Timing brings accessible data to business users

Timing has a wide range of services including staffing, recruitment, secondment, and payroll. The company uses Tableau to present information to clients, external customers, and internal colleagues. With Tableau, business people can analyze the data and make it accessible—without programming. Marieke van Woerkom, Manager of Business Intelligence & Data Analysis explains how she can now focus on more meaningful tasks, and everyone’s work is now “simply much more enjoyable.”

Tableau: Why did you choose Tableau over other business intelligence tools? Marieke van Woerkom, Manager, Business Intelligence & Data Analysis: Why did we choose Tableau? What made it stand out? I think it’s the whole visual aspect. The fact that from a user’s perspective, it’s very easy to work with. People here work from a business perspective. They are very good at interpreting information but are not people who can program and they get on well with Tableau; they are people who are able to bring that information to the organization in a very accessible way, and I believe that was one of the criteria. Tableau: How did you analyze data before Tableau? Marieke: Before Tableau we used Excel. Occasionally, we still use Excel. This means we collated large dumps of information from our front office software via Cognos that we then processed in Excel, which meant that it was a task reliant on an individual. At some point, we concurred that yes, it’s good in terms of developing KPIs but we need something more future-proof, which is when we came up with Tableau. Today, Tableau is what we use to present information to our clients, external customers and internal colleagues. So it’s really a two-track policy Tableau offers.

Tableau: How has your work changed now that you have Tableau? Marieke: It makes your work simply much more enjoyable. I don’t think there’ll be any less work, it will probably be replaced by something else, but it will be better and more meaningful. Tableau: How has Tableau impacted you personally? Marieke: I can take a day off because the information is no longer dependent on me. But also, I can provide our branches with the tools to delve into the information itself. I can provide my customers with the tools to delve into the information, to look at more than just figures. Added to that, it looks much slicker than lists of figures. Customers appreciate this too. And my work has become more enjoyable. Instead of listing figures, I now translate them. I am creating information, as opposed to just delivering long lists of figures. I only have to make information available and the rest takes care of itself, which makes my work more enjoyable. Making lists is boring. Translating the list into information, which is essentially what Tableau does, is what makes your work interesting. It makes our colleagues happy, which in turn makes us happy.