic planning and execution. Karen shares insights from her extensive experience leading companies and advising CEOs on the best-practices for building strategic plans that are alig…

1
Data Security in Microsoft Azure: Understanding Role-Level and Row-Level Security 9:07

1y ago9:07

9:07

In this episode, Brick and Caleb discuss the intricacies of role-level and row-level security in the context of data lakes. They explain the differences between the two and how each works within the Microsoft Azure environment. The conversation also touches on the importance of understanding who has access to what data, the flexibility of row-level…

1
Expert Insights Series - Unlock Market Potential: B2B Mid-Market Growth Strategies with BlueByrd 35:03

1y ago35:03

35:03

Kate Eberle, Director of Consulting at Blue Margin, discusses mid-market growth challenges with Richard Byrd, Fractional CMO and President of BlueByrd Strategic Sales and Marketing. Their conversation highlights the shift in private equity towards organic growth and the importance of foundational marketing strategies, expanding outreach, and levera…

1
7 Strategies for Effectively Managing Data Teams 14:13

1y ago14:13

14:13

In this milestone 100th episode of The Dashboard Effect, Brick and Caleb discuss the challenges and best practices around managing data talent. From hiring and retention to continuous learning and meaningful work, they share insights from years of experience. Tune in for strategies on keeping your data talent engaged and contributing to your compan…

1
Data Lakes - The Solution to Siloed Data 13:06

1y ago13:06

13:06

In this episode of The Dashboard Effect podcast, Brick Thompson and Caleb Ochs discuss the concept of data silos, exploring their implications and the challenges they present in today's data landscape. They touch on the evolution of data storage, from traditional data warehouses to the more modern and efficient data lakes and lakehouses. As busines…

1
The Reality of Generative AI in Analytics: Hype vs. Progress 14:35

1y ago14:35

14:35

In this episode, Brick and Caleb revisit the world of generative AI in analytics. They revisit their experience with Microsoft's Power BI Copilot and discuss the current state of AI in generating SQL queries, dashboards, and even predictive analytics with machine learning. Tune in to get their take on the hype vs. reality of AI within data analytic…

1
How to Avoid the "Treadmill" and Build Your Data Team Continuity 11:46

1y ago11:46

11:46

"Let's say you hire two people, and they build a bunch of stuff. And then they decide to quit or find a better job, and then all of that knowledge goes with them. You have to have continuity. Otherwise, you're just on a treadmill." - Caleb Ochs In this episode of the Dashboard Effect Podcast, Brick and Caleb discuss the evolving challenges companie…

1
Implement Results, Not Just Software Solutions 10:46

1y ago10:46

10:46

In this episode, Brick and Caleb explore the distinction between implementing software solutions and actually driving business results. They discuss the limitations of canned reporting in various systems like CRM, ERP, and fleet management software, emphasizing the need for a consolidated data environment, or a "data lakehouse," to truly unlock the…

1
Overcoming "BI Paralysis" - The Killer of Business Intelligence Initiatives 14:37

1y ago14:37

14:37

In this episode, hosts Brick and Caleb discuss the phenomenon of "BI Paralysis," a common roadblock that hinders companies from fully implementing their Business Intelligence (BI) initiatives. They discuss the pitfalls of striving for perfection in BI reporting, emphasizing the importance of iterative development and stakeholder education. The epis…

1
Fast-Tracking Data Integration with Data Lakes 11:12

1y ago11:12

11:12

In this episode, Brick and Caleb delve into the speed-to-insight benefits of data lakes over traditional data warehouses. They discuss how advances in technology have drastically reduced the time required to build data pipelines, making it easier for mid-market companies, especially those backed by private equity, to integrate and analyze data from…

1
Not Quite 'Big Data': A Middle Market-Sized Approach to Data Management 12:20

1y ago12:20

12:20

In this episode, hosts Brick and Caleb discuss the unique challenges and opportunities of implementing data and analytics in the mid-market sector. Drawing on their experience from 1000+ projects, they discuss why traditional big data approaches don't fit the mid-market and offer actionable insights on cost-effective, ongoing data management. This …

1
Azure's New Threads: An Overview of Microsoft Fabric 10:13

1y ago10:13

10:13

In this episode, Brick and Caleb orient us to Microsoft's new data platform, Fabric, which was launched into public preview earlier this year. They discuss its key components, including its relationship with Data Engineering, Data Factory, Data Science, and Power BI. Additionally, they explore the future implications of integrating AI into data man…

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