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Oakland

Data Solutions: Expert Data Platform and Engineering Consultancy

A data platform manages your data.

Our bespoke data platforms are designed to streamline your data processes and enable smarter decision-making across all levels of your organisation.

At Oakland, we understand that data is more than just numbers and stats—it’s the driving force behind modern business innovation and efficiency. With our expertise in data platform engineering and consultancy, we can help your business harness the full potential of your data assets.

Want to know more about data platforms and engineering?

Read our guide, ‘What is a data platform?’.

Take Your Data to the Next Level With a Bespoke Platform

Your organisation needs data to grow and thrive. That’s why our enterprise-scale data platforms are based on your strategy and built to boost your pipeline and productivity.

Expert Data Platform Engineering

Our team will work closely with you to ensure that your data platform is scalable and that you have everything you need to expand it for future growth.

We keep risks low by delivering a series of smaller projects to get things moving while taking care of larger developments to level up your data flow and quality.

Max out efficiency and keep costs low, with infrastructure that’s just right

Scale for the future flexibly and accurately – whether it’s in the cloud or on-premises

Make informed decisions about tooling with our honest, solution agnostic advice

Accelerate rapidly and tactically while you put foundational data capabilities in place

Meet Our Data Platform and Engineering Experts

Jake

Jake
Abbie

Abbie

Since embarking on this data journey, actionable insights have been delivered; together with improved ‘in-year’ forecasting, targeted assurance activity, and process compliance. Improved data quality has helped unlock reporting and facilitate more advanced analytics.

Murray Leach, Network Rail

The Data Platform Journal

By our very own Jake Watson

This is a friendly, informed place to discuss the people, processes, and technology involved in building Data Platforms. These platforms require many processes, roles, and technologies to work together seamlessly to be successful.

We’ll cover articles, podcasts, and videos on Data Engineering, Analytics Engineering, Data Operations, Cloud Engineering for Data, and a sprinkle of Data Governance, Data Analytics, Data Science, and Data Strategy as they apply to Data Platforms.

We’ll produce a new issue every other Monday/Tuesday with an extra article on How to Build a Data Platform being published every Wednesday/Thursday every 1 to 3 weeks.

Check out The Data Platform Journal here.

FAQs

What is a Data Platform?

A data platform manages your data. It consists of tools for acquisition, storage, organisation, security, accessibility, analysis, and consumption — designed to automate manual data tasks and decisions so you can concentrate on the bigger picture.

Want to learn more? Check out our guide, ‘What is a data platform?’.

What is Data Engineering?

Data Engineering is dedicated to constructing and maintaining the architecture necessary for collecting, storing, and processing data.

Data engineers design scalable data pipelines that transform and transport data into accessible formats for analysts and decision-makers. They ensure data integrity, efficiency, and availability, enabling organisations to leverage their data assets effectively.

Through their expertise, data engineers empower businesses to gain actionable insights and drive strategic decisions based on comprehensive data analysis.

What is a Data Warehouse, Data Lake, and a Data Lakehouse?

A Data Warehouse is a centralised repository designed for query and analysis. It stores structured data optimised for fast retrieval and business intelligence. 

A Data Lake, conversely, is a vast pool that stores big data in its raw format, accommodating structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. 

Data Lakehouse combines features of both, offering the management and structured querying capabilities of a data warehouse with the scale and flexibility of a data lake. It is ideal for businesses seeking robust data processing and analytics in a unified platform.

For further context on the above, please check out our blog, The Pros and Cons of Using Data Lakehouse.

Do You Need a Data Platform?

If your organisation deals with large volumes of data or requires advanced data analytics, a data platform is essential. It simplifies data management, enhances data security, and provides comprehensive tools for turning data into actionable insights.

Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, a data platform can drive innovation and efficiency in your operations.

Still unsure if you need a data platform? Our blog shares exactly why you need a data platform for your business.

How Does Oakland Build Bespoke Data Platforms?

At Oakland, we follow a structured approach to building data platforms:

  1. Consultation and Strategy: Understanding your business needs and data goals.
  2. Design and Architecture: Crafting a custom solution that fits your specific requirements.
  3. Implementation and Integration: Seamlessly integrate the new platform with your existing processes and systems.
  4. Training and Support: Ensuring your team is well-equipped to use the platform effectively.

Are you wondering whether you should build a data platform with Oakland or buy one? Our blog shares everything you need to know.

What are the Challenges of Building a Data Platform?

When it comes to building data platforms, you may come across a couple of challenges, including

  • Excessive tech-centric focus 
  • Departmental data silos 
  • Poor quality data
  • Lack of Data Governance 
  • Failing to consider the complexity and cost implications of the legacy data landscape 
  • Creating the case for change 
  • Not prioritising requirements 

Our blog, What Are the Challenges of Building a Data Platform, discusses these challenges in further detail.

Data Platform Case Studies

Check our Platform and Engineering Case Studies, where we share success stories of how our data platforms have driven innovation, improved business decision-making, and more. 

Case Study Creating a data platform for a major UK media organisation

Creating a data platform for a major UK media organisation

Subscriber growing pains The media company had struggled to increase its subscriber base within its digital products group and was losing out on advertising revenue to competing products and formats. This demand for growth and competitive advantage created urgency and an aggressive timeline for the business to develop and deploy new capabilities. Central to the…
Case Study Executing a Data Strategy for Yorkshire Water

Executing a Data Strategy for Yorkshire Water

Mapping out the Data Strategy Oakland started by helping Yorkshire Water with an early series of data strategy workshops. The goal of these workshops was to review the current business and operational objectives that Yorkshire Water was keen to address, then map these aspirations against possible directions for exploiting their data in the future. Working…
Case Study Business intelligence reporting and intelligent forecasting for Network Rail

Business intelligence reporting and intelligent forecasting for Network Rail

Sweeping change creates an opportunity for improvement Rail projects need to be delivered faster, at less cost and with greater value to the taxpayer than ever before. The government has challenged the rail industry to discover new ways of working to cut the time and cost of delivering critical infrastructure projects. This demand for greater…
Case Study Yorkshire Water Bio-Waste Modelling

Yorkshire Water Bio-Waste Modelling

The Outcome
Case Study Acuity Robotics

Acuity Robotics

The Outcome
Case Study Helping to drive the next stage of growth for Elvie

Helping to drive the next stage of growth for Elvie

“We just thought that Oakland’s presentation was one of the most organised. We liked the comprehensive plans that we saw.” The Goal Elvie asked for Oakland’s help to build a data analytics platform that would extract, store, and prepare data for reporting and insights. Historically, Elvie had struggled to report on various KPIs across the…
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