DAS42

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the vice president of analytics systems and project management at a major media company. I supported the ad tech and sales teams, as well as an analytics role supporting marketing, product, and research across the company’s portfolio of brands.

What challenge were you trying to address with Elasticiti?

The biggest challenge we faced on the ad sales team in particular was that we didn’t have any automated data solutions, so all of our reporting was very manual. I was tasked with automating that process so that we needed as few people as possible to support regular reporting.

What was the scope of their involvement?

By the time we brought in Elasticiti, we had gotten to the point where we were pretty sophisticated but wanted to take things to the next level by providing daily reporting to our stakeholders. At the same time, we were in the process of being acquired by another company, so we had to ramp up our reporting internally while creating duplicate reporting for our new leadership as well.

Their role primarily was in helping us with data prep and data pipeline work, as well as some project management in terms of holistic supplementation of the limitations that the software we were using had. That was particularly useful in maintaining business continuity through the acquisition.

That process included a lot of preparation work on the files so that we could import them into the software creating the reports, as well as keeping all of those reports organized in a meaningful way and providing us with daily updates on any issues they ran into on that process.

What is the team composition?

We primarily worked directly with Ben (CEO & Principal), but I believe that folks on our team had interactions with other members of their team as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from around January–June 2019

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I don’t have any exact metrics in mind, but they saved our team a significant amount of time with their work. Our feeds from Ad Tester frequently didn’t work for a variety of reasons, and they were really effective in chasing down the vendors and getting that information from us, which was an incredible benefit to have lifted off of our plate.

In the beginning, there were a lot of challenges dealing with the software in general, and they helped us to smoothly bridge that transition and get to daily reporting a lot faster than we otherwise would have been able to, and that capability proved to be a huge help to the business.

How did Elasticiti perform from a project management standpoint?

We were impressed by how proactive they were in all of the project management. We had daily emails and status calls, and they would let us know if a data source hadn’t uploaded properly and would always have already reached out to the vendor to get a solution. I never once felt like I had to chase after them to make sure that anything was getting done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There was simply an incredible peace of mind that came with working with Ben and his team. I knew that we could count on them for anything that we tasked them with, and my team had much more capability to handle other challenges that we faced as a result of the acquisition.

They were able to handle basically all of the ad hoc requirements that we had without spending a huge amount or buying a package of services that we didn’t entirely need. A lot of the vendors we were talking to wanted a huge six-figure engagement with us, and Elasticiti’s flexibility in that regard was a big reason we went with them and made the engagement much easier to manage overall.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly never encountered any situation with them where I felt like it should have been handled differently or could have been done better. I can’t say for sure that nothing ever happened, but I know that we never ran into any real problems as a result.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

One of the great things about working with their team is that they were able to figure out our needs and get up to speed really quickly without a lot of guidance. It really was a pretty seamless experience, so I don’t know that there’s anything in particular you need to do to be successful with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in the ad sales division of a media company as a business analyst for our data analytics team.

What challenge were you trying to address with Elasticiti?

We hired Elasticiti to build out a solution to ingest data from APIs from social media networks into our internal data warehouse so we could automate post-campaign performance reporting for campaigns that we trafficked on those platforms.

What was the scope of their involvement?

There was an existing solution, but all the KPIs and top-level insights were extracted through manual exports through the individual platforms’ UIs. There was no automation at all, so Elasticiti ended up creating a reporting system.

The SOW they signed also involved the development of reports but our priorities had shifted and we didn’t have as urgent a need for a reporting interface on top of the data at that point. So, they ended up sticking to adjusting the data and setting up an architecture it could live in.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Ben directly. Elasticiti also provided a developer and a BA on their side.

How did you come to work with Elasticiti?

Ben is a former employee so we already had an established relationship and knew we could rely on his team to deliver results.

How much have you invested with them?

We worked with Elasticiti from April 2019–March 2020.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’m ballparking, but I think it was around $100,000.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

What they did worked for us. One of the biggest things that we were going to use this data for was the 2020 Olympics, which was postponed. Therefore, the majority of the value prop that was going to be derived from Elasticiti’s work is postponed until next year.

How did Elasticiti perform from a project management standpoint?

It was collaborative. We had a PM on our side who handled the overall structure and then I would work with our business to figure out what our priorities were in terms of which integrations should be finished first. Ben then distributed priorities on their side to the developer and business analyst how they saw fit from a technical perspective.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility stands out. They didn’t push back on anything with us. Rather, they were open to our suggestions. We had a couple of bugs crop up throughout the development process as will always happen and they were quick and eager to fix those.

Are there any areas they could improve?

A few of the bugs could've been caught earlier on and their QA efforts could've been stronger.

They could have been a little more expeditious with a few things. The project took a bit longer than we anticipated but that’s not to a fault, per se. There was a myriad of factors so I won’t pin that on Elasticiti exclusively.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be specific in terms of exactly what you’re looking to achieve. Also, provide enough color to the use cases you’re trying to solve for. Elasticiti is willing to innovate to solve for your use case, so don't hesitate to outline exactly what you're looking for.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former director of data products for Fox Network Group.

What challenge were you trying to address with Elasticiti?

We were looking for data engineering partners to help leverage our data and prototype some data products. We also wanted support with a massive data separation project. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided end-to-end engineering support. Their team was there for brainstorming through constructive flows to the approval process to build code. 

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was Ben (CEO), and we worked with a team of around five people. 

How did you come to work with Elasticiti?

They were referred to us by an internal VP. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together for the first half of 2019. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We achieved our goals and were able to meet tight deadlines because the project needed to be completed before Disney and Fox separated. 

How did Elasticiti perform from a project management standpoint?

They had great communication skills and had strong consulting expertise. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were great overall. I’ll definitely use them again in the future if given the opportunity. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for American Media Inc. We are a publisher of a variety of entertainment covering topics like men’s lifestyle and adventure sports. I’m responsible for pricing, analytics, and data management across all our digital properties. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Elasticiti?

We wanted to build out tools that would help us manage inventory and revenue related to our digital presence. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a data warehouse and reporting dashboards. They used AWS for data processing and integrated Power BI for the dashboards. The team also used Snowflake. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of 2-3. My primary point of contact was Ben (CEO & Founder). 

How did you come to work with Elasticiti?

I’ve worked with Ben previously when I was a consultant at other publishing companies. I wanted to hire them for this project because they have a deep understanding of the media landscape and publishers’ needs. 

How much have you invested with them?

I think we spent around $80,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2018-January 2020. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They were responsive to our needs. The uptime has been really good, and that speaks to the quality of the products they use and recommend. Their work has been effective and helpful for us. 

How did Elasticiti perform from a project management standpoint?

It varied depending on what phase of the project we were in. Overall, they performed well. We have regular check-ins and use Slack, Trello, and stand-ups. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their knowledge of the digital advertising business is impressive. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

Their challenge is with scaling. They’re not a big company, so sometimes it took longer to get the resources we needed. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs? 

Make sure that you’re able to do some of your own project management support.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former director of strategic initiatives for a digital video ad network.

What challenge were you trying to address with Elasticiti?

We engaged Elasticiti to build out a product for our yield management functionality and review our operational setup, so we could scope our key areas of improvement to increase our profitability.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Elasticiti began by doing a high-level assessment. They met with us and conducted about two days of onsite interviews with key departments to understand office status quos. At the conclusion of the two days, the team took their notes and organized them into a document, which they then presented to our leadership team along with suggestions for improvement in five areas. They also included a plan for how Elasticiti could contribute to efforts to fix those shortcomings.

What is the team composition?

We specifically collaborated with one person, Ben (CEO & Principal), though depending on where we were in the process, other team members could join as well. 

How did you come to work with Elasticiti?

Our head of operations knew Ben through his industry. He was confident in Ben’s understanding of our business and decided Elasticiti would be the perfect group to handle the project. After a few initial meetings to scope out the engagement, we all agreed they would be the best fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $7,000 on the engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from August–October 2019.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

I’m not sure of any success metrics or what ultimately happened with the information Elasticiti delivered. However, the scoping proposition they put together was excellent.

How did Elasticiti perform from a project management standpoint?

They were fantastic in terms of communication and meeting deadlines. Ben was on top of everything, and pushed the project forward in a respectful way, no matter how much his progress was interfered with internally. They were a delight to work with.

To communicate, we mainly used email and phone calls. We also had onsite meetings, after which Ben delivered extremely detailed and organized reports.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ben is incredibly knowledgeable in the video space. He’s a true subject matter expert. Very few people can talk to such a cross-functional set of people within an organization and be able to understand the workings of specific departments, but Ben did so exceptionally.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They did an excellent job. Any problems with the actual execution were a result of us, not Elasticiti.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust them. Elasticiti is extremely knowledgeable. Also, ensure you devote ample resources to partnering with them, and give the project sufficient attention.